On a Kizer Roll!

The opening minutes of tonight's ACC match-up in Atlanta between the Terps and the GT Yellow Jackets were nothing but 'Netta! Super-Frosh Lynetta Kizer got the Terps rolling by scoring the first 8 points for Maryland, helping to set the tone for the rest of the evening, which ended with a Terps win, 87-79.

'Netta finished with a career high 22 points, plus 10 rebounds for another double-double. (She also had 5 steals and 3 blocks!) But this game was hardly a one-woman effort. Practically the entire Terps team was on a roll: Marissa led all scorers with 23, Marah added 15, KT chipped in 11, and Atlanta local Drey Mingo had a perfect night off the bench, going 1-1 from the field (a three-pointer) and hitting all 4 of her free throws! And speaking of free throws, the Terps showed tonight why they are leading the ACC from the foul line, nailing 23 of 28 (82.1%). In fact, 4 of the 6 Terps who went to the line tonight were perfect, led by Marissa's 11 of 11.

Despite the looming presence of Sunday's upcoming game against Duke, Maryland was not looking past the Yellow Jackets. No, the Terps showed up tonight ready to play, and their victory was a balanced team effort. Yes, there was a little stretch late in the second half when the Terps were up by 22 and then, as they are wont to do, put the game on cruise control (a little longer than necessary!), allowing Tech to narrow the gap. But Maryland was not going to lose this game, and they didn't.

Because Maryland wasn't broadcasting this game (and thanks to Comcast, no ESPNU for the BCs), we were relegated to listening to Tech's radio announcers on WREK. But the GT announcers were no rambling wrecks -- in fact, we think they deserve a shout out. They knew their stuff, they were fun and interesting to listen to, and they were far better than many of the professional radio announcers who broadcast WNBA games, for example. And it didn't hurt, of course, that they showed appropriate respect for the Terps, at one point saying, "They have too many weapons. There are too many people you have to stop on this Maryland team to be successful." Yes indeed, they knew their stuff!

Next up: The Blue Devils. Sunday. We'll be there. Let's keep it rolling, Maryland!

Friday AM Update: Don't miss (BasketCases' pal) Mechelle Voepel's front page feature about the Terps on ESPN.com! Link here.

And while you're visiting ESPN.com, be sure to cast your vote for which team would win if Maryland and Villanova met in the NCAA tourney. (As we write this, Maryland is leading or tied in every state. They currently have 100% of the votes from the state of Montana . . . all 3 of them! Let's see, that could be Coach Park's Mom, Grandma and his old homeroom teacher. We think the Terps definitely have that state locked up!)