Cruisin', Part II

This afternoon, playing their second game in as many days, the Terps broke the 100-point-mark for the first time this season (in fact, with 4:16 left in the game), and then added a little more, defeating CSU Bakersfield, 114-83, to finish up their Thanksgiving holiday in Miami undefeated.

The Terps began today's game by racing out to an early 14-point lead (23-9) over the Road Runners. But as they did yesterday against FIU, Maryland then seemed to shift into cruise control and allowed most of their early lead to dissipate. Midway through the first half, the Terps' lead was only 34-33. But then, like yesterday, Maryland regained its focus and was comfortably ahead, 53-41, by halftime. After the break, as the saying goes, the Terps never looked back.

Maryland's triple-digit output was largely the work of six Terps who finished in double figures today. They were led by Laurin Mincy, who scored a game-high 23 points and was deadly from beyond the arc, nailing 5 of 7 treys. (Laurin scored 16 of her points in the first half!) She was followed by Tianna Hawkins (who had yet another double-double, with 19 points and 10 boards), Super Frosh Brene Moseley (17 points, including 3 of 5 three-pointers), Lynetta Kizer (15 points), Alyssa Thomas (14), and Alicia DeVaughn (11).

And all those double-digit scorers got plenty of help from Anjale Barrett. Despite playing only five minutes in the first half due to early foul trouble, Bronx managed to follow up yesterday's 10-assist performance with a staggering 11 assists today (and zero turnovers). Incredible!

The Road Runners are known as a run and gun type of team. They score a lot of points, but also give up a lot of points. Before today's meeting with the Terps, they averaged 87 points per game and allowed their opponents an average of 84. Maryland's 114-point explosion (with a 31-point margin of victory) obviously blew those averages away today.

So the Terps' Thankgiving holiday was a complete success . . . a beach vacation, a holiday meal, and two Ws.

The Terps' next game -- against the University of Michigan on Wednesday at Comcast at 7 PM -- should be no holiday. It's a big one -- the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge game -- and the 5th year of the Challenge. Both the Terps and Michigan enter this year's Challenge undefeated in the inter-conference competition. (The ACC's Georgia Tech is the only other undefeated team in either conference.) Of course, after Wednesday's game, only one of these two teams (MD or UM) will be able to make that claim. So this one is not only important for Maryland's season, it's also important for the inter-conference bragging rights. It's B-I-G! Be there!

Go Terps . . . Beat the Wolverines!

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Program Note: The seventh season of Under the Shell premieres tomorrow morning (Sunday) on Comcast SportsNet at 9 AM. Can't wait to see Episode 1!