On a cold but sunny afternoon, the BCs, and plenty of other Maryland fans, made the trip around the Beltway to the Patriot Center to see the Terps take on the George Mason Patriots. Upon our arrival, we gave the smaller, older (compared to Comcast) Patriot Center the once over. And one of the first things we noticed was that the Patriot Center's scoreboard is too ancient low tech to show the actual name of the visiting team, so this afternoon Maryland was the "Guest" in the house.
We have to confess, however, that in the first half, the "Guests" were quite impolite to their hosts . . . dominating the Patriots by a score of 44-20 at the break. The Guests were somewhat kinder to their hosts in the second 20 minutes. The Terps played a somewhat lackadaisical second half, but more than enough to emerge with the lopsided win, 78-50.
Alyssa Thomas led all scorers with 18. Three other Terps also scored in double figures -- Laurin Mincy (15), Lynetta Kizer (14), and Anjale Barrett (13) -- while Tianna Hawkins (11) and Alicia DeVaughn (10) had double-digit rebounds.
Super Frosh Brene Moseley had an uncharacteristically low output today, nailing only one shot . . . a beautiful lay-up in transition. And since we caught it on film digitally, here it is:
Today's first half of basketball was just great fun, but the highlight of the second half -- for the BCs at least -- was a vocalist in the Green Machine (the GMU band) singing one of our favorite songs, Empire State of Mind (Part II). She may not have been as talented as Alicia Keys, but she did a heck of a job during a basketball game, and it was an enjoyable bit of entertainment during one of the seemingly endless number of (mostly media) timeouts.
This afternoon's final buzzer ended the game, but for the Terps, it also signaled the start of a 17-day break for exams and holidays before they resume play. Their next match-up isn't until December 28th -- at noon -- when they take on the Lafayette Leopards (from Easton, PA) on the first day of the annual Terrapin Classic.
That's a long layoff. We don't know about you, but that's just too long for the BCs to go without seeing some live basketball. So, in the meantime, we expect to visit (one of our least favorite venues) McDonough Arena on Wednesday, December 21st. On that date, another ACC team will be making a very rare non-conference appearance in the DMV, as Miami faces off against Georgetown, at the early tip-off time of 5 PM.
The 'Canes have been picked to finish first in the ACC this season, so this will be a good chance for the BCs to "scout" this formidable opponent, who the Terps will meet (on the road) just a few weeks later (January 12th to be exact). As our astute readers have figured out by now, we're not big fans of the Hoyas. So the game on December 21st also provides a chance for us to root for another ACC team, Miami, for a change.
Go 'Canes . . . beat the Hoyas!
Go Terps . . . beat the Leopards!
Photo Credits: DC BasketCases
posted by BasketCases @ 6:22 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Very nice to see the Terps land an early knock out on the road today. That doesn't always happen for any team. I actually thought Mason looked like they have some good players.
Good 1/2 half....not so great 2nd half by the terps. Way to many turnovers in the 2nd half. Score could have been easily 90ish if it weren't for those turnovers.
Thanks again for your comments - I pretty much agree with you. Some excellent sequences in the first half - fun to see the offense so smooth and getting so many involved. Yes, the second half was not so great - I do like that Brenda had them doing well in the first few minutes of the 2nd half but after that we were less than superb. Laurin and Alyssa are so much fun to watch. I look forward to the next season of Maryland Women's Basketball. rs
I thought Brene played her first poor game. Not because the lack of scoring, but her turnovers and overall rushed play. I guess she is entitled to one bad game. Overall she has been impressive so far.
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