Maryland small forward Marissa Coleman helped put the final exclamation point on the Terps? 95-68 win Friday over Virginia with 4:43 remaining in the contest. Operating in transition, the sophomore guard fed a behind-the-back pass to center Laura Harper.
Harper converted the pass into a layup and the two stars celebrated with a chest bump in mid-air. The basket was indicative of the unselfish nature of a Maryland?s women?s basketball team that understands that it has to involve as many players as possible in order to win the school?s first Atlantic Coast Conference title since 1989.
“I just knew that [Coleman] was going to do something to thank the crowd for coming,” said Harper of the pass, which gave Maryland an 88-62 lead. “She?s a passer and I knew she was going to throw it. She wasn?t going to shoot it.”
Much of Maryland?s reputation nationally comes on the offensive end, where the team entered Sunday?s game against Wake Forest second in the nation in scoring at 87.8 points a game. Thedefending national champions average 32.6 field goals a game, but perhaps their most impressive number is that they dish out a national-best 20.2 assists a night.
Overall, Maryland had 423 assists with sophomore guard Kristi Toliver accounting for 116 of them, or 5.3 a game. She came into Sunday?s game ranked third in the conference behind Boston College?s Sarah Marshall (6.0) and Virginia?s Sharnee Zoll (5.72).
Maryland coach Brenda Frese said Toliver makes a concerted effort of getting her teammates involved, even if it is just to boost confidence. An example of this came Friday when she fed forward Jade Perry, who converted a layup with 26 seconds left. Perry had missed her previous six shots.
“That?s teammates working together and understanding unselfishness,” Frese said.
Frese added that Toliver and the team?s other guards are also the beneficiaries of some great passes themselves. For example, Coleman entered Sunday ranked 10th in the ACC in assists with 70. Also, forward Crystal Langhorne had 52 assists on the year.
“Our perimeter players see how much easier their games are going to be when we can open it up inside,” Frese said. “We have the most unselfish post players in the country. When they?re getting doubled, they?re going to kick it out.”
Terps notes
» Kristi Toliver entered Sunday?s game second in the ACC behind Boston College?s Sarah Marshall with a 2.31 assist-to-turnover ratio. Marshall leads the ACC at 2.4.
» Maryland, as a team, entered Sunday leading the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.15. Duke is second at 1.11 followed by North Carolina at 0.99.
