Maryland?s women?s basketball team officially put last season?s national title run behind them after unveiling its championship banner prior to Sunday?s home opener against George Mason.
However, that did not stop the Terps from coming out in equally dominating fashion, as they outscored the Patriots, 29-5, including 22 straight points, in the final 10 minutes of the first half en route to a 99-43 win in front of 8,345 fans at Comcast Center.
Sunday?s win proved far less challenging than Friday night?s season opener, when Maryland (2-0) needed a late 13-4 run to hold off scrappy Middle Tennessee State, 80-74.
“Obviously, Maryland was the national champion last year for a reason,” George Mason coach Debbie Taneyhill said. “I think anytime you can come out and shoot 65 percent from the field, 50 percent from three, you?re playing a pretty good team.”
Maryland dominated every aspect of the game against George Mason (0-1), including scoring 42 points in the paint and 39 points from 27 Patriot turnovers.
Guards Kristi Toliver and Ashleigh Newman paced the Terps with 16 points each, while forward Jade Perry had 15 points and five rebounds.
For the game, all nine available players scored for Maryland, and six finished with at least 12 points. Lateisha Wade scored 15 points to lead George Mason, which had no other player score in double figures.
Terps junior Crystal Langhorne said getting off to a quality start, along with the unveiling of the championship banner, allows Maryland to concentrate on the job in front of them.
“Now, we can focus on this year,” she said. “The past is the past.”
Maryland finished Sunday?s game by shooting 65.5 percent from the floor, while George Mason shot just 25.5 percent. The large lead allowed Maryland to rest several key players for stretches, including Toliver, who played just 11 minutes.
“We always talk about spreading the ball around to make it more difficult to be able to defend,” Frese said.
Maryland returns to action this weekend when it hosts the BTI Classic, which also includes George Washington, Arizona and Texas Christian. There, Maryland hosts TCU at 7:30 p.m. Friday, followed by Arizona at 4:30 p.m. Saturday before playing George Washington at 3:30 p.m. next Sunday.
Lady Terps notes
» By scoring 12 points Sunday, Maryland senior guard Shay Doron now has 1,506 points for her career, making her sixth on the all-time Terps scoring list.Doron is now 422 points behind all-time leading scorer Vick Bullett, who scored 1,928 between 1986 and ?89.
» Marissa Coleman scored 19 points and had 15 rebounds while Crystal Langhorne had 16 points and 11 rebounds in Friday?s win at Middle Tennessee State. Those performances represented the 34th double-double for Langhorne and 10th overall for Coleman.
» Sunday?s game marked the return to College Park or C?Vette Henson (Annapolis), who transferred to George Mason last year. She missed all three of her shots in nine minutes of action.
