“You saw ‘Hoosiers,’ right?” Pemper said, referring to the 1986 movie about an overmatched Indiana high school that wins a state championship.

The gulf between the top seeds and the bottom in the women’s tournament is wider than in the men’s. Maryland has won 45 NCAA tournament games. Navy has won none. The Terrapins start four players 6-foot or taller. None of the starting five for the Midshipmen are taller than 6-foot.

“We have nothing to lose,” sophomore Kara Pollinger said. “We earned this game. This is something we’ve looked forward to since we were little girls. There’s no reason for us to be scared,”

This is the eighth trip to the tournament in the last nine years for Maryland. But this is a surprise for Navy, which finished third in the Patriot League, then rose in the clutch in the conference tournament, coming from behind in the second half of the semifinals (Lehigh) and championship game (Holy Cross).

“We’re excited to keep the game close against anybody we play,” said Pemper who is in her fourth season in Annapolis. “We’re a team that just won three conference tournament games and here we are.”

Harvard’s victory 14 years ago created shock waves. But Pemper admits there were extenuating circumstances. In the days leading up to the game, Stanford lost two All-Americans to torn ACLs. In addition, Harvard was an unusual No. 16 seed in that it had captured its third straight Ivy League title and boasted the nation’s top scorer, Allison Feaster. In the 71-67 victory at Stanford, she wrecked the Cardinal with 35 points and 13 rebounds.

“They still had a way more talented team than we had,” Pemper said. “We did obviously do some junky things defensively – things that were unorthodox. It was like, are they really doing that? They think they can win by letting that gal shoot? It’s like, yeah, we’re gonna try.”

Coming up with a defense on Saturday to stop balanced Maryland will be difficult. The Terrapins are led by 6-2 sophomore Alyssa Thomas (17.4 ppg, 8.1 rpg), the ACC player of the year. But the Terps have plenty of options with 6-0 sophomore Lauren Mincy (12.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg), 6-3 junior Tiana Hawkins (12.2 ppg, 9.3 rpg), and 6-4 senior Lynette Kizer (11.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg).   

After a mid-season lull in which it lost four of nine ACC games, Maryland has won seven straight, including three in the ACC tournament.

“We have not played a team offensively like Maryland,” Pemper said. “Without giving away too much of our strategy, we’re going to change things up. We’re gonna try to keep them off the boards and force them into lower percentage shots.”

Navy answers with a pair of 6-foot sophomores, low-post threat Jade Geif (10.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and perimeter scorer Audrey Bauer (10.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg), who leads the Mids in three-pointers (55). Sophomore Alix Membreno (9.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg) leads the defense. Point guard Pollinger (8.4 ppg, 2.7 apg) runs the offense.

When Navy advanced to the NCAA for the first time last year, it was seeded No. 14, but hung with DePaul much of the way in a 56-43 loss. The Mids fell short of Harvard’s historic benchmark, but now they’ve got another chance, be it ever so slight.

“Not only did we show up, we made a name for ourselves,” Pollinger said. “It’s inspiring to us because we know we can do the same.”

A No. 15 seed has never won in the women’s NCAA tournament. Here are the closest calls since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1994.

2009 – Baylor 87, UTSA 82 (OT)

2004 – Kansas State 71, Valparaiso 63

2003 – Texas Tech 67, Missouri State 59

2001 – Oklahoma 70, Oral Roberts 64

1996 – Iowa 72, Butler 67

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