Maryland begins its run this weekend at a second straight NCAA women?s basketball championship with a battle-tested team that includes nine players on its 11-member roster that have NCAA tournament experience.
But what often gets overlooked is how young the second-seeded Terps (27-5) are going into Sunday?s Dayton Region first-round game against 15th-seeded Harvard (15-12) at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Conn.
Maryland has just one senior starter (guard Shay Doron) and two seniors overall on the team, which also includes one freshman, three sophomores and five juniors.
“You still have to have perspective,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “What we did last year was obviously a year or so away from any of our expectations. Still, now we only two seniors on our roster, so we?re a young team and we?re just going to continue to get better.”
Doron enters the tournament with the most postseason experience of any Maryland player. The second-leading scorer in school history has played in a school record-tying 10 NCAA tournament games. Fellow senior forward Aurielle Noirez has played in nine tournament games, while juniors Crystal Langhorne, Jade Perry and Ashleigh Newman have each competed in eight.
Noirez and Doron represent the first Maryland senior class since 1993 to participate in four straight NCAA tournaments. They also are only the fourth class in the history of the program to make the tournament every year of their careers and just the seventh Terps class overall to play in the postseason four consecutive years.
“We feel we can beat any team, honestly,” Doron said. “When we go out on the court and play, we feel like we match up well with anybody ? it doesn?t matter who you are.”
Maryland sophomore guard Kristi Toliver showed in last year?s tournament that age doesn?t necessarily have any bearing on how well a player can perform on the national stage.
Her game-tying three-pointer late in regulation in the national final against Duke helped cap a 13-point comeback and provided the momentum Maryland needed to win in overtime.
“We have a lot of talent and the determination and experience we need to get the job done,” Toliver said.
Maryland?s young guns
» Nine of Maryland 11 players have played in the NCAA tournament before, with eight of them having played in at least six such games going into this year.
» Redshirt sophomore guard Christie Marrone has the least amount of postseason experience among those nine players. She played in one game her freshman year at Virginia Tech.
» Sophomores Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman and junior Laura Harper played in six tournament games last year.
