2008 Woodie Awards
Blue Raiders nearly upset No. 3 Terps
Richard Lowe
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Sports
One year ago, Middle Tennessee opened their season with a near-upset of the then-No. 1 team in the nation, the University of Maryland. After opening this season with mixed results, the Blue Raiders had a chance to erase any doubts the nation may have about repeating their success from last year. A late charging call erased the momentum for the Blue Raiders as they fell to the third ranked Terrapins 74 - 69 at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md.
After getting within three points of the Terrapins with less than a minute to go in the contest, Sophomore Chelsia Lymon was called for a charge that erased two points from the scoreboard and gave Maryland the ball for the remainder of the game. Lymon finished with 14 points off the bench.
Middle Tennessee senior Amber Holt had 16 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore Brandi Brown scored a season-high 22 points, hitting six 3-pointers in the contest.
The teams were nip-and-tuck almost the entire second half. The contest had seven ties and 16 lead changes and Middle Tennessee led 62-61 with 4:32 left in the contest before Tolliver took over, hitting a 3-pointer and then a 15-footer the next time down the floor. UMD's All-America point guard added four free throws, including two with 12.1 seconds remaining to ice the game for the Terrapins.
Tolliver's 3-pointer and jumper started the 11-0 run for the Terps, but Middle Tennessee (3-4) came back with seven straight points. Brown hit the last of her trifectas, then Lymon made a steal and got a layup before Holt hit a tough fall away jumper in the lane with the shot clock running down to cut the deficit to three with 1:10 left in the contest.
The Blue Raiders got a stop on Maryland's next possession. Lymon went to the right and drove to the bucket, laying the ball up and looking like she drew a foul, but former Shelbyville High School star Ashleigh Newman was laying at the bottom of the pile, drawing a charge to help UMD survive for the second straight year against Middle Tennessee.
"We've been shooting the ball poorly, but we shot the ball better tonight," head coach Rick Insell said. "We're not as big as Maryland, but we match up pretty good with them because all of our kids can shoot the three and it kind of spreads [Maryland] out a little bit. My kids have the green light to shoot anytime and we did a good job tonight of finding the open man and hitting some shots," Insell said.
"We also executed on offense much better and took advantage of each of our opportunities. We also rebounded much better and against a much taller team. We got quality minutes from everyone."
Middle Tennessee next plays at top-ranked Tennessee on Thursday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. ET. That game can be seen on SportSouth. They return to the Murphy Center Dec. 19 against Florida International University, their first game on the Sun Belt Conference schedule.
Information from this article provided by GoBlueRaiders.com.
After getting within three points of the Terrapins with less than a minute to go in the contest, Sophomore Chelsia Lymon was called for a charge that erased two points from the scoreboard and gave Maryland the ball for the remainder of the game. Lymon finished with 14 points off the bench.
Middle Tennessee senior Amber Holt had 16 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore Brandi Brown scored a season-high 22 points, hitting six 3-pointers in the contest.
The teams were nip-and-tuck almost the entire second half. The contest had seven ties and 16 lead changes and Middle Tennessee led 62-61 with 4:32 left in the contest before Tolliver took over, hitting a 3-pointer and then a 15-footer the next time down the floor. UMD's All-America point guard added four free throws, including two with 12.1 seconds remaining to ice the game for the Terrapins.
Tolliver's 3-pointer and jumper started the 11-0 run for the Terps, but Middle Tennessee (3-4) came back with seven straight points. Brown hit the last of her trifectas, then Lymon made a steal and got a layup before Holt hit a tough fall away jumper in the lane with the shot clock running down to cut the deficit to three with 1:10 left in the contest.
The Blue Raiders got a stop on Maryland's next possession. Lymon went to the right and drove to the bucket, laying the ball up and looking like she drew a foul, but former Shelbyville High School star Ashleigh Newman was laying at the bottom of the pile, drawing a charge to help UMD survive for the second straight year against Middle Tennessee.
"We've been shooting the ball poorly, but we shot the ball better tonight," head coach Rick Insell said. "We're not as big as Maryland, but we match up pretty good with them because all of our kids can shoot the three and it kind of spreads [Maryland] out a little bit. My kids have the green light to shoot anytime and we did a good job tonight of finding the open man and hitting some shots," Insell said.
"We also executed on offense much better and took advantage of each of our opportunities. We also rebounded much better and against a much taller team. We got quality minutes from everyone."
Middle Tennessee next plays at top-ranked Tennessee on Thursday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. ET. That game can be seen on SportSouth. They return to the Murphy Center Dec. 19 against Florida International University, their first game on the Sun Belt Conference schedule.
Information from this article provided by GoBlueRaiders.com.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Aubrey
posted 12/08/07 @ 11:51 PM CST
I loved the article and appreciate the update because with Maryland losing three games in a row I thought we had a chance...oh well we will get em' next time!
go lady raiders!
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