(Guru's Note: We were down at Maryland Sunday afternoon to cover the Temple game for print editions, links to come in the morning. Some excerpts will be below.
And special thanks to the D.C. Basket Cases folks for helping to get the Guru some food because of the the newly-established removal of the pre-game media feed at Maryland in certain situations because of budgetary concerns.)
By Mel Greenberg
COLLEGE PARK, Md. _ No. 3 Maryland's 14-games-in-31-days life march came to a successful end Sunday afternoon in a physically-fought 64-46 victory over Temple in a nonconference game at the Comcast Center.
The Terrapins (13-1) suffered but one blemish during the marathon portion of the schedule -- Monday's 68-60 loss at No. 4 Rutgers.
Since then, Maryland has returned here to beat Middle Tennessee, Northern Iowa, and then Temple.
``We've played 12 different conferences in that time, so I think we've seen everything, we're prepared, and really coming out of this stretch with a tremendous amount of confidence,'' Maryland coach Brenda Frese said.
Temple (4-6) has now lost to four Top 10 teams along with Georgia Tech and North Carolina State of the same Atlantic Coast Conference as Maryland.
Still ahead ofr importance before the Atlantic Ten competiton are a visit to Rutgers on Dec. 30, in what also promises to be a physically-played contest and a home game, Dec. 21 against Villanova in what will be the start of the Owls' Big Five campaign and the Wildcats' attempt to finish theirs with a tilte since they are already 3-0.
Staley was a bit defiant after the Maryland game in terms of how it was called by officials, all of whom have worked her contests in Atlantic Ten competition.
``We’re a physical team,’’ Staley said. “We’re not a team that plays dirty, that’s No. 1. And I thought it was officiated like we were playing dirty and I don’t appreciate that.
“We’ve played plenty of Top 10 teams in this very young season and I’ve never been in that situation before. I don’t like our team nor our players to be put in that situation because I respect the game so much and I respect the players that play the game so much that I would not allow our team to play dirty,’’ added Staley, who was assessed a technical foul late in the game.
``We play hard. We have to outwork our opponents in order for us to be pretty darn good in what we do. Dirty? No! I would never teach anybody to play dirty. I would never in my life put anybody in position to hurt somebody playing the game I love.’’
The Owls were assessed 25 personal fouls as opposed to 14 to Maryland, who had an overwhelming statistical advantage at the foul line. The Terrapins made 24-of-32 free throw attempts, while Temple hit 6-of-9.
Ashley Morris had a team-high 13 points for the Owls and Shenita Landry added 10 points.
Junior point guard Kristi Toliver scored 15 points for Maryland and dealt 11 assists.
``She kills people everytime,’’ Staley said. ``When we played them last year (at Temple), we had her in check for most of the game and then I think she beat us in the last three minutes. She’s that type of player and I think she’s playing extremely well, probably the best point guard at this (time) in the country.’’
Staley said Toliver's game compared favorably to that of former UConn star Sue Bird.
It was Staley's first involvement in a game here since here senior year at Virginia in 1992 when the No. 2 Cavaliers beat the No. 1 Terrapins, 75-74, in front of Maryland's first-ever sellout, which was in the nearby Cole Fieldhouse.
Crystal Langhorne of Willingboro High yesterday added 14 points and Marissa Coleman, who played for Staley last summer on the gold-medal winning Pan American games squad, added 12 points. Chelthenham High’s Laura Harper added nine points and grabbed seven rebounds.
As for the brutal front end of the schedule, ``They have earned a well-deserve break,'' said Frese of the time off before Maryland's next game on Dec. 20 at James Madison.
``We're going to get away from each other and we're going to allow them to be students because I don't really think the schedule has been very kind to allow them to be students, first. We're going to spend the next two days off.''
The WNIT games and the two ESPN opportunities against Oklahoma and Rutgers helped create the crammed situation.
``I liked the fact we have juniors and seniors who are hungry and want to play teams like this and want to play a tough schedule,'' Frese said. "It's been great to be challenged like this. When we come into the ACC play, it's going to feel like a breeze because we're going to have two months to play 14 games instead of 31 days.''
Toliver was asked about whether she patterned her game after Staley.
``When I was growing up, I was more on the men's side watching NBA,'' Toliver said. ``But as far as women's play goes, she was obviously the main guard to look at, and obviously I watched Dawn play and she was at UVA, right over the mountain from me. She was a phenomenal player and all the things she did in the (WNBA) and as an Olympian. I took a lot of things from her.''
Coleman said of the stretch, ``It's been tough but it's been a lot of fun. When we first saw the schedule, we were excited because we said, `We're not going to have anytime to practice. We're just going to be playing games.
``But once we started playing, were kind of wanting practice to kind of get our bodies back and work on a few things.But it was fun time, we got to play some great teams and it's going to help us for our ultimate goal.''
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Method to C. Viv's Madness
Obviously, Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer has been a bit unhappy in pulling her starters in the second half of the loss at Duke, and then, again, not opening with them Saturday in Madison Square Garden in New York against Army as part of the Maggie Dixon Classic.
But the upside, is down the road the Scarlet Knights are going to need some depth, especially when it comes to going head-to-head against UConn, as many as two or three tmes, and then Tennessee, and the only way to ease the burden will be to have as many bodies available for both opponents.
Furthermore, if by then Rashidat Junaid is able to play quality minutes alongside Kia Vaughn at the same time in the posts, Rutgers will become more formidable.
Memory Lane
Saturday's doubleheader was the first for women in Madison Square Garden in 26 years and we were there back in 1981 when Rutgers played Louisiana Tech and Cheyney played Old Dominion.
It has been mentioned that Stringer was involved as coach of Cheyney. Current Rutgers assistant Marianne Stanley then coached ODU. And Theresa Grentz, who will go into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday night, coached Rutgers.
The doubleheader was formally named the Manufactors Hanover Classic and it was an outgrowth of a series of early women's events in the Garden, including the first women's game when Immaculata played Queens College.
In later years, Montclair State got involved, which was when current New York Liberty general manager Carol Blazejowski set the Garden scoring record against Queens (a squad who had one Donna Orender on the roster) with 52 points.
-- Mel
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