NCAA WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT

Terrapins inch closer to a title

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Maryland Coach Brenda Frese wanted her Terrapins to send a reminder that they’re still playing too. They did just that by sending home an eight-time national champion and putting themselves a victory away from a Final Four.

Alyssa Thomas scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as fourth-seeded Maryland upset No. 1 seed Tennessee 73-62 on Sunday in the Louisville Region semifinal.

Maryland celebrated with a brief message on a board in the locker room: “THEY KNOW OUR NAME NOW!”

“Maybe people will start talking about Maryland and what Maryland’s accomplished,” Frese said. “We have a story too. We have tradition. I’m so proud of how these kids fought.”

The Terrapins (27-6) reached their ninth regional final and first since 2012. They did it against a program the Terps had beaten only four times previously and never before in the NCAA tournament. Maryland improved to 5-10 against Tennessee (29-6) with a little revenge for their previous tournament loss in the 1989 Final Four.

Guard Katie Rutan said Frese fired them up before tipoff.

“No one has really been talking about us all year,” Rutan said. “Just to come out and throw that punch, show them that we’re here, we are Maryland and we are going down fighting no matter what. We’re going to come out on top.”

The Lady Vols’ self-titled “GrindFor9” in their chase for a ninth national championship is over. They will miss the Final Four for a sixth consecutive season. This hurts even more with the national championship game being played April 8 in Nashville just 179 miles from their home in Knoxville.

“We’re Tennessee, and we’re not happy that we’re not playing for a national championship,” Tennessee Coach Holly Warlick said. “That’s in our DNA.”

Thomas scored the most points allowed to a single player by Tennessee this season, and she also extended her school record with her 65th career game of 10 or more points and rebounds. Lexie Brown added 14 points, Laurin Mincy had 11 and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough 10. But Warlick said Thomas hurt them the most with Tennessee unable to find a way to stop her.

“She did just about everything she wanted to do,” Warlick said.

Meighan Simmons scored 31 points for Tennessee.

Jasmine Jones also had 11 points for Tennessee, which had won 15 of its last 16 games. Andraya Carter covered her face with her jersey walking off the floor, while another Lady Vol walked off with a towel over her head. Cierra Burdick sat crying with a towel over her head after a loss that sophomore Baashara Graves called different from others.

LOUISVILLE 73, LSU 47

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Shoni Schimmel scored 19 points, Tia Gibbs added five three-pointers and third-seeded Louisville rolled seventh-seeded LSU to reach the regional final.

Facing an injury-riddled Tigers squad that dressed just eight players, the Cardinals (33-4) rung up another rout highlighted by a season-best 12 3-pointers with the two seniors leading the way. Schimmel was 3 of 5 from beyond the arc and three other Cardinals contributed.

LSU (21-13) on the other hand went 31 minutes with just Danielle Ballard (24 points), Jasmine Rhodes (8) and Theresa Plaisance (7) scoring before other Tigers chipped in. By then the game was out of hand and the Tigers shot just 24 percent from the field.

Louisville moved on to host Maryland on Tuesday night, matching Cardinals Coach Jeff Walz against Terrapins counterpart Brenda Frese, whom he worked under from 2002-2007.

Sports, Pages 17 on 03/31/2014

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