2005 ACC Rookie of the Year Crystal Langhorne struggled to find her game for much of the night against a hostile Virginia defense, but the sophomore scored four of No. 6 Maryland's first six points in overtime en route to an 84-74 Terrapins win Friday night at University Hall.
"She's a great player," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said of Langhorne. "You're not going to stop her, but you've got to slow her down. I thought we were pretty effective until the overtime, and then I felt like we were very ineffective."
The Cavaliers were led by Sharnee Zoll's 17 points. Siedah Williams scored 16, while Lyndra Littles pitched in with 13. Virginia bounced back with a 77-65 win at Miami yesterday afternoon.
Virginia came out of the gate on a roll, pulling out to a 15-6 lead in less than six minutes. Maryland fought back, though, and the visitors took a five-point advantage into the locker room.
"I was real pleased with the start," Ryan said. "Unfortunately, I felt like we had some breakdowns defensively after that, and it sort of took us out of it a little bit."
After a slow start to the second half, Virginia found itself down seven with 18 minutes to play. From there, the Cavaliers went on a 10-2 run over the next 2:16 and turned a 42-35 deficit into a 45-44 lead. For the remainder of the second half, neither team led by more than four points.
With just over six minutes left to play, however, it looked as though the Cavaliers were poised to pull away.
Sophomore guard Takisha Granberry drove from the left side of the foul line through the lane, and found a wide-open Williams underneath the basket. Maryland's defense was slow rotating to the pass and Williams's lay-in brought the crowd to its feet and gave the Cavaliers a 63-60 lead with 6:20 to play.
But as was the case all night, Maryland had an answer to each Virginia run, as Marissa Coleman put in two of her game-high 22 points on the next possession.
Tied at 69, the Cavaliers had the ball with 34 seconds left after an offensive rebound by Littles. After calling a timeout with four seconds left on the shot clock and 6.4 ticks left on the game clock, Ryan drew up a play for senior Tiffany Sardin.
Sardin received the ball at the right foul line-extended and sliced through the lane, but could not get the contested layup to fall.
"When a senior's in the game and asks for the ball, that's the person that you want to go to," Ryan said. "Tiffany knows that play so well, and she did such a great job of getting herself to the basket tonight, that I didn't even hesitate [giving her the ball]."
In the ensuing overtime period, Maryland scored the first 10 points before Virginia cracked through with 1:48 left. The Cavaliers drew no closer than seven the rest of the way.
Against the Miami Hurricanes on Sunday, Virginia was led by Brenna McGuire's 22 points, who shot 4-9 from three-point range and connected on all six of her free throws.
"I've been in a slump," McGuire said in a release after the game. "I've been taking the same shots, and they haven't been falling. Tonight they fell. I was due."
After a 1-1 weekend, Virginia stands at 13-4 overall and 2-3 in conference play. The team is tied with N.C. State and Clemson for seventh in the ACC.
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