The Virginia women's basketball team will get another crack at the defending national champions as the No. 6 Maryland Terrapins come to Charlottesville this weekend.
The Cavaliers (14-10) have played well after a tough five-game losing streak to beat their last two opponents by a combined 46 points.
Neither Miami nor North Florida, however, compare in talent and success to the Terrapins (22-3).
The first time these teams did battle, Virginia played hard but simply could not get the defensive stops it needed to make a run.
"I feel like we're about where we should be in terms of stepping on the national champions' home court, but we needed to do a better job defensively," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said, noting that Maryland is "very talented, skilled and big inside. We don't have that kind of size to match-up with them on the inside. I told our team we must get better defensively."
The Cavaliers also suffered major foul trouble from their top two scorers -- freshman guard Monica Wright and sophomore forward Lyndra Littles -- which left them watching most of the game as opposed to playing in it. Although Littles has 11 double-doubles on the season, fouls have limited her availability, something the Cavaliers must avoid if they want to pull off the upset.
"It hurt us not to have Lyndra in there for most of the first half," Ryan said. "It hurt her, because it took away her timing. But it's something you have to plan for, because if you pick up two quick fouls, you are going to sit down. That's typical of any coach."
The Terrapins had a rough time last week; a humbling loss to No.2 North Carolina coupled with a shocking loss to Georgia Tech 77-72 have made Maryland hungry down the stretch as the Terrapins still seek a top seed heading into the ACC tournament.
One reason for Maryland's success has been its free-throw shooting. Maryland has the top team percentage in the conference with .763 and knows how to get to the line. In the first meeting this season between the Cavaliers and the Terrapins, Maryland went to the line 17 more times than Virginia and shot 81.5 percent.
"The 17 more free throws, I can't comment on that," Ryan said. "I do know this: 21 out of our 37 possessions in the first half were in the paint, and to only go to the line three times is a little disconcerting."
What was even more disconcerting was the red-hot offense of the Terrapins; four players scored 15 points or more in the first meeting, including a team-high 21 by junior Laura Harper.
Virginia will look to senior forward Siedah Williams to counter Harper. Williams has struggled a bit offensively during the Cavaliers' losing streak but returned to form the past few games and remains just 63 points shy of reaching 1,000 points for her career.
"'Wow' is pretty much all I can say right now," Williams said. "Down the road, it's just going to be an interesting fact to tell people. That 'Yeah, I did this at U.Va.; I accomplished this goal, and I'm happy about it.'"
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