The Nebraska women's basketball team's run in the NCAA tournament ended Tuesday night with a 76-64 loss to the top seeded Maryland Terrapins.
The Cornhuskers, who defeated Xavier in their opening-round matchup, fell to 21-12 on the season, while the Terrapins improved their record to 32-3 and will now face No. 4-seeded Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16.
"We came into the game feeling we were capable of winning," Griffin told Huskers.com. "We had a goal for every media timeout to not look at the whole game, but to look at the game in chunks. Maryland made some tough plays down the stretch, and outrebounding us was key."
The Terps jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead to start the second-round match up against the Huskers, but the early deficit was quickly erased as NU pulled to within 8-7 with 16:40 remaining in the half.
After seven turnovers in the first 11 minutes, Nebraska finally settled down and hit a groove, which was highlighted with a shot clock buzzer-beater by freshman guard Kaitlyn Burke with 8:45 remaining.
Maryland Coach Brenda Frese exploded in frustration that the shot counted, and she was quickly assessed a technical foul. Burke made good and converted 1-of-2 free throws.
Then things looked to take a turn for the worse, as both junior forward Kelsey Griffin and senior center/forward Danielle Page were each assessed their second and third personal fouls on the night.
Maryland took advantage of the downed Huskers and went on an 11-0 run to open up a 15-point lead with 5:12 left in the first half.
After a quick time out, NU Coach Connie Yori sent her squad back out to do battle, and the Huskers charged back with a 16-2 run, which was highlighted by the exceptional play of sophomore guard Yvonne Turner.
Tuner sparked the run with a lay-up, followed it up with a 3-pointer, and finally put an exclamation on the run with a behind the back pass to teammate guard Nicole Neals, who scored despite being swarmed by several Maryland players.
Following Neals' basket, the Huskers continued to swing momentum in their favor, as Griffin, who was playing with a protective vest on her ribs, took her second charge of the night on Maryland's next possession.
The Huskers used that run to go into the half down 34-33.
In the second half, the Huskers who capitalized on their first-half momentum and tied the game at 45 with a 3-pointer by freshman guard Dominique Kelley.
The Terrapins, playing on their home court, then rode the back of junior forward Marissa Coleman, who scored all 10 points in the Terps 10-2 run, which included two 3-pointers and extended Maryland's lead to 53-45 with 11:53 left in the game.
The Huskers never recovered. Turner led her team by scoring 23 points and hitting 5-of-8 3-pointers.
But despite having an answer to match Maryland all night, Coleman, along with Crystal Langhorne and Kristi Toliver, would prove to be too much for the Huskers.
Coleman was named the Player of the Game, and scored 19 points shot 7-15 from the field. Langhorne and Toliver finished the game with 18 and 19 points respectively.
For Nebraska, Griffin scored nine points and sophomore forward Cory Montgomery contributed eight off the bench.
Page's long and accomplished career as a dominating post player ended with less than a minute to play, as the Monument, Colo. native exited the game with 57.3 seconds left after picking up her fifth foul. She finished her Husker career having scored four points and blocked two shots.
"I thought our players played really hard and competed like crazy," Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said on Huskers.com. "This is a very difficult place to play, especially playing the No. 1 seed on their homecourt."
Nickfilipowski@dailynebraskan.com
