No. 6 Maryland 88, Miami 77

2/1/2006 10:22 PM

By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Shay Doron regained her shooting touch at just the right time for No. 6 Maryland, scoring inside and from long range to help the Terrapins earn their sixth straight victory.

Doron tallied 26 points, making all four of her 3-point attempts, and capped a late run that carried Maryland past Miami 88-77 Wednesday night.

Laura Harper added 19 points and nine rebounds, and Crystal Langhorne had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Terrapins, whose six-game winning streak in the Atlantic Coast Conference is their longest since a 10-game run in 1992.

Maryland (20-2, 7-1) finished with a 54-34 rebounding advantage and forced the Hurricanes to miss 51 shots, but Doron was even more of a factor, according to Miami coach Katie Meier.

``Shay's the one who killed us,'' Meier said. ``She did such a nice job moving around on the court. You look at her shot chart, and she was just scoring from all different spots on the floor. That was hard for us to handle.''

Undaunted by a 2-for-12 shooting performance in the Terrapins' last game at Wake Forest, a 2-for-9 effort at Virginia Tech on Jan. 23 and a 1-for-7 outing at Virginia on Jan. 20, Doron went 8-for-14 against Miami in matching her season high in points.

``It feels good, but the win feels better,'' said Doron, a 5-foot-9 junior guard. ``I haven't been playing well but we've been winning. It would have felt a lot worse if we had been losing. I'm going to keep shooting, regardless of how bad I shot in the past. I'm going to stay confident.''

Marissa Coleman had 10 points and 12 rebounds for Maryland, which overcame 22 turnovers by limiting the Hurricanes to 39 percent shooting (31-for-82).

The Terrapins led 67-66 before Coleman made two free throws to spark an 8-0 run that made it 75-66 with 3:58 left. Doron ended the spree with a 3-pointer from the corner.

Renee Taylor scored 21 points on 8-for-27 shooting, and Tamara James had 16 for the Hurricanes (14-7, 4-4). James, a senior forward who reached double figures in her 51st consecutive game, moved into second place on Miami's career scoring list.

But she missed 10 of 16 shots, was in foul trouble for much of the game and played only 21 minutes.

Held to four points before halftime, James scored five in the opening two minutes of the second half during a 16-3 run that lifted the Hurricanes into a tie at 44. Maryland regained the lead on a three-point play by Coleman, and minutes later two free throws by Harper and a basket by Jade Perry put the Terrapins up 58-52.

Miami twice got within a point before Maryland finally shook off the determined Hurricanes.

Doron scored 13 points, and the Terrapins outrebounded the Hurricanes 31-17 in taking a 41-28 halftime lead.

Maryland missed 10 of its first 12 shots while Miami went up 11-5. It was 13-7 before a basket by Doron sparked a 9-0 run that gave the Terrapins their first lead.

After the Hurricanes moved back in front, Maryland used a free throw by Ashleigh Newman and three straight layups to take a 23-17 lead. It was 27-24 before Doron hit a 3 and added a three-point play for a nine-point cushion.

Taylor then made successive baskets, but the Terrapins countered with an 8-0 spurt to open up a 13-point lead.