No. 4 Maryland 71, Georgia Tech 66

3/4/2006 12:45 AM

By AARON BEARD
AP Sports Writer

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Maryland's freshmen stepped up just in time to save the fourth-ranked Terrapins from a shocking exit from the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Marissa Coleman assisted on the go-ahead 3-pointer and scored her team's last six points to help the Terrapins hold off Georgia Tech 71-66 in Friday night's quarterfinals, a close call for a team hoping to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Coleman finished with 13 points for Maryland (27-3), which advanced to Saturday's semifinals to face No. 2 Duke. Crystal Langhorne led the Terrapins with 20 points while freshman Kristi Toliver scored eight and hit that go-ahead 3 with 1:26 left.

Stephanie Higgs scored 17 of her 22 points in the second half for the Yellow Jackets (14-15), the tournament's 11th seed that put quite a scare in the Terrapins.

``We've got a lot of heart,'' Coleman said. ``We were never scared of losing the game, because I know how we are and how we're going to pull together as a team. We came together and won the game.''

It hardly seemed like a matchup built for drama as the Terrapins entered the tournament with their highest seed (third) in 13 years. Maryland leads the ACC with eight tournament titles - though none since 1989 - while Georgia Tech had lost 26 of 32 tournament games coming into Friday.

But nine of the past 11 meetings had been decided by fewer than 10 points. That included the teams' only meeting this season, in which Georgia Tech cut a 16-point second-half deficit to two before falling 79-71 on the road.

This time Georgia Tech took a four-point lead with 5 1/2 minutes left before Coleman and the Terrapins rallied.

With the score tied, Coleman - who was named the ACC's rookie of the year on Wednesday - found Toliver in the left corner for a 3-pointer and a 65-62 lead.

``I really didn't have any jitters,'' Toliver said. ``We've both played in a lot of basketball games, and we really don't get caught up in the hype.''

Then, after Higgs knocked down a pair of free throws, Coleman worked her way into the lane and hit a contested jumper to make it 67-64 with 34.8 seconds to play. The Yellow Jackets got no closer, with Coleman going 4-for-4 at the line to seal it in the final seconds.

It was just part of a clutch late-game performance by the Terrapins. Coleman also hit two free throws to tie the game with 3:32 left, Ashleigh Newman buried a 3 for a 60-59 lead while Langhorne hit a spinning shot in the lane for a 62-60 lead with 1:57 left.

``I liked our poise down the stretch,'' Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. ``We hit some big shots when we needed to, especially in a game where we were a little out of sync tonight.''

Langhorne led the Terrapins by going 8-for-9 and pulling down seven rebounds. But she went just 4-for-9 at the foul line, part of Maryland's 17-for-26 day that nearly cost them against the Yellow Jackets.

Shay Doron added 12 points for Maryland, but came off the bench for the first time this year due to a thigh bruise that forced her to miss some practice this week.

Jill Ingram scored 15 points for the Yellow Jackets before leaving the game with an injured right leg with 1:40 left.

Georgia Tech had advanced with a 79-62 win against sixth-seeded Miami in Thursday's first round despite tying an ACC tournament low with just two assists. The Yellow Jackets also had 23 turnovers.

Still, coach MaChelle Joseph is hoping the two games prove to be a momentum-builder for a program that has never finished better than .500 in the league.

``It has been a struggle,'' Joseph said. ``But these last two games I think our players have gotten a taste as to what success is and what it's going to take to get to the next level.''