No. 3 Maryland 75, UC Santa Barbara 71

11/24/2007 1:36 AM

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) -Marissa Coleman and her Maryland teammates knew UC Santa Barbara would do everything they could to avoid another embarrassing loss to the Terps.

What third-ranked Maryland didn't know was how much of a struggle this match up would be.

Kristi Toliver made two free throws in the final seconds to secure the Terps' 75-71 victory over the Gauchos on Friday night.

Coleman scored a career-high 30 points for the Terps (7-0). The junior guard made 18 of 20 free-throw attempts. Toliver scored 19 points and Laura Harper had 15 points and 12 rebounds.

``They didn't want that to happen again,'' Coleman said of UCSB, which lost 105-44 at College Park last December. ``We knew they would press us for 40 minutes.''

Chisa Ononiwu led UCSB (2-3) with 20 points. She made four of eight 3-point attempts. Jenna Green scored 16 points and Jessica Wilson added 12.

Maryland opened up a 16-3 lead in the first five minutes, but UCSB trailed only 37-30 at halftime

The Gauchos, who trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, took a 42-39 lead on a jumper by Whitney Warren with 13:20 remaining in the game.

Maryland scored the next eight points, five by Toliver, and extended its lead to 61-50.

UCSB pulled to 73-71 on a pair of free throws by Sha'Rae Gibbons with 25 seconds to go. Toliver made her fouls shots 10 seconds later, and UCSB missed its final shot.

``They couldn't possibly be more over confident,'' UCSB coach Mark French said. ``The stars were perfectly lined up for us to pull off a great upset.''

Maryland played without two-time All-America forward Crystal Langhorne, who has a sprained ankle. Head coach Brenda Frese, who is expecting twins in March, did not make the trip on advice of her doctor.

The Terps will play at UCLA Sunday.