No. 4 Maryland 74, Virginia 62

1/18/2008 9:15 PM

By HANK KURZ Jr.
AP Sports Writer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -As a freshman on one of the top teams in women's college basketball, Marah Strickland has quickly come to know her place.

She's a shooter, one encouraged to be a ``catch and shoot kid,'' interim coach Daron Park said, and she made the biggest shot of the night in fourth-ranked Maryland's 74-62 win over pesky Virginia on Friday.

Just don't expect her to take much credit for her part.

``Every shot we shot and hit tonight was very important,'' Strickland said.

Strickland's 3 with 5:50 left was followed by one 44 seconds later by Virginia native Kristi Toliver, allowing the Terrapins to pull away from a 56-all tie.

``It really took the stuffing out of us,'' Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. ``They made those two 3s and it just seemed like a mountain for the team to climb.''

Maryland (21-1, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), playing without coach Brenda Frese because she is pregnant with twins and not allowed to travel, earned its 11th consecutive win.

The Cavaliers (13-5, 2-1) were hurt by the consecutive 3s but the Terrapins' dominance inside also was critical. Virginia had won seven straight.

Maryland enjoyed a 43-28 rebounding edge, and finished with 36 second-chance points.

Crystal Langhorne, who needed just five points to become Maryland's career scoring leader, had 20 points and 16 rebounds, and Marissa Coleman scored 13 points.

Langhorne said the ending suggested Maryland wore Virginia down.

``They started out pushing a lot in transition, but as the game went on, I think we got to them with our different looks that we were giving them defensively,'' she said.

Monica Wright led Virginia with 22 points, but went to the bench after her fourth foul with more than 9 minutes to play. Maryland took control shortly thereafter.

Wright said the Cavaliers learned a lot about themselves.

``We got an awakening into how good we are and how good we can be,'' she said. ``Just a few things that we need to tweak and we'll be right up there with them.''

Strickland finished with 19 points, and Toliver had 16 points and five assists.

Virginia was outscored 18-6 the last 5:50 in its fifth straight loss to Maryland.

The Cavaliers got 13 points from Lyndra Littles and 12 from Sharnee Zoll.

``I can't believe we let it go,'' Zoll said.

The Terrapins trailed 34-33 at the half, but got three straight baskets from in close by Langhorne as part of an 8-2 run that gave them a 41-36 lead early in the second half. Wright's jumper and 3-pointer tied it, and then Toliver and Wright exchanged 3-point baskets.

It stayed close until the two 3-pointers helped Maryland finally pull away.