No. 5 Maryland 80, Coppin St. 66

3/24/2008 3:20 AM

By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -Having avoided an upset of historic proportions, top-seed Maryland learned that nothing comes easy in the NCAA women's tournament.

Not even a game on its home floor against an in-state foe the Terrapins had never lost to in 11 meetings.

Maryland (31-3) needed a strong performance down the stretch Sunday to eliminate Coppin State 80-66 in the opening round of the Spokane Regional. The Terrapins will next face No. 8 seed Nebraska, which advanced by defeating Xavier 61-58.

Twenty-four hours before Maryland faced No. 16 seed Coppin State, Eagles coach Derek Brown likened the matchup to David vs. Goliath. As it turned out, little Coppin State nearly knocked the mighty Terrapins off their feet and out of the tournament.

Maryland trailed 20-15 with nine minutes elapsed, led by only five points at halftime and by 45-41 with 17 minutes to go.

``We didn't want this to be our last game. That's all we kept saying,'' Terrapins forward Marissa Coleman said. ``We knew if we let them be close toward the end, we would be in for a battle.''

The Terrapins used runs of 10-0 and 11-1 to pull away, but if this served as a wake-up call to Maryland, then the alarm clock was the size of Big Ben.

If Nebraska was watching, now it knows what to do Tuesday. Come out strong, challenge Maryland guards Kristi Toliver and Marah Strickland and yield nothing underneath.

``It's no surprise that teams want to get physical with our players, especially Kristi,'' Terps coach Brenda Frese said. ``That's kind of the game plan, to rough us up and see how the game is going to be called.''

Coppin State made more field goals (27-24) that the Terrapins, had fewer turnovers (16-15) and played with far more fervor. Were it not for a 28-10 advantage at the foul line and a 42-26 rebounding edge, Maryland might have joined the 1998 Stanford squad as the only top seed to get bounced from the tournament by a No. 16.

``We just fell a little short,'' Brown said.

Crystal Langhorne had 25 points and 12 rebounds, Coleman scored 17 and Laura Harper had 14 for the Terrapins. With seven assists, Toliver now has 255, breaking the ACC single-season record of 249 held by Maryland's Tara Heiss.

Rashida Suber scored 25 points and Shalamar Oakley had 20 for Coppin State, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions.

``We never backed down,'' Suber said.