Terps aim to overcome second-round woes against St. John's

3/20/2006 11:38 PM

Maryland's season has ended with NCAA tournament second-rounded losses in each of the previous two seasons.

With those memories fresh in their mind but without pressure, the second-seeded Terrapins seek to advance to a regional semifinal for the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994 on Tuesday when they play St. John's at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa., as part of the Albuquerque Regional.

``There is no pressure,'' fourth-year Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. ``We're going out there to play basketball and play hard for 40 minutes. The great thing with this team and these players is that they are so hungry, so focused and motivated. They really want to keep going. It's a lot of fun to coach a team like this.''

The Terrapins (29-4) took the first step by posting the third-highest first-round margin of victory in the NCAA Women's tournament following their 95-54 rout Sunday of 15th-seeded Sacred Heart.

Ashleigh Newman logged a team-high 27 minutes for Maryland, while Shay Doron scored 17 points, Laura Harper added 16 and Crystal Longhorne had 15.

Maryland tied its single-season school record for wins, established by the 1988-89 team that reached the Final Four as a No. 1 seed. Frese felt her team should have been given a top seed this year since its losses came to Duke (twice), Tennessee and North Carolina.

``This team has made a lot of accolades as the year has progressed,'' Harper said. ``The Sweet 16 would just be another step. We're taking it one step at a time, and we're just looking forward to everything that comes from it.''

Langhorne is one of five players in double figures for the Terps, averaging 16.3 points. Maryland is scoring 83.9 points per game and is shooting 41.4 percent (193-for-466) from 3-point range.

Seventh-seeded St. John's (22-7) is trying to reach the round of 16 for the first time in school history. The Red Storm, who last made the NCAA tournament in 1988, advanced with a 78-68 win Sunday over No. 10 seed California as Kia Wright scored 26 points and Angela Clark added 14.

``The players really came together and we had different people step up at key moments and really played well as a team,'' fourth-year St. John's coach Kim Barnes Arico said. ``It's phenomenal that we're dancing. I'm just so happy to be here.''

The turnaround for the Red Storm came about when Wright, a high school teammate of Clark's, transferred from Connecticut two seasons ago. The duo helped St. John's reach the WNIT last year and established a foundation for this squad.

``We're here right now to win,'' Wright said. ``We had to come out fired up.''

The winner of this game will play No. 3 seed and defending NCAA champion Baylor in the regional semifinals Saturday at Albuquerque, N.M.