Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Terp women overcome sickness
By Andrew Zuckerman
The Diamondback (U. Maryland)
03/28/2006

(CSTV U-WIRE) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If the Terrapin women's basketball team looked somewhat sluggish and fatigued Monday night, there may have been a legitimate reason why.

At some point between Saturday and Monday night's tip-off, at least four Terps and coach Brenda Frese were bothered by a stomach bug.

Laura Harper, Jade Perry, Kristi Toliver and Charmaine Carr were confirmed victims of an illness, and by halftime Ashleigh Newman had joined the list.

"To go through something like this was so bizarre, but it really shows the will and the heart of this team," Frese said. "It's just amazing to see how we grinded it out."

The Terps did not practice at their usual game-day shoot-around. Instead, they gathered in the hotel parking lot to run some last-minute drills.

"I had been in bed all morning as well as some of the other players," Toliver said. "We weren't really going to waste the energy and make that trip to shoot-around. It probably would have been pointless anyways because no one would have been moving."

Toliver was the last one to come down with the illness. She said she did not sleep at all Sunday night and was playing on pure adrenaline. It didn't seem to affect her shot, though. She had by far her best game of the NCAA tournament, scoring a career-high 28 points, including six 3-pointers.

Frese did not appear to be hampered too much — at least she didn't show it. Her enthusiasm and intensity on the sidelines was as high as it's been all year, despite the illness. She was throwing pump fists in the air throughout the game, even more than she normally does.

"Let me tell you, it was excruciating," Frese said. "I talked myself through it, and I just really felt that they needed to feel my energy and know I was there as well."

The illness wasn't limited to the players, either. Anyone who was staying at the team hotel was at risk. Cheerleaders, band members and some patrons of the Terp booster club also came down with the illness.

Some cheerleaders were unable to perform and were left back at the hotel during the game. One band member was unable to play at the game and other band members were taken to a medical center over the weekend, said Eli Osterloh, assistant director of bands at Maryland.

"What are the odds that you would see something like this happen to a team?" Frese said.

Perry hardly played, logging just eight minutes, 11.5 fewer than her usual average per game. Frese said Perry was still ill and had felt the worst of anyone. And with a few minutes left in regulation, Toliver could be seen coughing as she dribbled the ball up the court.

But from the Terps end, even a stomach bug wasn't enough to stop them from their first trip to the Final Four in 17 years.

"I'm not feeling so hot," Toliver said after the game. "But you know, we're going to Boston so I'm extremely, extremely excited. I don't think anyone would be complaining about stomach aches right at this point."

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