Thomas Leads Terp Women Past Wake In ACC Tourney
By JOEDY McCREARY
AP Sports Writer
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- Alyssa Thomas had the first triple-double in Atlantic Coast Conference tournament history, and No. 10 Maryland beat Wake Forest 92-81 in overtime in a quarterfinal Friday night.
Thomas -- the league's two-time player of the year -- had a career-high 32 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for her second triple-double this season. She helped the second-seeded Terrapins (24-6) sidestep a major scare against a Wake Forest team they beat by 26 points five nights earlier.
Maryland scored the first 10 points of OT, with Thomas starting the run by hitting a twisting layup with 3:45 left. Eight of her points came in overtime to send the Terps into the semifinals for the second straight year.
Chelsea Douglas scored a career-high 31 points for 10th-seeded Wake Forest (13-19), which ran out of steam in overtime and was denied its biggest victory since knocking off then-No. 7 Miami in last year's quarterfinals.
Asia Williams scored 19 points and Lakevia Boykin added 17 for the Demon Deacons, who were seeking their first win over the Terrapins since 2003. Douglas was 11 of 21 from the field while surpassing her previous high of 24 points set last month at Duke.
Tianna Hawkins had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Terps, while Chloe Pavlech had 14 points with four 3-pointers and Katie Rutan scored 13.
The lead changed hands on seven consecutive possessions in the final 3 1/2 minutes, with Pavlech's open 3-pointer in the corner putting the Terps up 79-77 with 32.9 seconds left.
Wake Forest milked the clock before Douglas missed on a driving layup with about 7 seconds left. Sandra Garcia was fouled on the rebound by Thomas with 5.4 seconds left and hit both free throws to tie it at 79.
Maryland called a timeout but Rutan's 3 in transition clipped the left side of the rim as time expired.
Maryland trailed 68-61 with just under 7 minutes left but reeled off seven straight points and tied it on Thomas' fast-break layup with 5:15 to play. Neither team led by more than a bucket after that in regulation.
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Follow Joedy McCreary on Twitter at @JoedyAP.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
