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The Maryland Terrapins celebrate their 81-70 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels on Sunday.

Kristi Tolliver’s 3-pointer with 8 minutes left gave the Terrapins their largest lead at 63-52. As the ball dropped through, Tolliver nodded toward the Maryland fan section and coolly gestured “bring it on.”

For a while, it did seem Maryland was ready to run away with it. But Latta and the Heels had one more run left: North Carolina chipped away with a 11-4 run and Latta’s two free throws with 1:06 left got the Heels within 3 at 73-70.

But there was no panic in these Terps. Shay Doron played cat-and-mouse with Latta as she brought the ball upcourt, then dished to a wide-open Coleman for a layup. The Heels would get no closer.

Doron said the game plan was to keep Latta “in front us all the time, make sure we contested every one of her shots and try to keep the ball out of her hand.”

Latta, the junior guard who finished second in The Associated Press player of the year balloting, fouled out with .7 seconds remaining when she wrestled Coleman to the ground. She walked off to an ovation and a hug from coach Sylvia Hatchell and watched quietly as the Terps celebrated on the sidelines.

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“From the beginning I just wanted to play confident and have fun out there. That’s what I wanted to do, just have fun,” Harper said.

Most of the first half was marked by missed opportunities for the Tar Heels. Carolina hit just one of its first six free throw attempts and failed to capitalize on early turnovers.

Things were even worse from 3-point range, where the Tar Heels one of 11 attempts.

The Terps, meanwhile, went inside early and often to Langhorne and the big sophomore did not disappoint. She was 7-of-8 from the floor, mostly from inside the paint, and had 16 points in the first half to give the Terps a 36-34 lead at the break.

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