The sports pages this week have obviously been dominated by paeans to the little Patriots that could, in all their green and gold glory. Theirs is a worthy story, but it doesn’t constitute the only roundball history being forged by local teams. On Monday, the number 2 seeded Maryland women’s team defeated Utah in overtime to join two other ACC teams (Duke and North Carolina) in the Final Four. This marks the second time in NCAA history that one conference has filled three Final Four spots (the other being the 1985 men’s tournament, when the Big East put Georgetown, St. John’s, and Villanova in the semifinals). It’s the third trip the Terps have made to the women’s Final Four, the first of which came 25 years ago in the first ever women’s NCAA tournament.

Maryland is the only team to advance to the round of four without the benefit of a top seed. The Terps come out of the Albuquerque region, where the top seeded Ohio State Buckeyes fell to Boston College in the second round. In the semifinals, the Terps will take on the Tarheels this Sunday at 7:00 p.m., while Duke faces off against LSU, which was the only non-ACC team to make it to Boston.

The Final Four caps an exciting, 32-4 season for Maryland, during which they vied all year with Duke and North Carolina for the top spot in the nation. During the regular season, they lost twice to the Blue Devils and defeated the Tarheels in their only matchup. In the conference tournament they managed to knock off Duke only to fall to UNC in the championship game. The team finished the season ranked #4 nationally.

For these women, the in depth magazine articles and national sit-down interviews might not be piling up to George Mason levels, but they’re participating in one of the great seasons for a team and a conference that the NCAA has ever seen. We wish them the best of luck on Sunday.

AP Photo taken by Jake Schoellkopf.