Wrestling picks up first top-ten win in over a decade
Head coach Alex Clemsen and Maryland wrestling opened up Big Ten play with an emphatic win on Friday night, taking down top-ten Michigan in a 19-18 win. It marked the program’s first win over a top-ten team since Nov. 20, 2009 when they also took down fourth-ranked Ithaca, while it marked the first unranked win over a top-ten team since Nov. 24, 2007 after also defeating Michigan, 18-16.
Braxton Brown kicked off the scoring for Maryland after takedowns in both the first and second period before getting Michigan’s Nolan Wertanen on his back, giving the Terps’ its first lead of the day.
29th-ranked Kal and sixth-ranked Ethen Miller won at 149 and 157 pounds as the brothers helped give the Terps a 12-7 lead at intermission. Ethen’s win kept him perfect on the season after taking down top-20 opponent Chase Saldate.
Taking an 18-15 lead into the heavyweight match, Brown’s pin proved to be the difference to close out the match in Ann Arbor after 13th-ranked Seth Nevills was tasked with avoiding a takedown against tenth-ranked Josh Heindselman, doing exactly that to secure the upset.
After moving to 6-5 (1-0), Maryland will return to action on Sunday at Michigan State with a 1 PM start on B1G+.
Women’s basketball picks up road win
After suffering their first defeat of the season against fourth-ranked USC on Wednesday, Maryland was able to overcome to absence of Saylor Poffenbarger and Sarah Te-Biasu on the road after Shyanne Sellers and Bri McDaniel tied for a team-high 21 points in an 83-68 win against Wisconsin. Kaylene Smikle added 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting while while Christian Dalce was the fourth Terp to finish in double figures with 15 points and eight rebounds. With the two teams battling through the opening minutes of the first quarter, Maryland used a 10-0 run thanks to six from Smikle to control the game early before a Badgers three cut the lead to 20-13 at the end of one.
Maryland stretched its lead back to nine through the second quarter to take a 45-38 lead into halftime, but Wisconsin opened the third quarter lights out on offense before an 11-2 run gave the Badgers their first lead in nearly 20 minutes, prompting Frese to call an early timeout. Wisconsin briefly opened the lead to as many as four points before Dalce split a pair of free-throws to tie the game at 53. Dalce’s floater with 41 seconds left would break the deadlock again, this time giving the Terps a 62-60 lead, before Maryland outscored Wisconsin, 21-8, in the fourth quarter.
After moving to 15-1 (5-1), Maryland returns to action on Monday, Jan. 13 when they host Minnesota for a 6:30 PM tipoff.
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