The first round of March Madness kicked for the Terps Saturday afternoon in the Xfinity Center. The No. 4 Terps downed No. 13 Norfolk State, 82-69.
“Tremendous win, especially the second half,” said head coach Brenda Frese. “I thought on both ends of the floor, stopped turning the basketball over, which helped us in the second half. But, I thought at halftime we were able to kind of reset, take a deep breath, and, you know, allow a lot of these kids, first time on the big stage, to kind of settle in.”
The first quarter didn’t start how the Terps may have anticipated. Norfolk State went on a 7-0 run to open up the game. Terps forward Allie Kubek halted the run with a layup followed by her successful free throw.
As the quarter started to close, Maryland was still down 12-8 with less than five minutes left. That was until guard Sarah Te-Biasu kicked off the Terp’s 10-0 run with Maryland’s first three-pointer.
Going into the second quarter, the Terps were up 18-12. Several star Terps didn’t see the action they had hoped to in the first quarter, including top-scoring guards Shyanne Sellers and Kaylene Smikle.
Sellers only scored two points off a jumper halfway through the second quarter, whereas Smikle only scored three points in the second quarter.
With Norfolk State up over the Terps. 32-30, after the first two quarters, Frese had to do what she does best and rally her Terps together before they face the possibility of an early exit in tournament play. Her Terps needed to reset at halftime.
Smikle said, “one thing we focused on was calming down. I think we started the first half, and a lot of our shots were rushed, or we just weren’t moving, like we just weren’t playing our basketball. So I feel coming out, we know what they were going to come out in so I think we just adjusted and just played freely.”
Maryland began rolling coming out of the half. Te-Biasu drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to start the third quarter. Maryland was electric. The Terps went on several strong offensive runs, scoring a total of 30 points in the third quarter alone.
It took the Terps two quarters to score 30 points, but after a halftime regroup, one quarter was all Maryland needed to redeem themselves. The Terps needed to increase their 8-point lead, 60-52, before they could feel more comfortable securing a win.
Te-Biasu said that confidence was what she needed heading into that second half. “My teammates are like, keep shooting, keep shooting. We need you to shoot. So that gave me confidence, and I kept shooting,” Te-Biasu said.
The fourth quarter brought that same energy as the third quarter. The Terps scored 22 points in the quarter, eight of which came from Smikle and Kubek. The Terps’ largest lead of the entire game came in the fourth quarter at 5:21, a 14-point lead, 72-58. Kubek sealed the game with 28 seconds remaining with a 2-point jumper.
Te-Biasu totaled 22 points on the day, followed by Smikle’s 21 points, Kubek’s 16, and Sellers’ 12 points. Maryland also shot 92% from the free-throw line and 50% from the three-point line.
This is Maryland’s 14th straight appearance and Norfolk State’s third straight appearance. Last season, the Terps exited tournament play in the first round. In all-time appearances, Maryland is 53-30 in the NCAA Tournament.
Frese said that first-round games aren’t what they used to be. With Maryland’s Monday matchup against Alabama, Frese knows her Terps will be battle-tested against a strong SEC team.
“It’s definitely going to take a more connected effort on both ends of the floor,” Frese said if her Terps want to win against Alabama.
With today’s win, the Terps turn to the second round, where Maryland will take on No. 5 Alabama. The game will occur Monday, March 24, at the Xfinity Center in College Park. Game time and broadcast information is to be determined.
By: Brinkley Smith
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