By: Brinkley Smith
Maryland entered Sunday undefeated all-time against Illinois, looking to secure head coach Brenda Frese's 600 career win at Maryland on Senior Day. Instead, Maryland was handed its third home loss of the season included second within a seven-day stretch after Illinois pulled out the last-second 66-65 upset in a battle from start to finish.
Despite Illinois getting on the board first with a layup from guard Genesis Bryant, it didn’t take long for Maryland to respond. Guard Kaylene Smikle found herself putting up 2-points for the Terps.
However, the Terps still seemed to struggle on both sides of the ball. The first quarter became about finding rhythm as Frese worked through her rotation to get Maryland settled through the first quarter
Maryland’s first three-pointer of the game came off a pass from Emily Fisher as she stood under the hoop, getting a pass off to Smikle for a clean shot to help Maryland take a seven-point lead into the second quarter.
Saylor Poffenbarger extended that lead to nine, Maryland's largest lead of the day, after opening the second quarter with a jumper before Illinois responded with a 9-2 run, prompting Frese called a 30-second timeout.
Maryland would struggle from deep in the second quarter after missing all five attempts, but the Terps entered the half with a slight two-point advantage, leading 32-30. Yet with five turnovers in the first half, Maryland knew something had to change offensively.
Maryland guard Shyanne Sellers scared Terps fans again, leaving at the beginning of the third quarter after a collision, which left her limping off the court and into the tunnel. However, the Xfinity Center filled itself with cheers when Sellers returned to the bench, giving Frese a thumbs up, signifying that she was ready to return to the court.
The third quarter was a game of back-and-forth between the two teams. A three-pointer from Sellers should’ve sealed the Terps with a lead entering the fourth quarter, but Illinois forward Berry Wallace responded with a three-pointer herself to tie the teams 50-50 at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter brought the same frustrations. With under a minute left in the game, Illinois forward Brynn Shoup-Hill drilled a three-pointer to put them ahead of the Terps 64-63.
But with only 14 seconds left on the clock, Sellers put the Terps back on top. However, that lead was halted quickly after a foul was drawn by guard Sarah Te-Biasu, allowing Illinois Bryant to add 2 points after making the free throw attempts.
Offensively, the Terps had some challenging moments, but Sellers said she felt like, defensively, Maryland couldn’t get the stops they needed, and it cost them. The Terps struggled on the free throw line as they were only 9 for 13 on free throws compared to Illinois, who shot 100% of its free throws.
“We knew they were an elite free throw shooting team. We wanted to keep them off the line," Frese said after the loss. When you talk about 100% from the free throw line, you know that was really impactful. And from our end, we want to get to the free throw line more than 13 times, but our percentage clearly wasn’t as great as theirs."
Frese noted that Illinois shortened the game by constantly taking possession out of the game, and when they didn’t have anything to transition on, Illinois would run down the shot clock and execute in the end. Coach Frese expects Orgeon to do the same thing later this week.
The game also honored five seniors before tip-off. Emma Chardon, Christina Dalce, Amari DeBerry, Sellers and Te-Biasu. Even though the outcome wasn’t what Maryland had in store to honor its seniors, several players had notable performances throughout the game.
Sellers had four rebounds and 14 points in the game. In the first quarter, Sellers reached another career milestone as she now totals 1,500 career points. Smikle also had a strong performance with seven rebounds and 15 points scored.
Kaylene Smikle led the way for Maryland with 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting in the loss.
Despite the loss, Coach Frese still finds positivity in the situation.
“It prepares you for March right now because you have to go to your strengths, and if you don’t, you’re going to pay for it, you’re going to lose, and your season will be over. So we’re learning those lessons right now in February that hopefully we won’t have to make in March,” said Frese.
Frese remains one game away from securing her 600th career win at Maryland.
Maryland will travel to Oregon on Feb. 6 to face the Ducks. Tip-off begins at 9 P.M. and can be streamed on FS1.
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