Maryland women’s basketball earned their 15th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance on Sunday night, drawing a four-seed where head coach Brenda Frese and the Terps will host Norfolk State. Winner will face fifth-seed Alabama or 12th-seed Green Bay as head coach Brenda Frese looks to secure her 12th appearance in the Sweet 16 with a path at home to do so.
Maryland is in the Birmingham Region with top-seed South Carolina and third-seed North Carolina, though two-seed Duke previously fell to Maryland, 85-80, in College Park back on Nov. 10.
This is the Terrapins' 21st NCAA Tournament under Frese in her 23 seasons in College Park. Under Frese, Maryland is 41-18 (.695) in the NCAA Tournament and 53-30 (.639) in 30 total appearances. The Terrapins have advanced to 11 Sweet Sixteens, seven Elite Eights, three Final Fours and the 2006 NCAA Championship under Frese.
In a season that has featured plenty of highs and lows, Maryland is coming off a 23-7 (13-5) finish with five ranked wins this season, though they’ll look to turn the page from their blowout loss vs. Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament. Maryland has also had to battle through injuries woes with Frese watching Bri McDaniel, who was still named an All-Big Ten selection, suffer a torn ACL vs. Minnesota. Senior leader Shyanne Sellers was also held out after battling a knee injury before returning to close out the regular season.
“I feel like we need to have the mentality of this is the last one. I feel like the mentality today was, oh, we still have one more, but it needs to be like this is really the last one until next year. So we have to make a statement. Us losing by 27 to a team that we beat in season is unacceptable,” Christina Dalce said after the Big Ten Tournament loss. “Every team moving forward that we play against in March Madness is going to think they can compete with us. We have to have the mentality that nobody can compete with us and we have to elevate forward, and we have to play as if this was our very last game ever playing basketball.”
Related Links
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on YouTube