The comeback falls short for No. 20 Maryland in Paris against No. 1 South Carolina
At halftime on Monday, No. 20 Maryland women’s basketball trailed No. 1 South Carolina by 28 points. What could’ve gone wrong in the first half, went wrong. The Terps were getting thumped by a juggernaut.
Then, something changed. Head coach Brenda Frese turned to sophomore guard Addi Mack, and she led an unheralded run.
While Mack’s 35 points weren’t enough to overcome the insurmountable deficit, the Terps had a chance to win the game in their 101-93 loss to the Gamecocks in Paris.
“I think coming in with that defensive-minded mentality, trying to focus on everything but offense, that really helped me in that quarter,” Mack said.
Mack’s first half was relatively unimpressive, as with the rest of Maryland’s performance. Then she put the pedal to the metal.
In the second half, she shot 12-of-14 from the field and 6-of-8 from deep for 31 points. She also had five assists in an effort to shorten the deficit from as high as 31 and as low as six with under a minute remaining.
“I thought our shot selection got a lot better, where they had to run half-court offense. They weren’t getting run-on layups for four shots,” head coach Brenda Frese said.
The six-point lead was South Carolina’s smallest lead against the Terps since the first quarter. But it was too little, too late. Mack and co.’s effort wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the hole.
“With our roster and being the first time for pretty much our entire roster, but three players, [I’m] really proud of the second half and how we played,” Frese said.
While the Terps fell in the end, the shift between halves was mostly due to Mack, but not completely.
The Terps eliminated the mistakes that plagued them in the first half.
In the first half, the Terps had 13 turnovers, 12 fouls, shot 31.4% from the field and 26.7% from deep.
In the second half, the Terps only committed three turnovers, shot 52.5% from the field and 60.0% from deep. South Carolina committed 10 turnovers in the second half and shot 40% from the field.
South Carolina simply outclassed Maryland in every aspect from the jump – the game started with a 26-5 Gamecocks run.
South Carolina didn’t even miss a shot until six minutes into the game with an already 19-point lead.
South Carolina capitalized from the charity stripe, shooting 13-of-15. It also continued to flaunt its accuracy from the 3-point line, shooting 4-for-7, going 57% at the half. Those numbers shifted to 8-of-10 from the free-throw line in the second half and 44.4% from deep.
Even through the third quarter, the mountain seemed insurmountable to climb. Then the momentum shifted, but the Terps were still battling a 19-point deficit.
Then, the comeback happened.
Ultimately, the young Maryland team had multiple strong moments against a dominant South Carolina team. The young Terps team showed resilience against the number one team in the country.
Maryland’s ability to come back the way they did is something to look forward to this season. Proving their ability against the nation’s top team so early in the season gives this young team a momentum boost.
“We went eight for eight with shots that were uncontested, so when we play that way, good things are going to go our way… first game of the season, but a lot of things to be able to build upon,” Frese said.
