Diamond Miller ran down the open court, sinking a layup on a breakaway. Miller secured four shots, and four rebounds, in four minutes.

No. 14 Maryland women’s basketball took much better care of the ball against the Panthers after a high turnover rate against DePaul. 

In the Terps’ final of three games at the Fort Myers Tip-Off, Maryland lost its first game to DePaul, bounced back with a win over Towson, and secured an 87-63 win to Pittsburgh.

“It’s been first class all the way, so super grateful to just play in a tremendous tournament,” Coach Brenda Frese said. “We’re gonna learn a lot about our team playing three games in three days and just really love to be able to see our toughness and our resiliency… [we] came out really aggressive and just sharing the basketball like we did today.”

Guard Abby Meyers sank a 10-footer giving Maryland a lead early in the game (16-9). Meyers exhibited massive strength on the court, ending the game with five rebounds, four assists and 23 points.

“I’ve definitely been in this game long enough to know that I can have a few games where it doesn’t meet my standard of excellence and what I know I can reach,” Meyers said. “The first two games, personally, I think that I tried to do other things because my shot wasn’t falling in this game, you know. Second shot was a three, knocked it down, and I knew that I had the green light in terms of knocking down those threes.”

A transfer-heavy group for Frese led the Terps in field goals.

Guard/forward Brinae Alexander with 17, Meyers had 23, and 10. Guard Lavender Briggs all set their Maryland career highs in this game.

Alexander hit five threes, giving the team room to slow down offensively. Sellers drained a three at the buzzer of the third quarter, giving Maryland a 22-point lead over the Terps’ old ACC rival.

“When you can knock down the three, it gives you some more room,” Frese said. “When there’s mistakes and errors, it’s able to open up the game for us.”

Miller played for 17 minutes but had a team-high of nine rebounds.

“She’s [Diamond] a tremendous player that wants to win and just continuing to keep challenging everybody on this team,” Frese said.

Faith Masonius was a steady force in the game. Her interior defense skills showed through the hustle and four rebounds.

Briggs provided the offensive leader for the Terps in the third quarter, concluding the game with eight rebounds and ten field goals.

Freshman Gia Cook showed off her lightning-quick point guard skills with a high of 10 points against DePaul. Cook made 4-6 points from the free-throw line.

Panther Channise Lewis played against her former team ending with nine points and five assists. The Panthers had 18 turnovers, while Maryland had 14.

Maryland finished the game shooting 44% and limited Pittsburgh to 32% from the field. Frese wants to continue getting more on-court experience for her.

“We’re still learning with this group, three games in three days,” Frese said. “Huge takeaways from today showed what we are capable of.” 

The last four minutes included the four freshmen, getting used to playing. The team building will continue to improve as the team performs more together.

“There’s a lot of new players that are playing together for the first time, but they’re being super intentional, very very unselfish,” Frese said. “I think they saw when we moved the basketball like this, you know, everyone’s going to be able to score and assist on basketball. It’s a fun way to play and just a talent.”

“Just one game at a time, improving our practices,” Frese emphasized. “Just one game at a time.”

The Terps secured a 2-3 weekend going into its Notre Dame game Thursday, Dec. 1., at 6:30 p.m.