No. 14 Maryland women’s basketball survives fourth-quarter scare in 82-73 win over Penn State

Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. — No. 14 Maryland women’s basketball was going to win comfortably on Wednesday night. It held a 19-point lead over Penn State with just under two minutes remaining in the third quarter. Then, the Lady Lions transitioned to a full-court press. 

The Terps had comfortably handled this same defensive setup earlier in the game. But this time around, they could hardly inbound the ball without turning it over. A flurry of giveaways to open the final quarter allowed the Lady Lions to cut the deficit to as low as two, with four and a half minutes remaining. 

Desperately needing momentum, junior Kaylene Smikle scored five points to lead a short, but significant, 7-0 run. That stretch largely took a raucous Recreation Hall crowd out of the game, as Maryland re-established a nine-point lead. Maryland ultimately prevailed by this same margin, 82-73, in a game that became far more stressful than it once seemed.   

“[We] need to continue to work on some of those turnovers that they forced late in that fourth quarter, but [I’m] proud of the fact that we stayed the course,” head coach Brenda Frese said.

Wednesday night marked the Sellers’ return. The 2023 First Team All-Big Ten honoree had missed Maryland’s (17-4, 7-3 Big Ten) previous three games, all of which were losses. She made an almost instantaneous impact. 

Penn State (10-12, 1-10 Big Ten) employed an early full-court press, hoping to create a turnover after the Terps scored on their first two possessions. It nearly worked, as a Lady Lions forward Grace Hall deflected an errant Maryland pass. 

Hall, however, didn’t see which direction the ball ricocheted after getting a hand to it. But Sellers did. 

Sellers picked up the loose ball and quickly pushed it up the floor. After crossing halfcourt, she kicked a pass to Saylor Poffenbarger who was all alone on the wing. Poffenbarger nailed the wide-open triple, giving Maryland an 8-0 lead after just over a minute and a half. 

“She’s getting her rhythm and timing back, so it was good to be able to get those minutes for her under her belt today,” Frese said of Sellers. 

The advantage continued growing as the Terps thoroughly dominated the opening quarter. 

Maryland didn’t provide its sharpest offensive quarter, committing seven turnovers to eight assists. But the Terps were an efficient 9-for-14 from the field to offset the somewhat sloppy play. The Lady Lions, on the other hand, were not. 

Penn State entered the night averaging 21 turnovers per game — a Big Ten-leading mark. It was on pace to obliterate that mark, turning the ball over nine times in the first seven minutes. 

In addition to their turnover woes, the Lady Lions made just three first-quarter field goals and missed all five of their three-point attempts. The difference in offensive production saw Maryland end the opening 10 minutes with a 23-7 lead.   

Lady Lions leading scorer Gracie Merkle single-handedly helped her side close the gap to start the ensuing period. 

The 6-foot-6 center started bullying Maryland defenders in the paint. She scored Penn State’s first eight points of the quarter. 

“We tried to match her with some of our size — I mean she’s just a really really strong post player,” Frese said. “Even when she had two or three people draped on her, she was able to go up with a shot.” 

For a small stretch, the size that Frese was referring to came in the form of Amari DeBerry. The move was relatively productive as DeBerry — who faced a similar defensive assignment against UCLA’s Lauren Betts on Sunday — held Merkle to just one basket during her short stint on the floor. 

Merkle later finished the half with 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting, though it didn’t make a massive difference to the score. 

Led by five points from Sarah Te-Biasu, the Terps narrowly outscored Penn State in the second quarter, ending the opening half with a 41-24 advantage. 

After scoring in double figures the past two games, Te-Biasu easily got past the mark on Wednesday night. She finished the game with a team-leading 20 points. 

“She’s been putting in a lot of work, and had one of her best games,” Frese said. “That’s what we need from her. I thought she had total command of the game.”   

Penn State finally received offensive contributions beyond Merkle in the third quarter. Five different Lady Lions scored, headlined by graduate forward Tamera Johnson, who led the way with seven points.    

Offensively, Maryland steadily kept pace with the Lady Lions for much of the third quarter. But that changed abruptly as the Lady Lions applied their full-court pressure. 

The Terps committed eight turnovers in a six-and-a-half minute span between the third and fourth quarters. Despite facing the Big Ten’s most turnover-prone team, Maryland led that category on Wednesday. It finished with a miraculously high 23 giveaways. 

After Merkle had been the offensive force earlier in the game, graduate guard Gabby Elliot took that notion as the Lady Lions stormed back. She didn’t score at all in the first half but had 19 points on a perfect 8-for-8 shooting in the fourth. 

Yet, despite their lapses on both sides, the Terps staved off the pressure to earn an extremely hard-fought road win. 

Maryland now looks ahead to February, a month which, on paper, looks much kinder than January. The Terps kick off the stretch by hosting Illinois this Sunday at 1 pm.