To end January, No. 14 Maryland women’s basketball picked up its fourth loss in a row and its first of the season against an unranked opponent, Oregon.
The Terps got their season back on track with a six-game win streak in February following the loss.
That set up a rematch between the two teams in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. Maryland entered as the No. 6 seed and Oregon as the No. 11 seed.
The second half matched the trend of their January matchup all over again. A major reason for the first loss was Oregon’s strong fourth quarter, in which they outscored the Terps 24-11. The Ducks outscored the Terps in the fourth quarter again, this time 21-11 to upset Maryland 73-68 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Ehis Etute dominated the Terps with 18 of her 20 points in the second half to eliminate Maryland from the Big Ten tournament — a team that had lost one game in over a month.
“You’re going to see that in March,” Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said. “Second half was a tale of two halves, and, you know, they got hot, and we had an uncharacteristic shooting night.”
For the first half, it looked like the Terps had learned from their mistakes from the first matchup. They hounded Etute, who was a major problem for them in January. She produced a 26-point double-double. Anytime she touched the ball, the defense collapsed on her, giving them a narrow lead heading into the second half.
Katie Fiso came out swinging in the third quarter to swing the momentum in Oregon’s favor. She and Etute combined for just 2 points in the first half, and in the second, they combined for 32 of the team’s 48.
“Honestly, at halftime, when our two leading scorers have a combined two points, just to be one point down at that point, I felt pretty good about our chances,” said Oregon head coach Kelly Graves. “Then those two came out in the second half and played like we know that they can.”
Oluchi Okananwa tried to weather the storm for the Terps. She finished with 27 points with 17 coming in the second half, all while playing through foul trouble. She was the motor that kept trying to keep the Terps’ offense going as the rest of the team’s starting lineup struggled to make shots.
“We have to learn from this loss,” Okananwa said. “At the end of the day it happened, there’s no way for us to reverse the clock, so it’s either we use it or we sink in.”
Yarden Garzon shot 1-of-11 from the field and 1-of-9 from three, while Addi Mack shot just 1-of-6 from the field. Saylor Poffenbarger took just six shots and made three in 38 minutes. The three guards combined for just 11 points and didn’t attempt a free throw.
Mir McLean was playing a huge role for the Terps early on. She was dominant on both sides of the ball, crashing the boards and scoring in the paint. She played pivotal defense on Etute but as the game progressed, she saw less time on the court, which definitely contributed to the loss. She finished with nine points as well as five rebounds.
As great as Maryland’s defense was in the first half, Oregon’s was better. They were able to keep the Maryland lead to only one point despite some of their top scorers struggling from the field.
As Oregon’s offense got better in the second half, its defense was just as good. They held Maryland to 6.7% shooting from the three-point line
Maryland’s defense only got worse as the game went on as multiple players were in foul trouble, opening the door for the Duck takeover.
With the victory, Oregon advances and will face Michigan in the coming round.
The Terps still look ahead to the NCAA tournament, where they will receive an at-large bid.
Prior to the loss, Maryland was projected to be a 4-seed and to have home-court advantage for the first two rounds. That is now a question mark after the loss as the Terps have a long wait until Selection Sunday on March 15.
“It shouldn’t be judged [on] one game,” Frese said. “We’ve seen that being in the best conference in the country, I think you should be rewarded for your body of work.”
