COLLEGE PARK, MD — Maryland women’s basketball forward Christina Dalce eyed the basket, waiting to take her second free throw of the night early in the third quarter against Michigan. Dalce had just made the first but subsequently missed the second. It worked out for the Terps though.
Dalce’s miss hit the front left edge of the rim, rebounding out in that same direction. Despite being the shortest player on the floor, graduate guard Sarah Te-Biasu grabbed the loose ball and hit a three. The triple gave Maryland its first lead in over 15 minutes of game time.
The Terps struggled mightily to create sizable separation during the second half, never holding an advantage greater than seven points until the very end. But Maryland never broke; it tirelessly clung to the lead after Te-Biasu’s go-ahead triple, ultimately besting the Wolverines 85-77 on Monday night.
“I thought that run that we had at the end of the second and to start the third was about the best we could have possibly played,” Frese said.
The victory ended Maryland’s three-game skid at the XFINITY Center and put the Terps back into serious contention for a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament.
Michigan’s array of elite scoring talent was on display from the jump.
After Maryland posted the first three points of the night, Wolverine freshman Olivia Olson — the Big Ten’s leading freshman scorer — started her tally for the night with a sure-handed layup.
Olson’s make was her first of four in the opening quarter. She and fellow freshman Syla Swords combined to score Michigan’s first 17 points of the night.
In a trend opposite to the Wolverines, Frese turned to her bench depth far sooner than usual.
“I’m not going to watch kids go three-quarters speed anymore,” Frese said when asked if she had planned to get the bench involved early on. “I’d rather have all out effort and energy, so yeah, it was intentional.”
The Maryland head coach got nine different Terps on the floor within the first five minutes of the game. Five different Terps scored during the first 10 minutes as a result of the move, but Maryland couldn’t establish a consistent scoring rhythm during the frame — particularly from deep.
Michigan shot an efficient 3-for-5 from behind the arc in the first quarter; the Terps came up empty on all three of their attempts.
Trailing 25-17 early in the second quarter, Te-Biasu drilled a catch-and-shoot three-pointer from the left wing, which seemed to spark Maryland’s offense.
A few possessions later, Saylor Poffenbarger made Maryland’s second triple of the night — this time from the opposite wing.
Senior Shyanne Sellers assisted Poffenbarger on the shot — a dish that was just a footnote in the game but significant in the context of Sellers’ career. The assist was Sellers 500th, making her the first Maryland player to ever reach 1,500 points, 500 assists, and 500 rebounds in a career.
After reaching the milestone, Sellers then dipped into her scoring bag.
The senior hit a running, and-one jumper inside the paint on the possession following Poffenbarger’s make. Sellers sank her ensuing free throw before making a three-pointer that cut Maryland’s deficit to just three points.
It appeared that was the closest the Terps would get to taking the lead when the Wolverines responded with an 8-2 run over the next two and half minutes. But Maryland closed the half on an even more convincing 8-0 run, establishing desperately needed momentum at the break.
“Being united and knowing that we’re never out of a game, that’s huge, especially in Big Ten play,” Sellers said. “If you’re going to give up then you can just walk off the floor.”
The Terps quickly flipped their 40-38 halftime deficit into a lead after Te-Biasu’s early third-quarter three-pointer. That make was also just the start of a dominant second half for the VCU transfer.
Te-Biasu finished the game with 21 points after having five at the break. She also combined with Poffenbarger to score 16 points in the third quarter; the pair shot a perfect 7-for-7 from the field in that penultimate frame.
But no matter which Terp scored, Michigan remained persistent.
The Wolverines got five more shot attempts than Maryland did in the third quarter thanks to an 11-2 offensive rebounding margin. Rather crucially though, The Terps held the Wolverines to just one three-point attempt after Michigan had taken 12 in the first half.
Maryland’s lead was down to one by the end of the third quarter. That advantage peaked as high as six in, with Sellers bossing proceedings in the final period. The senior scored 10 points in the final quarter, bringing her overall tally for the night to 18.
With the Terps leading by four and just under 90 seconds left to play, Swords split two Maryland defenders near the arc before darting toward a seemingly unguarded rim. Just as Swords’ layup attempt left her hand though, Dalce rotated to basket and empathically swatted the ball out of bounds.
The Wolverines failed to put up a shot after inbounding the ball. Dalce — a 50% free throw shooter — sank both of her attempts after getting fouled on Maryland’s ensuing possession. Those two points gave the Terps a 79-73 lead, virtually icing the contest with under a minute to play.
With victory in hand though, Sellers suffered what appeared to be a knee injury. The XFINITY Center crowd fell to a hush as she was helped off the court.
Despite the scare, though, Sellers later walked into the postgame under her own power and indicated that the knock was far less severe than it may have first appeared.
“I’m getting old, so I can’t keep falling,” Sellers joked. “I’m alright.”
Maryland has just three Big Ten regular-season games remaining. It travels to Northwestern and Indiana for games on the 20th and 27th, respectively, before closing out the conference campaign in a home matchup against No. 8 Ohio State on March 2nd.
