In the Big Ten Tournament semifinals the No. 1 seed Maryland Terrapins (23-2, 17-1 B1G) defeated the Northwestern Wildcats (15-8, 11-7 B1G 10) Friday 85-52.
The 33-point victory was highlighted by an 18-0 Terps run that held the Wildcats to just nine second quarter points at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. This is the seventh straight championship appearance for the Terps, the most of any men’s or women’s team in Big Ten history.
The Terps had six players in double figures. Forward, Alaysia Styles, led the team with 15 points and went 7-7 from the field. Diamond Miller added 13 points and six assists, while Ashley Owusu added 12 points of her own.Faith Masonius provided a nice spark off the bench scoring 11 points, four rebounds and three assists respectively.
“It’s a different type of basketball here at Maryland,” Styles said. “Everyone is elite and everyone cares and that’s what makes us a great team. It’s easy when you’re around people who want the same goal as you.”
Both Mimi Collins and Angel Reese also impressed for the Terps. Collins notched 10 points and five rebounds, while Reese chalked up a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
“You saw a team today that punched first and never looked back,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “Ashley got into foul trouble and we were able to go to our bench and I thought we got stronger and better. We have to be able to have that depth.”
The Terps were stifling on both sides of the ball in this afternoon’s Big Ten contest. Maryland held the Wildcats to shoot under 30% from the field and caused 15 turnovers, which the Terps converted into 19 points. Another key for the Terps was spreading the ball around and utilizing their depth as the team will have to play three games in three days.
“If you’re trying to play three games in three days you have to be able to equalize minutes across the entire roster,” Frese said. “You continue to see the talent we have on this squad. Just a ton of unselfish play.”
Maryland is 17-2 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament after winning the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020 Tournament titles. The Terps are 14-2 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and Frese is 17-3 in the Tournament seeking back-to-back championships.
In the championship, the Terps will face off against the winner of No. 7 seed Michigan State and No. 6 seed Iowa Saturday at 2:00 p.m at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on ESPNU. Maryland swept the regular-season series with Michigan State and defeated Iowa in an offensive shootout in their only meeting 111-93 at the XFINITY Center.
