No. 17 Maryland women’s basketball (16-6, B1G 8-3) returns to College Park with a four game winning streak and intentions to send their seniors off on a positive note, in the midst of a season full of low moments.
Nebraska (17-4, B1G 6-4), a squad which hasn’t played on the road in almost a month, is the opponent for senior day.
The Terps survived a wild day on Thursday at East Lansing. A canceled flight to Michigan slowed their travels. An early ankle injury Ashley Owusu suffered looked to doom their night. And a late effort by the Spartans seemed to really threaten their winning streak.
After averting an upset with its, 67-62, victory, Maryland also fortunately avoided a potentially serious injury, as Owusu was declared as day-to-day following further evaluation.
The Terps already lost Faith Masonius, a trusted starter, to an ACL injury that ended her season. The team was only playing with a seven person rotation with Owusu in the lineup.
With the availability of their starting point guard in question, the Terps ability to initiate offense and score will be in question as well. Owusu averages 30 minutes per contest and has the second most points and the most assists on the team.
If Owusu does not play on Sunday freshman guard Shyanne Sellers should see an increased role. Though she has performed at a high level as a freshman, she’ll likely be asked to play for significant minutes in a tight rotation.
With or without Owusu, the Terps hope to remain unbeaten against Nebraska and defend their 14-0 all-time record against the Cornhuskers.
Before tipoff, Maryland will honor the team’s four seniors, Chloe Bibby, Katie Benzan, Channise Lewis and Zoe Young.
All have forged out roles as unique leaders and helped contribute to Maryland’s perennial success. Bibby, originally a senior transfer from Mississippi State, quickly emerged as the soulful voice of the team and lengthy swing woman on the floor. Benzan, a Harvard graduate transfer, offered much of the same leadership coupled with elite sharpshooting.
Lewis and Young, though not logging the on court minutes their graduating counterparts have, have provided guidance on the bench and in the locker room. A proper sendoff will only be possible with a victory over the Cornhuskers.
Nebraska also enters the game on a four game winning streak and has been largely underrated despite starting the season 13-0. The Cornhuskers season has been led by a contingent of freshmen and sophomores.
In the game that followed their first loss, the Cornhuskers upset then-No.8 Michigan by 21 points. Currently, the Cornhuskers hold the sixth spot in the conference.
The Cornhuskers average 8.7 three pointers a game, second best in the conference, while allowing the lowest three point percentage in the league (25%).
Nebraska is also a strong rebounding team averaging a total of 43.1 rebounds a game and it is the second best defensive and offensive rebounding team in the conference.
Sophomore guard Jaz Shelley leads the team in rebounds averaging 7.7 a game and averages 12.4 points a game.
The Cornhuskers have a star freshman in forward Alexis Markowski who leads the team, averaging 12.5 points per game. Markowski has scored double figures in nine straight games.
Fans can watch the game on Big Ten Plus on Sunday at 1 p.m.
