EUGENE, OR — Maryland senior Shyanne Sellers delivered an optimistic inbounds pass toward Saylor Poffenbarger early in the second quarter. Poffenbarger controlled the ball while falling out-of-bounds and quickly dished a pass to Sarah Te-Biasu.
The graduate guard fought between two defenders, working back near midcourt to rest Maryland’s offense. With little off-ball movement around her, Te-Biasu decided to go alone — an often successful formula on Thursday night.
Te-Biasu stepped into a left-wing three-pointer, nailing the bucket with a hand in her face. The graduate guard tallied a season-high 26 points as the team’s offensive focal point. Her career performance propelled No. 16 Maryland to a 79-61, get-right victory over Oregon at Matthew Knight Arena.
“We need the scoring,” head coach Brenda Frese said of Te-Biasu. “She just [has] great understanding of when to score and when to get others involved.”
Maryland’s (18-5, 8-4 Big Ten) comfortable victory was also Frese’s 600th win as the Terps’ head coach.
“When I came into Maryland, I remember not knowing if I was going to be good enough,” Frese said. “To now be 23 years here at Maryland, and have my mom and my brother here to help celebrate, it makes it kind of the cherry on top.”
Defending size had been an issue for the Terps, specifically in recent matchups against UCLA and Penn State. The Ducks (16-7, 7-5 Big Ten) made a pointed effort to exploit that fault in the early going, primarily feeding their offense through 6-foot-8 center Phillipina Kyei.
Maryland was additionally without 6-foot-6 center Amari DeBerry — due to an illness — on Thursday night. But despite their lack of size, the Terps consistently frustrated Kyei in the first half.
Forward Allie Kubek had the primary defensive assignment on Kyei, and the Terps often rotated a second defender to help whenever the Oregon center received passes in or near the paint. With those double teams, the Terps held Kyei to just four points on 1-for-4 shooting from the field.
A mix of staunch defense and efficient offense helped Maryland to a 19-9 advantage by the end of the opening quarter.
Te-Biasu scored most of her points in the first half, as Maryland expanded upon its early dominance in the ensuing quarter.
The graduate guard shot an uber-efficient 7-for-8 from the field in the first half, scoring 17 points to lead all scorers at the break.
Te-Biasu’s efficient evening was another notch in her scorching stretch of late.
Last season’s Atlantic-10 Player of the Year had reached double figures in Maryland’s previous four games. That run included what was a season-high 20-point performance against Penn State last Wednesday. She eclipsed that threshold by sinking a trio of free throws late in the third quarter.
“The coaching staff, my teammates, they say we need to be more aggressive,” Te-Biasu said. “We need you to be confident, and that’s what I’m doing right now.”
The Maryland point guard led all scorers by halftime, as the Terps held a comfortable, 39-22 advantage at the break.
Oregon’s offense steadily found more rhythm as the game progressed, particularly once its bench scorers got involved. The Ducks outscored a depleted Maryland bench 37-6 in the second half, but the massive difference proved insignificant as shots began falling for other Terps.
Midway through the third quarter Kubek drew contact on the right wing, causing her defender to back off. Both were seemingly anticipating a whistle, but no call was made. Kubek ultimately decided to pull the open look, burying a pure triple.
Kubek had the ball in a nearly identical spot on the court during Maryland’s next possession.
Instead of attempting back-to-back threes though, she dished a perfectly weighted bounce-pass to Poffenbarger, who knocked down a corner three to put the Terps ahead 56-25.
Maryland’s 31-point lead ended up being its largest of the evening.
Kubek and Poffenberger both finished with double-digit points, the latter adding 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Kaylene Smikle also tacked on 21 points thanks to a perfect 10-for-10 showing from the charity stripe.
The Ducks used an 8-0 run late into the third quarter, but it was nothing more than a dent in Maryland’s lofty advantage. Oregon never sustained its scoring runs for more than a few possessions at a time, a predominant reason why the Ducks could never cut the deficit to a reasonable margin.
Maryland held onto its double-digit lead for the entirety of the second half, coasting to its largest conference win this season.
“We don’t like to look too far,” Smikle said. “Day by day, we work and get better, and I think the little things and being consistent in what we do is going to help us in the long run.”
The Terps will travel up Interstate 5 for its next matchup — a 4 p.m. EST tipoff against Washington on Super Bowl Sunday.
