No. 2 seed Maryland women’s basketball soars past Mount St. Mary’s to advance to Round of 32

Photo Courtesy of Maryland Athletics

With just over viii minutes in the 3rd quarter, a Mount St. Mary's role player drove to the left, attempting to get a shot to get and requite a spark to a struggling Mountaineer criminal offence.

Instead, that shot met the hand of Chloe Bibby, who swatted the endeavour and then saved it from going out of bounds by tapping information technology to Katie Benzan. Benzan threw it ahead to Ashley Owusu, who led the break and attacked the rim earlier handing it off to Diamond Miller for the layup.

As has been the story all season, a stellar defensive presence led to a balanced offensive attack in round i of the NCAA tournament as Maryland avant-garde to the round of 32 with a resounding 98-45 win over Mount St. Mary's. The 53-point victory is the largest margin of victory in an NCAA tournament game by a Maryland men's or women's basketball team ever.

The opening period was a fast paced show that featured both teams trading baskets back and along. At one point Bibby hit a three-arrow on the break, just for a Mountaineer to come up down and answer with a three. A few minutes later, Benzan the sharpshooter knocked down a triple, but Mountain St. Mary's responded with a three from the corner to cut the Terps lead to 1.

Nevertheless, ane team couldn't keep up. The Terps went on a 8-0 run late in the first to proceeds a ten-betoken cushion heading to the second.

"When we started, it looked like we had a little fleck of rust and maybe some jitters," caput coach Brenda Frese said. "One time nosotros settled in, and especially when you wait at the 2d quarter, I mean that'southward as dominant as yous can get."

From there, Maryland put on an absolute clinic on both ends of the floor, allowing merely iv points to the Mountaineers in the 2d quarter. The Terps outscored the Mountaineers 25-4 in the period and ended the half on a 23-ii run. Mount St. Mary's shot 2-sixteen from the field and 0-7 from beyond the arc in the 2nd frame. At the intermission, Maryland led 53-22.

The Terps force over 20 turnovers a game with an aggressive defensive assail that extends far beyond the perimeter. Against Mount St. Mary's, Maryland dialed up that force per unit area, getting in its opponents confront and forcing them to plough the ball over and take ill-advised shots. Mount St. Mary's had 20 turnovers in the contest that led to thirty points for the Terps.

"In one case nosotros were able to become into a rhythm, it forced them into a lot of turnovers," Frese said. "We build a lot of our energy off of our defense that leads to our law-breaking."

The domination continued in the 2nd half equally Maryland never allowed the Mountaineers breathing room. Every agile Terp saw the floor, with nine players entering the scoring column. As is common with the tiptop scoring criminal offence in the state, five players reached double figures in the starting time round matchup.

In their outset ever NCAA tournament game, the sophomore duo of Owusu and Miller shined. Owusu finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds and seven assists. Miller finished with xix points. Bibby, who does have tournament experience as a senior transfer from Mississippi State, recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards.

"Information technology feels great to be a part of it, particularly with this group of girls considering nosotros all take so much love for each other on and off the courtroom," Owusu said.

With the win, Frese moves to 16-0 in first round games at Maryland. The Terps advance to the Round of 32 and volition face No. 7 Alabama on Wednesday.

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Source: http://wmucsports.net/no-2-seed-maryland-womens-basketball-soars-past-mount-st-marys-to-advance-to-round-of-32/