No. 4-seed Maryland women’s basketball walked onto the court in Birmingham, Alabama, looking to slay Goliath No. 1-seed South Carolina as a 17 point underdog.
And the Terps performed far better than most pundits expected, leading for almost 17 minutes, and by as much as six points in the second half.
But the effort wasn’t enough, as Maryland season came to a close in the Sweet Sixteen, falling 71-67.
“Really proud of this group,” Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said. “I thought they came out and showed they were fearless and unfazed.”
South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley led all scorers with 23 points, while Kaylene Smikle paced Maryland with 17.
The Gamecocks didn’t instantly jump out as the elite team they had been advertised as.
The Terps were able to string together stops early through a combination of tough and disciplined defense, and sloppiness from South Carolina. Maryland ran into a similar issue, though, missing opportunities for easy makes around the rim and giving the ball away in unforced situations.
South Carolina’s Chloe Kitts carried the team in the first quarter, scoring the Gamecocks’ opening 10 points. Still, after 10 minutes, Maryland remained within a point of one of women’s basketball’s apex predators.
Early on, the Terps struggled with their rhythm on the offensive end, as South Carolina hounded their best players in Sarah Te-Biasu and Shyanne Sellers.
Bree Hall was particularly staunch on the defensive end, making Te-Biasu’s — who has been fantastic recently — life very difficult, even when handling the ball and operating the offense.
Instead, the Terps got a boost from post players Allie Kubek and Smikle, who were able to get to the rim and draw fouls to manufacture offense.
The Terps did enough to take a lead and continued to lock down defensively. They also found ways to get to the free throw line. While Maryland shot well, it still missed five first-half free throws.
The Terps did enough to take a two-point advantage into the break. However, there was a feeling that it could be fool’s gold, as earlier that week, Indiana was in the same position against the Gamecocks before losing by double-digits in the second round.
Maryland didn’t lose any focus, though, playing its best stretch of basketball early in the second half.
The Terps extended their two point lead as far as seven, continuing to swarm the Gamecocks and playing great help defense.
Unfortunately for the Terps, a team as good as South Carolina is never out of the game. It launched a lightning-quick 7-0 run, sparked by Fulwiley off the bench.
“I think today I just was locked in and determined, and it was really straightforward what I wanted to do, which was score,” Fulwiley said.
Fulwiley energized her team by pushing the pace in transition and pulling off highlight finishes. To cap off the 7-0 run, she converted a layup in which she wrapped the ball around her back before floating it in.
Maryland responded well out of a Frese timeout, and from there, the game went back and forth. Down the stretch, it was a competitive battle that stayed around a one- or two-point margin.
Kubek, who looked like the enhanced playoff version of herself Friday, went a perfect 5-of-5 from the field. She imposed her will by using her strength around the rim to seal her defender off.
However, she got into foul trouble after re-entering the game with three fouls. She picked up her fourth penalty on a play where she seemed to be getting hooked near the hoop. Minutes later, she fouled out.
“It’s always tough to not be able to be on the floor and contribute,” Kubek said. “All you can kind of do is just cheer them on and give positive energy off the bench.”
From there, Maryland was able to keep it close with its defense, but it was getting smothered offensively by South Carolina. The Terps began forcing up contested shots and blew what should have been a few easy layups.
Maryland’s last lead came with 2:30 left, when Saylor Poffenbarger finished a difficult layup that put it up by one.
The Terps entered a drought, though, and didn’t score for almost three minutes. Finally, a Poffenbarger three brought Maryland’s deficit down to three with under a minute to play.
The Terps had one last chance down four, but Te-Biasu and Sellers fumbled a hand off that gave the ball straight back to the Gamecocks. They were able to put the game to bed at the free throw line.
Three things to know
1. Terps left opportunities out there. You have to play nearly flawless to beat a team like South Carolina. Although Maryland came out and played extremely tough, it made one too many unforced errors to get it done. They shot under 40% from the field, missed five free throws and turned the ball over 14 times.
2. Sellers was relatively quiet. Shyanne Sellers struggled in the final game of her legendary career as a Terp, going 3-of–11 from the field for 10 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five turnovers. Sellers has been playing through a hurt knee, and was dealing with some extremely tough defense from the Gamecocks.
3. A resilient season. This loss will sting for Maryland, but the Terps demonstrated resiliency all year to bounce back from Bri McDaniel’s devastating season-ending injury, as well as Sellers’ and Poffenbarger’s lingering ailments. The contest marked Frese’s 12th trip to the Sweet Sixteen.
“A lot of teams would have folded, after losing Bri,” Frese said. “You’re going to have moments in life where you go through highs and you’re going to have some really low lows. For them, they can see how resilient they were through the course of the season.”
