Maryland shuts down an ex-Terp on way to huge win

The group greeted Taylor Mikesell with a smattering of boos throughout pregame introductions and loud cheers when she missed her first shot try of the sport. The previous Terrapin’s return to XFINITY Heart started unceremoniously, and issues solely acquired worse for her from there.

In a much-anticipated battle of top-10 groups, No. 8 Maryland (19-5, 10-3 Massive Ten) stifled Mikesell – as soon as a standout guard for the Terps who transferred after two seasons in School Park – and ran away with a 90-54 victory Sunday over No. 10 Ohio State (20-4, 9-4 Massive Ten).

The win got here simply three days after the Terps seemed overmatched towards one other elite convention foe in a 96-82 loss at No. 6 Iowa. On Sunday, Maryland responded emphatically: The 36-point victory was this system’s largest ever towards a top-10 opponent.

“I used to be extraordinarily annoyed after the Iowa recreation simply because I felt like we didn’t carry out the best way we would have liked to carry out for that recreation, and we knew we had been able to competing and beating groups like Iowa,” Terps senior guard Diamond Miller mentioned. “So popping out [Sunday] was extraordinarily essential for us simply to point out that we are able to play 40 minutes and we’re one of many high contenders within the Massive Ten.”

After permitting Iowa star Caitlin Clark to attain 42 factors final week, the Terps fared significantly better Sunday at slowing down Mikesell, limiting the Buckeyes’ main scorer to 12 factors on 5-of-19 capturing. One of the crucial prolific three-point shooters within the historical past of Division I girls’s school basketball – her 411 profession threes ranks tenth all-time – Mikesell didn’t join from past the arc till late within the second quarter.

It was a far cry from Mikesell’s earlier conferences towards her former workforce. In two prior matchups versus Maryland, the previous Massive Ten Freshman of the 12 months was practically unstoppable, averaging 31 factors per recreation and capturing 23-of-29 from the sector, together with 10-of-12 from three.

“Simply every little thing was higher about them right this moment, however particularly to the protection, they sort of threw some junk on the market and tried to take Taylor Mikesell away early on,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff mentioned. “I believed within the first quarter, we acquired sufficient good photographs, however we didn’t capitalize, and I feel after that, we acquired slightly bit anxious and took some fast dangerous photographs making an attempt to get again within the recreation.”

Maryland yielded 29 first-quarter factors in its loss to Iowa however adopted Sunday by holding Ohio State to seven factors within the opening quarter, constructing a 19-7 lead that was by no means meaningfully doubtful. The Terps led by as many as 39 and restricted one of many nation’s best offensive groups to 54 factors, nearly 29 beneath its season common.

“That for us is the distinction: our mentality,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese mentioned. “Once we’re a linked unit like we had been tonight, we might change up our defenses. We had been in box-and-one, full-court press, our halfcourt man – we are able to do a number of issues to throw the rhythm off of a workforce. We tried a number of issues towards Iowa, however sadly we weren’t as linked on the defensive finish.”

Considerably serendipitously, the sport was a matchup of two gamers, Miller and Ohio State’s Jacy Sheldon, who’re prone to be chosen within the 2023 WNBA Draft. Sheldon, a 2022 first workforce All-Massive Ten choice, sat out the earlier 18 video games with a foot damage however returned to the Buckeyes lineup Sunday.

Miller, nonetheless, received the day. Relentlessly driving to the paint all afternoon, she led all scorers with 29 factors and grabbed 10 rebounds, together with the five hundredth of her profession. Senior guard Abby Meyers added 22 factors, whereas sophomore guard Shyanne Sellers contributed 19.

“I used to be undoubtedly pissed off, you understand?” Miller mentioned. “They had been very aggressive in the direction of me, and I suppose I simply confirmed them what actual aggression is.”

Amongst these in attendance to scout Miller and Sheldon had been Washington Mystics common supervisor Mike Thibault and head coach Eric Thibault. The Mystics personal the fourth total decide within the draft, which is scheduled for April 10.

Maryland will proceed its Massive Ten schedule on Feb. 9 with a visit to Northwestern (8-14, 1-10 Massive Ten), which at present sits on the backside of the convention.

Right here’s what else to learn about Maryland’s signature win:

A full of life crowd of 11,176 was on-hand for Maryland’s victory Sunday, trailing solely the 12,566 who attended the Terps’ Dec. 11 win over Connecticut as the biggest of the season. It marked the primary time in 5 years that Maryland has drawn at the least 10,000 followers to XFINITY Heart in a number of video games in the identical season.

The Terps fed off the gang all recreation. Within the third quarter, Sellers and Miller celebrated and-one alternatives by high-fiving followers in courtside seats.

“Crowds matter,” Frese mentioned. “What we had been capable of do right this moment and our college students popping out and the gang and the teams that had been right here – it has a big effect, and Iowa did the identical factor to us. It has a big effect in your visiting workforce.”

Maryland took an enormous step Sunday in the direction of securing a coveted top-four seed within the Massive Ten Event, which begins March 1 in Minneapolis. With 5 video games remaining, all towards convention opponents, the Terps are in sole possession of third place. They personal the head-to-head tiebreaker over Michigan (19-5, 9-4 Massive Ten), which is tied with Ohio State in fourth place. The highest 4 finishers within the common season standings will earn byes into the quarterfinals of the convention match.

The Terps will face a troublesome highway to closing out a top-four seed. In response to the Massey rankings, Maryland has the hardest schedule within the nation when factoring in remaining video games. These embody a matchup on Feb. 12 towards Illinois, which acquired votes in the latest high 25, in addition to rematches on Feb. 21 vs. Iowa and Feb. 24 at Ohio State.

Previous to the sport, the Terps held a ceremony honoring level guard Elisa Pinzan for scoring her 1,000th profession level. The native of Murano, Italy, who transferred to Maryland this season after recording 916 factors at South Florida, achieved the milestone in the course of the Terps’ loss at No. 6 Iowa on Feb. 2.

The Terps now have 5 1,000-point scorers on their roster. Meyers, Brinae Alexander and Lavender Briggs every notched their 1,000th profession factors earlier this season. Miller reached the mark final yr and ranks seventeenth on this system’s all-time scoring checklist with 1,482.

Sapna Bansil is a pediatric occupational therapist turned journalist who’s enrolled within the graduate program on the Philip Merrill School of Journalism on the College of Maryland.