Takeaways from No. 4-seed Maryland women’s basketball’s Big Ten Tournament loss to 5-seed Michigan

No. 4-seed Maryland women’s basketball laid a dud in its only game of this year’s Big Ten Tournament. The Terps were embarrassed, 98-71, by No. 5-seed Michigan Friday afternoon.

Here are three takeaways from Maryland’s crushing loss.

A game of runs favored Michigan

Michigan started as well as it possibly could have. With the game tied at six, Michigan went on a remarkable 25-0 run.

“Just disappointed we came out as flat as we did, can’t happen in March,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “We couldn’t buy a bucket to start that first quarter.”

The Terps climbed back, though, as a 23-3 run brought the Terps within a point.

“I loved our response in the second quarter. I thought we got back to playing and being who we are, getting everyone involved in getting on the glass.” Frese said.

Maryland’s response was led by Sarah Te-Biasu, who scored 16 points on 4-of-5 shooting exclusively from deep in the second quarter.

“When you have that momentum in the second quarter, and it’s still going and going and going, you can build off of that,” Christina Dalce said. “I think we got too comfortable in the third quarter.”

Michigan went on another run in the third quarter, ballooning its lead to 20 points at the end of the frame.

Michigan won the game of runs, as Maryland could not respond in the fourth quarter.

Sellers struggled

Maryland star guard Shyanne Sellers posted one of her worst games of the season Friday. She scored two points on 1-of-3 shooting in only 19 minutes, and was clearly not fully healthy; Sellers looked slow and could not move very well.

“Offensively, I thought she got really frustrated. … she was losing her poise and composure,” Frese said.

Sellers was called for an intentional foul after elbowing Jordan Hobbs in the face, essentially ending her night. She has been day-to-day for more than a month and was a limited participant in practice this week.

“I think you saw the game. She had a tough night on both ends of the floor, defensively had a lot of baskets that were scored on her,” Frese said.

Her defense was lackluster. She couldn’t move to stay with her matchup, aiding Michigan’s going on that big run early.

Sellers has been dealing with a knee injury for the last month and a half, which seemed most notable on Friday as she reaggravated it.

“We have a couple of injured players, key players too,” Dalce said. “We tried our best at the end of the day, trying to do everything that we could, but they had fresh legs off the bench.”

Disappointing performance

Maryland came into Friday’s game with momentum as the higher seed and winners of six of its last seven games. The Terps’ confidence was completely shot in the first quarter, and even though the comeback effort was strong, Maryland couldn’t sustain it. The Terps lost in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals for just the second time in program history.

“I would say they came out ready, and I know they had a little bit of an edge because they played yesterday, but they just came out with more energy,” Te-Biasu said. “They just capitalized on everything.”

The Terps have two weeks to reflect on the blow out and get ready for the NCAA Tournament, where a loss ends their season.

“I feel like we need to have the mentality of this is the last one,” Dalce said. “I feel like the mentality today was we still have one more, but it needs to be like this is really the last one until next year.”