The Terrapins women’s basketball team’s practice Monday appeared to unfold like many others have this season.
But as the Terps prepared for an away game against Purdue a day later, there was one distinct difference.
Aside from about 10 minutes during practice, guard Chloe Pavlech said, a piercing sound meant to replicate crowd noise filled the arena. It would stop whenever coach Brenda Frese had something to say, only to continue when she finished talking.
When the Terps battle the Boilermakers on Tuesday at Mackey Arena, they’ll compete in a venue that has led the Big Ten in average attendance for nine straight seasons and hosts 6,219 fans per game this year. And as they did in training Monday, the Terps will attempt to block out the distractions of a raucous environment.
“When you scout them on film, it’s loud,” Frese said. “They have great fan support. They’ll count down the shot clock for you with the wrong count. Their band is really loud. It’s a great road environment, and just trying to prepare our kids for it.”
This marks the first time the Terps have attempted to duplicate an opponent’s crowd noise this season, but Frese has implemented the measure in the past. Guard Brene Moseley, now a redshirt senior, remembers her coach using the same tactic prior to a game with Florida State on Feb. 28, 2013.
In fact, the Terps took it one step further for that matchup, which ended in a one-point defeat.
“Very repetitive song, so I remember that,” Moseley said. “They played it during pregame, they played it during everything.”
Moseley said this approach better prepared her team for Tuesday’s game as well as moving forward — the Terps travel to No. 7 Ohio State next Monday and play at Northwestern and Rutgers before the end of the season — because it forces the Terps to stay on the same page with limited verbal communication.
If the Terps aren’t able to hear one another on the court, Frese said they can use hand signals to call plays and help run the offense. While it’s not ideal, it’s a tactic center Brionna Jones said the Terps are used to because of their practice habits, which include the use of these gestures.
“If I give certain signs, they’ll know, but everyone’s got to be more in tune and really be focusing on hearing each other,” Moseley said. “We got to kind of look for each other, you know, eye contact and things like that.”
The Terps last made a trip to West Lafayette, Indiana, on Dec. 2, 2010, so Frese has experienced the noise firsthand and conveyed that to her team. Pavlech recalled Frese telling her about how Purdue’s band will shout words mimicking the opponents movements, meaning the Terps might be faced with plenty of “dribble-dribble-pass” cries throughout the game.
Even so, the Terps overcame an 11-point deficit that season to pull out the 56-55 win.
This season’s squad believes they are ready to face the challenge, too.
“We just have to lock in and more so just welcome it and be willing and ready to hopefully silence the crowd,” Pavlech said. “I know some players live for that.”
