Maryland women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese has commended her team’s unselfishness throughout the year. She’s lauded her players for passing out of good shots and into great shots.
In Thursday’s game against Saint Peter’s, though, just about any shot by center Brionna Jones qualified as a great look at the basket.
Jones scored 11 of the team’s first 13 points. For the second consecutive contest, when she left midway through the second quarter, she was outscoring the opponent by herself.
The Terps relied on Jones’ career-high 30 points to push them through a sluggish start and pull away with a 101-49 win over the Peacocks.
“Obviously we played through Bri,” Frese said. “I didn’t think they had an answer for her.”
Jones left the floor halfway through the second quarter with 19 points on 9 of 10 shooting in 14 minutes. The 6-foot-3 senior returned with the rest of the starters after halftime and poured on 11 more points in about six minutes of action.
“It’s a situation where, as guards, we don’t have to force anything up. We know we can always look inside for [Jones] and depend on her to finish the play,” guard Ieshia Small said. “For me, it’s just racking up my assists.”
Jones reached 29 points with layup, but before she could convert the and-one, she had to wait through a media timeout.
“[Frese] was just like, ‘Make this last free throw,'” Jones said. “I didn’t know why.”
Jones did to reach the 30-point mark, and Frese immediately replaced her. Jones finished shooting 14-for-16 from the field.
Part of the Havre de Grace native’s success came because the Peacocks elected not to bring an extra defender onto her, unlike most of the Terps’ early-season opponents when struggling to defend her post presence.
“I was definitely surprised that there wasn’t a double-team coming,” Jones said. “The first couple possessions I was catching [the ball] and looking over my shoulder, waiting for it. I just took advantage of that tonight.”
While Jones dominated inside, scoring all but one of her field goals from the paint, the team was cold from outside.
That’s why the Peacocks kept pace with the Terps early. The game was tied at 13 with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter.
“We started slow defensively,” Frese said. “We looked sluggish.”
The team’s never found a rhythm, finishing the game 3-for-11 from three-point range after starting 1-for-8.
The defense responded, though, and for the second consecutive game, Maryland managed a second-quarter run. After a 16-2 stretch against UMBC on Tuesday, the Terps did even better against the Peacocks.
With about eight minutes left in the first half, Saint Peter’s trailed by five. Then, Maryland went on a 21-2 run to extended its lead to 24 in less than five minutes.
Jones left midway through that stretch after contributing four points, two steals and one block, assist and rebound.
“It started with Bri really just attacking off the bounce. She was really aggressive going to the rim,” Frese said. “Our team did a tremendous job … understanding percentages and getting the ball inside.”
Guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough added 16 points, while forward Brianna Fraser scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
After the game, though, there was no doubt who the night belonged to.
“I just want to be like Bri,” Fraser said.
