Sunday’s 94-61 loss to Florida State offered a rare bit of symmetry for the Terrapin women’s basketball team in an otherwise uneven season.

In January, the Terps opened their conference slate with a 28-point loss at N.C. State. Sunday, they closed it with a similar result, but with far greater implications.

With the team now on the verge of missing its first NCAA Tournament since coach Brenda Frese’s first season in College Park and the regular season finally in the rearview mirror, a look back on the Terps’ roller-coaster ride offers clues into the team’s inconsistency.

“We control our own destiny,” Frese said following the Terps’ loss Sunday. “We have all season long. When you talk about it, it doesn’t come down to this game.”

Indeed, the problems began even before the season tipped off. In April, just two weeks after the Terps’ exit from the NCAA Tournament marked the departure of stars Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver from the program, starting guard Marah Strickland announced her decision to transfer. In October, just weeks from the season’s start, the Terps lost a fourth starter when forward Dee Liles was booted from the team for academic reasons.

A cushy nonconference schedule helped mask those issues and the Terps eased into a 12-2 record entering conference play. But as the team worked past its road worries — the Terps lost three of their first four away games — it repeatedly stuttered at Comcast Center.

At the beginning of the team’s critical and perhaps season-defining stretch, Miami snapped the Terps’ 48-game home winning streak. The Terps then went on a a three-game home losing streak, characterized as much by their immaturity as by their bad luck.

Against No. 6 Duke on Jan. 24, both the perils and promise of youth appeared in a 58-57 loss. While holding the talented Blue Devils to under 30 percent shooting, the Terps missed nearly half of their free throws and committed 19 turnovers before a national television audience.

In an 82-68 trouncing at the hands of Virginia, the Terps allowed the Cavaliers to shake off a dreadful 36 percent first-half shooting performance with a blistering 56 percent shooting mark in the second.

Good fortune didn’t do them any favors, either. The three-point loss to the Hurricanes ended with a flurry of three-pointers from both sides. Unfortunately for the Terps, Miami got the last look. After a Kim Rodgers 3-pointer gave the Terps a 77-74 lead, Miami guard Riquna Williams hit two deep treys of her own in the final 48 seconds to topple the Terps for the first time at home in nearly three years.

Sickness also played a part in their midseason swoon. The diminished role of starting forward and flu-ridden Diandra Tchatchouang in consecutive home losses to Georgia Tech and Virginia was obvious on both ends of the court.

During the Terps’ 61-60 Feb. 5 loss to then No. 21 Georgia Tech — in which Tchatchouang played only 8 minutes — the Yellow Jackets relentlessly swarmed the Terps’ small backcourt, forcing 29 turnovers against a team sorely lacking its athletic outlet player.

Cavalier star guard Monica Wright also enjoyed a night relatively free from the dogged defense of Tchatchouang to the tune of 34 points in her final visit to Comcast Center on Feb. 8.

“There were numerous games where we lost at the free throw line, we lost by a possession,” Frese said. “Those are games that are all within our control. I think [there are] some valuable lessons for us this season.”

The team’s regular-season inconsistency never passed. After limiting Boston College’s preseason All-ACC selection center Carolyn Swords to six points and seven rebounds in a 72-65 win in January, the Terps were repeatedly punished by Swords in the second half of a devastating 83-70 loss in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Thursday.

Sunday’s blowout loss locked them into an ACC Tournament showdown Thursday against No. 8 seed North Carolina, with the winner set to face No. 1 seed Duke the following day.

While the two wins they likely need to secure an NCAA Tournament bid seem unlikely, it wouldn’t be altogether unexpected. After all, four of their five conference wins this season came in two sets of consecutive games.

“We’re going to keep fighting,” center Lynetta Kizer said. “We’re all still hungry. Going into the tournament, anything can happen.”

shaffer@umdbk.com