Guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough blows past a defender to get to the basket during Maryland’s 94-50 win against American University on Dec. 12, 2014 at Xfinity Center.
Before the Terrapins women’s basketball team had ever played a Big Ten conference game, the conference’s coaches picked the newcomer as the favorite.
But after the Terps dropped two games early in the season, coach Brenda Frese’s squad entered conference play ranked behind conference foe Nebraska in the AP Poll. So when the Terps traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska, Saturday for their first ever Big Ten road game, they were looking to reassert themselves as the top threat in their new conference.
And it took a bit to rev things up, but eventually the No. 12 Terps did just that when they overcame a sluggish first-half to rout No. 12 Nebraska, 75-47, at Pinnacle Bank Arena to back the coaches’ preseason rankings.
“The statement was made by our team,” coach Brenda Frese said. “They used those first 20 minutes to kind of understand what they needed to do and really came out and dominated.”
The last time the Terps (11-2, 2-0 Big Ten) traveled to Nebraska was two years ago for the ACC/Big Ten challenge. While the Terps left with a victory, the win came at a steep price with guard Laurin Mincy suffering a torn ACL in the second half.
The redshirt senior returned to the same floor in her final season to post 22 points, three shy of tying her career high set in 2011.
“To be able to come in and have a game like she did today was huge,” Frese said.
But it took Mincy awhile to find a rhythm. The lone Terps senior scored just two points in the first half. Instead, it was fellow guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough who carried the scoring load early.
The sophomore sunk jump shot after jump shot in the opening period en route to an 18-point first half on 8 of 9 shooting.
“She had an attack mentality,” Frese said. “She was able to get to the rim, shot the ball with a ton of confidence, really read the defense.”
Aside from Walker-Kimbrough, the Terps shot 3 of 15 from the floor in the first half. As a result, the Terps entered the break knotted at 27 with the Cornhuskers (10-3, 0-2). Nebraska dominated the pace and was able to prevent the Terps — who prefer an up-tempo game — from running in transition.
The second half was a different story, though. The rest of the Terps came alive at the offensive end, and Frese’s squad took control of the tempo.
“We were able to get stops, and we were able to get out in transition,” Mincy said. “We are a very good transition team, so we got a lot of open looks in the second half.”
Mincy opened the final period by scoring the first seven points herself to help the Terps take the first double-digit lead of the game on a 13-2 run. It was all Terps the rest of the way.
The Terps’ aggressiveness paired with stifling defense helped Frese’s squad outscore the Cornhuskers by 28 points in the final 20 minutes of action led by Mincy’s 20 second-half points. Walker-Kimbrough finished with 24 points, one shy of tying her own career high.
By the time the final whistle blew, a close first-half battle between a pair of top-15 teams had turned into a statement blowout win for the Terps on the road.
“We love coming here,” Frese said. “Really, really loud tonight. Just a ton of fun.”
