Terrapins women’s basketball forward Kiah Gillespie wanted to take the final shot.
Less than five seconds remained in the third quarter at Rutgers on Sunday afternoon, and the 6-foot-2 freshman, standing behind the three-point arc, threw her hands out at Brene Moseley as the point guard dribbled from the left side toward the right elbow. There wasn’t a defender near Gillespie. She just needed the opportunity to shoot.
With the clock approaching zero, Gillespie got her chance, taking a pass from Moseley and rising to attempt her first three-point shot since Feb. 5.
The long layoff didn’t matter. The ball swished through the net as the buzzer sounded, prompting her teammates on the court and the bench to flood the floor to congratulate their young teammate. Center Malina Howard gave Gillespie a slap in the stomach, while forward Aja Ellison engulfed her in a hug.
“It wasn’t a game-winning shot, but the momentum was still there,” Gillespie said. “Everyone was just so excited. It kind of felt like a home game.”
Her 3-pointer extended the Terps’ lead to 18 in their eventual 73-59 win over the Scarlet Knights, but the shot was part of a greater achievement for the former McDonald’s All-American. Gillespie’s nine-point performance in 17 minutes, her most playing time since Dec. 20, gave her confidence after struggling to crack the rotation earlier in the season.
“Kiah really stepped up huge for us,” Howard said. “It was awesome to see her have such a great game.”
Gillespie has matched her scoring output against Rutgers twice during the conference season in 12 and 14 minutes, respectively, but she was averaging just 4.7 minutes per game in her last six games prior to Sunday’s tilt. Coach Brenda Frese has continually preached the need for Gillespie to improve defensively without fouling.
She committed two personals Sunday and was able to provide a scoring punch for a bench unit that outscored the Scarlet Knights reserves 24-2.
The Connecticut native said her veteran coach was looking for a player to spread the floor, rebound and give the team great energy, so Gillespie’s lively demeanor and ability to play on the perimeter or in the post made her a quality option.
And when Frese called her name, Gillespie delivered. She was on the floor during the Terps’ 12-4 run over the final four minutes and 28 seconds of the first half and contributed five points in the third period, including the smooth long-range jumper to end the frame.
“She was ready when her number is called, and I think Coach has been looking for that,” guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough said. “It’s easy to get down and to get your confidence down when everything isn’t going your way, but for her to be ready when her number was called and produce and provide energy that we needed from the bench was really big.”
Gillespie’s role against Rutgers differed from the one she held earlier in the season, as the highly touted freshman began the season as a starter without having played a college game. Not only did she start the first seven games, but she also scored at least 15 points in her first three career contests.
At least early on, it appeared Gillespie had the potential to be the Terps’ third scoring option behind Walker-Kimbrough and center Brionna Jones, both of whom were preseason All-Big Ten honorees. Even Gillespie’s father, Levy Gillespie, didn’t expect his daughter to have as much success right away.
“I started to say to her, ‘Well, your freshman year could be tough, could be really tough, because there’s people who’ve been there who know the system who have gained ground just being there, and it may be really difficult for you to start,” Levy Gillespie said in December. “She’s talented, and I think that’s she’s good and I think that she has a high ceiling, but I never anticipated she would start early in the season.”
Still, Levy Gillespie remained cautious, telling his daughter to keeping working hard and paying attention. He told her that she’s still a rookie and that “things happen in the sport of basketball.”
Sure enough, as the Terps’ strength of schedule increased and forward Tierney Pfirman returned from a lingering hamstring injury, Gillespie found herself fighting for playing time.
But Gillespie remained upbeat. Her father, in addition to her teammates, told her to stay poised and focused. They maintained her time would come again.
That moment came against the Scarlet Knights, with a jubilant scream and a double fist pump at the end of the third quarter that capped a strong performance in conference play.
“My teammates preached to me to stay ready and just continue to be calm and poised,” Gillespie said. “And [Sunday] was obviously a great time for me to go and perform and show a little bit of the Big Ten what I could do.”
