INDIANAPOLIS — The Terrapins women’s basketball team earned the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament and entered Friday’s quarterfinal game with four days between games, while No. 9-seed Iowa had to fend off No. 8-seed Michigan on Thursday for an opportunity to play the conference’s top squad.
The seeding didn’t match the score early on, though. Iowa used a 28-point first quarter to race out to a 10-point lead after the first 10 minutes. The No. 5 team in the nation was in the rare position of playing from behind.
“They didn’t want to go home,” guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough said. “They came out really aggressive.”
But the Terps abandoned their press defense and picked up the Hawkeyes man-to-man to start the second in hopes of increasing their defensive intensity. The adjustment worked, as the Terps outscored the Hawkeyes the, 21-4, in the period en route to a 75-55 win.
“They shot the ball red hot, really kind of took off after their last game against Michigan,” coach Brenda Frese said. “We did a much better job of getting used to the jitters coming ready to play in the second quarter.”
Frese’s team will play No. 12-seed Northwestern on Saturday at 3 p.m. for a spot in the Big Ten title game.
The Hawkeyes, who scored 97 points against the Wolverines a day earlier, made 12 of their 16 shots in the first quarter, but their offensive onslaught ended there. They shot 28 percent for the rest of the game, and the Terps forced them into 22 turnovers.
Walker-Kimbrough scored 23 points, while center Brionna Jones dominated inside with 23 points and 15 rebounds. The two players, who were each named First- Team All-Big Ten earlier this week, were the only Terps to score in double figures.
“We were led by our two vets — our juniors, Shatori and Bri,” Frese said. “The inside-outside combination that we had going all game. I thought they set the tone with their mentality — not wanting to go home — and just our team was able to feed off of that.”
Walker-Kimbrough scored nine of her points in the second frame, but it was the Terps’ play defensively that erased Iowa’s double-digit lead. The Terps forced Iowa into eight turnovers in the second quarter.
And when the Hawkeyes did get shot ups, the Terps were close by, forcing their opponent to go 1-for-10 in that frame.
Iowa threatened to compete what would be a major upset at times throughout the second half, but when the Terps needed a basket, Jones delivered.
Despite shooting below her 67.9 field goal percentage, which is the best mark in the country, Jones finished layups from in close when the Terps backcourt struggled from the perimeter. She finished with 17 points in the second half, much of which contributed to 50 points the Terps scored in the paint.
“Coming into the game, coach challenged us to get paint touches,” Jones said. “And after the last game, they out rebounded us, we wanted to work hard on the glass.”
On defense, the Terps returned to the press in the third quarter. With the Hawkeyes in a hole, Frese thought they’d want to drive and get to the free throw line or launch open threes. The press, Frese said, forced to the Hawkeyes to use more of the shot clock and frequently work in the half court.
And using this full-court zone, the Terps extended their seven-point halftime lead.
But it was each player’s ability to lock down her defender in the second quarter that shut down the Hawkeyes’ offense and propelled the Terps one step closer to a second straight Big Ten Tournament crown.
“We just started mixing it up a little bit,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “They were comfortable coming out, stepping into their shots, getting open shots, and we wanted to make sure we contested all of their shots and gave them hard looks.”
