The Maryland women’s basketball team’s season has featured a slew of milestones and achievements.
Seniors Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Brionna Jones are climbing the Maryland career record books, the team got off to its best start ever (23-1) and Maryland reached No. 2 in the AP Top 25 Poll on Monday for the first time in more than a decade.
Setting records doesn’t seem to get old for the players, though. Walker-Kimbrough, Jones and guard Destiny Slocum all crossed milestones this weekend as the team continues its dominant run through Big Ten play. Slocum, at least, seemed impressed.
[Read more: Senior duo leads Maryland women’s basketball past Michigan State, 89-72]
After Maryland’s 84-59 win over Illinois on Thursday, Slocum’s jaw dropped when a reporter told her Jones’ 11 rebounds against the Fighting Illini moved her into fourth-place on Maryland’s all-time rebounds list.
The freshman appeared even more shocked that Walker-Kimbrough’s late 3-pointer gave her the fifth-most points in program history. Slocum, mouth still agape, turned toward Walker-Kimbrough in amazement.
Sloucm’s most surprised reaction came when the freshman heard her 13 assists gave her more assists this year than former guard Kristi Toliver, who led the Terps to the 2006 national championship, accumulated in her freshman season.
Walker-Kimbrough looked at Slocum and said a drawn out, “Wooooow,” half-mocking the rookie’s reaction to the previous accolades.
“Stop,” Slocum replied, shying from the spotlight.
“She’s like, the best point guard I’ve ever heard of,” Slocum said of Toliver. “I didn’t know that [statistic], so thanks.”
Slocum’s 13 dishes against the Illini was a career-high. She added eight more in the team’s 89-72 win at Michigan State on Sunday to move within 14 of the program’s freshman record (171).
Against Illinois, Walker-Kimbrough was the main beneficiary of the Meridian, Idaho, native’s passing. Slocum assisted on six of Walker-Kimbrough’s buckets, totaling 16 points.
“When you’ve got a point guard like Destiny Slocum, it’s like warm-ups out there,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “Shots are wide-open.”
Illinois coach Matt Bollant said his team emphasized shutting down Jones inside to avoid the barrage of layups Jones, the most-accurate shooter in the nation, has unleashed on foes all season. That created openings on the perimeter, though.
Walker-Kimbrough scored a season-high 29 points against Illinois and shot 6-for-12 from the 3-point line. She followed that up with a 24-point performance against Michigan State, helping earn her third-career Big Ten Player of the Week Award, one short of Jones’ four.
“When you talk about our two seniors, that is a credit to the hard work,” coach Brenda Frese said of the duo’s accolades. “They put [themselves] in position to be that successful.”
The seniors and Slocum have powered the Terps to 13 consecutive wins in conference play, and the program’s best start in history at 25-1.
After then-No. 2 Baylor suffered an 85-79 loss to Texas on Feb. 6, Maryland moved up to the No. 2 spot in both of this week’s polls, its highest ranking since January 2007. Undefeated Connecticut, the only team to beat Maryland this season, is No. 1, and No. 3 Mississippi State (25-1) is the only other one-loss team in the country.
After watching Maryland beat his team by 45 in late January, and follow that with Thursday’s 25-point win, Bollant had no doubts about where the Terps belonged in the polls.
“They show up every night,” Bollant said. “Give Maryland a lot of credit. They deserve to be the second-ranked team in the country.”