The Maryland women’s basketball team lost both of its regular-season matchups with Ohio State last season.

The teams entered the Big Ten tournament as the top two seeds and seemed poised to meet in the championship, a high-stakes matchup intensified by the regular-season results.

Instead, Ohio State lost to Michigan State by 19 points in the semifinals. Maryland then beat the Spartans, 60-44, to win its second consecutive Big Ten Tournament.

The Buckeyes handed the Terps their lone Big Ten loss this season, and the conference regular season co-champions again occupy the top two seeds in the conference tournament. The No. 4 Terps, though, insist they aren’t looking to a potential rematch with Ohio State in the championship. After last year, the team knows anything can happen.

“When teams look too far ahead, they lose one or two that they shouldn’t,” guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough said. “We’re going to stay focused on what’s ahead.”

Coach Brenda Frese and center Brionna Jones admitted they would like another shot at the Buckeyes, who have beaten the Terps three straight times. But Maryland must first win Friday’s quarterfinal and Saturday’s semifinal.

The Terps are confident entering the tournament, despite losing to Ohio State in their penultimate regular season game Feb. 20 and relying on freshmen entering the first March of their college careers.

Rookies Kaila Charles and Destiny Slocum have started since the beginning of the season, two of six freshmen on the roster. The team doesn’t expect Slocum, the starting point guard, to struggle as the pressure of tournament play ramps up.

“She’s done it at the highest level. She’s played in Russia, she’s played with USA basketball, she’s won state titles,” Frese said. “Like she said, it’s just basketball.”

Slocum recognized there’s something special about March, though.

“Watching it every year, you never think you’re going to get there,” Slocum said. “Now, I thought this year I would never get there. And it’s like, right around the corner.”

The starting lineup — Walker-Kimbrough, Jones, Slocum, Charles and guard Kristen Confroy — hasn’t changed much this season. However, in a weekend when Maryland could play three games in three days, the team realizes its starting five can only do so much in the Big Ten tournament.

At times this season, the bench has let Frese’s team down, especially in big games. After Maryland beat then-No. 7 Louisville, 78-72, in December, Frese lamented her starters played too much. Walker-Kimbrough and Confroy were on the court for 40 and 39 minutes, respectively.

Last week, Ohio State’s bench outscored Maryland’s, 26-7, with Charles battling foul trouble and playing just 17 minutes.

“We’re optimistic,” Frese said, “that they’ll step up and provide this weekend.”

Jones and Walker-Kimbrough, the team’s senior leaders, said they lead by example and instill one of the team’s mottos: “Be ready when your number’s called,” into their backups.

But Jones knows there’s only so much she and her fellow starters can do, both on and off the court. They want to be fresh for the entire tournament, no matter who they face.

“If we look past a team and we drop one early,” Jones said, “it’s not going to even matter.”