After the Maryland women’s basketball team lost at Ohio State on Feb. 20, coach Brenda Frese was frank with her team in the locker room.
“We can’t let these two down again,” Frese said, referring to the Terps’ senior duo of guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and center Brionna Jones. “Because you know what? The next time we let these two down, we’re going home.”
There was still one regular season game and the Big Ten tournament to play, but the message was clear. Maryland responded by winning its next four contests, the last of which secured its third-straight conference tournament title and earned the team a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Terps received a No. 2 seed in last year’s Big Dance, but their season ended after a second-round defeat to No. 7-seed Washington on their home floor. The loss has stuck with the Terps ever since. So, when they tip off against Bucknell for this season’s first-round game Friday, they’ll look to show they learned from last season’s early exit.
“Shatori, Brionna and I talk about [the Washington game] all the time,” junior guard Kristen Confroy said. “How bad of a taste was left in our mouth from last year. That’s fueled us this whole offseason and through the summer.”
That’s exactly what former guard Brene Moseley, who was a senior last season, told the team to do in the locker room after the game. She addressed her teammates after the 74-65 loss, telling them to use the defeat as motivation.
“I have a pretty clear memory of how I felt after that loss,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “That is one feeling I don’t want our freshmen and our underclassmen to feel again.”
Entering last year’s tournament, the Terps said they lacked focus. Frese pointed to the tournament starting at the end of spring break as a reason. That, along with the natural distractions of playing in the Big Dance, led to the team’s downfall, she believes.
This year, the Terps are taking steps to avoid those off-court issues.
The NCAA tournament calendar benefits Maryland by beginning before spring break, the second-round game coming on Sunday. And despite hosting the first two rounds in College Park, the team will stay in a hotel beginning Thursday night.
“It’s really hard now, when the excitement of the tournament comes to town. Family and friends, everybody comes into town,” Frese said. “We’ve talked about how it’s great to have all that support, but this is a business trip for us. So we’ve tried to help in those ways.”
Confroy also said the squad overlooked Washington, echoing a sentiment Frese expressed in the locker room after the game.
“Everybody thinks everything’s automatic; you’re going to go back to Final Fours, you’re going to win this,” she said. “Nothing is ever given to you. Nothing. The game is that fragile.”
After the Terps’ letdown against Ohio State in February, Frese said she hasn’t had to reiterate that postgame message. The players understand the importance of sending the seniors off the right way.
“I set the stage after Ohio State,” Frese said. “This is a very mature group in terms of understanding what lies ahead.”
And with last season’s early exit still on their mind, the Terps know the postseason road is difficult and unforgiving.
“We’re just really excited to be back here again,” Confroy said, “and to show everybody that that’s not the team we are and show them what we really are about.”
