INDIANAPOLIS — Moments before Maryland women’s basketball guard Kaila Charles went to the foul line with her squad down 72-71 with 10.3 seconds remaining in the Big Ten tournament semifinal, the junior slowly walked toward her sideline, with her jaw dropped and holding both hands up to her face.
She thought she’d given the Terps the lead with a tough shot, but a timeout from coach Brenda Frese came just before Charles banked in a close-range jumper, leaving the entire team in disbelief and — more importantly — still trailing Michigan.
On the ensuing inbound, however, Wolverines forward Naz Hillmon fouled Charles, giving Maryland’s leader another chance to will her team to a close-game victory.
Charles drilled both attempts from the stripe to give the Terps the edge, and a block by forward Shakira Austin followed by strong inbound defense of their own sealed a 73-72 victory over No. 4-seed Michigan, as the 1000th victory in Maryland program history earned it a spot in its fifth straight Big Ten tournament championship game.
“No team deserved to lose this game, but [I’m] proud of our finish,” Frese said. “Came down to being able to make one more play and one more stop on the defensive end. … Just really proud of our resiliency there to stay the course.”
It was just as tight at the start, as Maryland held a narrow 23-21 edge after a high-scoring, back-and-forth first quarter.
Guard Blair Watson drilled a pair of opening-frame treys, including a bank-in from the left wing, part of 14 points and 5-for-9 effort from beyond the arc.
“The way we pushed in transition, [Frese] was emphasizing that,” Watson said. “We had to get out and run.”
The Terps (28-3, 15-3 Big Ten) began to open it up to start the second with a 31-23 advantage, but the Wolverines’ (21-11, 11-7) defense began to bother the top seeds.
Late in the quarter, a full-court press prompted guard Taylor Mikesell to heave a cross-court feed toward forward Brianna Fraser to avoid a 10-second call, but the pass was stolen. Guard Hailey Brown drilled a triple on the ensuing possession to give the Wolverines a 39-37 lead, its first since the early stages.
After just two turnovers in the opening frame, the Terps had seven giveaways in the second. Michigan capitalized with 11 points off turnovers — none bigger than Brown’s triple — to lead 40-37 at the intermission.
“Michigan is a really good team and they played their best game of basketball against us tonight,” Watson said. “They gave us their best shot.”
Maryland, though, came out of the locker room firing.
Charles, who finished with a game-high 22 points, and forward Stephanie Jones notched back-to-back and-ones, and a triple from Watson completed an 8-0 run that pushed them back in front, 48-46.
Before Austin’s crucial rejection in the waning moments, the freshman’s third-quarter block was nearly as significant. It was her 81st this season, surpassing Kris Kirchner’s 1978-79 season as the most prolific shot-blocking year in program history.
In addition to Austin’s usual rim protection, Maryland benefited from an atypical post defender on Saturday. After having four blocks during all of Big Ten play this year, Watson swatted away a team-high four shots, helping the Terps limit Michigan center Hallie Thome to just two points on 0-of-4 shooting.
“There was a lot of team defense on Thome,” Charles said of the senior who had 25 points and 10 boards in the teams’ Jan. 12 matchup. “Steph, Shakira and Bri [Fraser] came in and did a good job of keeping her out of rhythm.”
Maryland entered the final 10 minutes with a 65-56 lead, its largest of the game.
But Michigan used a 6-0 run to pull within two points midway through the period, and five straight points gave the the Wolverines a 70-69 lead with about a minute left, setting up the back-and-forth finish.
Again, with the game on the line, the Terps turned to their leading scorer. Although Charles’ lead-taking jumper with 50 seconds remaining was wiped away by an offensive board and putback from Hillmon, the junior never backed down.
She stayed calm late, something she’s done throughout the year, knocking down a pair of vital free throws to give Maryland the games’ final lead, willing the squad through a controversial timeout call and several clutch Michigan makes to secure a one-point triumph, the 1000th in program history.
“If there was anyone out there that you wanted on the free-throw line,” Frese said. “I knew she wanted that opportunity.”
