As UCLA celebrated at center court Monday, the Maryland women’s basketball team unceremoniously ran off the court, opting not to stay and watch the Bruins enjoy the upset they had just pulled at Xfinity Center.
Had the Terps boxed out more effectively, or been better from the foul line, or found their stroke from deep, they would have enjoyed a prolonged ovation from their home crowd, sending them to the Sweet 16 in style.
Instead, the small contingent of UCLA fans who made the trek across the country went wild as the once-raucous Maryland faithful headed for the exits after the second-round game.
The No. 6-seed Bruins were ruthless on the offensive glass and clinical at the charity stripe, so despite shooting 11 percentage points worse than the No. 3-seed Terps from the field, they knocked off the hosts, 85-80.
“You just witnessed two really good, deserving Sweet 16 teams,” coach Brenda Frese said. “UCLA was tremendous in the first half. I thought it took us a while, especially on the glass, to be able to get settled in.”
Trailing 81-79 with 26.6 seconds left, Maryland had one final chance for a defensive stand to keep its postseason hopes alive.
But guard Blair Watson reached in while defending guard Japreece Dean, and the miscue brought the junior to the line, where she shoots a NCAA fifth-best 92.3 percent, with a chance to ice the game. She made both to give her squad a two-possession lead.
Maryland forward Shakira Austin missed her first free throw on the other end of the floor, and a breakaway layup by forward Michaela Onyenwere, the final of her career-high 30 points, iced the game.
The Terps (29-5) finished just 15-of-25 from the line and 1-for-13 from three-point range, well below their season average of 70.3 percent and 36.6 percent, respectively. The Bruins (21-12), meanwhile, were 20-for-21 from the stripe.
“We had some uncharacteristic off nights for some of our players,” Frese said. “UCLA was able to expose that.”
UCLA entered the matchup with a reputation as one of the foremost offensive rebounding teams in the nation — the squad ranks fifth in the nation — so Frese knew locking down the defensive glass would be vital for her team to secure its sixth Sweet 16 appearance in the past eight seasons.
Maryland didn’t limit the Bruins to one shot very often, though.
UCLA finished the first half with 17 offensive rebounds, eclipsing its per-game average of 16.9 in just 20 minutes. The Bruins’ 27 boards on the offensive glass were the most a team notched against the Terps since at least 2014.
“It just comes down to who wanted it more,” said forward Stephanie Jones, who finished with 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, but was held scoreless after halftime. “I think that showed.”
The Terps trailed 44-40 at the break, as the 17-8 deficit in second-chance points negated a solid first half from Maryland offensively.
To start the second half, the Terps blitzed UCLA.
Maryland scored the first seven points after halftime in just 50 seconds, taking a 47-44 lead and forcing the Bruins into a timeout. Mikesell opened the second half with a layup, then Austin, who scored 15 points and added 10 boards for a double-double, forced consecutive turnovers, which Charles punctuated with layups.
“We had that good energy for most of the second half,” said Charles, who scored 15 points in the third frame and finished with 23 to lead the Terps. “But we needed to start with it.”
Neither squad separated by more than three until the final seconds, when guard Channise Lewis stole a pass by guard Lindsey Corsaro, tiptoed the sideline and dashed the length of the court to give Maryland a 71-66 lead on a buzzer-beating lay-in entering the decider.
After UCLA opened the fourth quarter with an 8-1 run to take a 74-73 lead, both teams struggled to score. A layup from Charles and a free throw from Austin gave the Terps a 76-74 edge with 6:45 to play, and then nobody scored for nearly three minutes.
Guard Kennedy Burke broke that streak with a lay in, and guard Lindsey Corsaro converted an and-one that gave the Bruins a three-point lead.
The Terps had plenty of chances to erase that deficit, but they stumbled to the finish line, failing to score a field goal in the final 3:16, continuing to surrender offensive rebounds and miss free throws and failing to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third time in the past four years.
“I have a difficult time when we’re not playing with confidence, because we can control that,” Frese said. “I thought we could play with a lot more toughness, a lot more poise and a lot more energy.”
