Shyanne Sellers charged toward the basket and absorbed the contact from a James Madison defender. The shot missed but the whistle blew, sending Sellers to the line.
The junior guard made both free throw attempts and the second gave her a career high in points, breaking a record she set earlier this month.
Sellers finished 29 points, a star performance that helped Maryland women’s basketball beat James Madison 78-55 Wednesday afternoon in its last nonconference game of the regular season. The victory extended the Terps’ win streak to seven.
“The coaching staff does a really good job of just pouring into us and pouring into me and just making sure I’m in a great headspace to play,” Sellers said. “I just really do care about this team. I feel like it’s easy to play for them when I care about them.”
The Dukes started the game with an aggressive defense. Their outstretched arms forced the Terps into contested shots early. Maryland (9-3) didn’t score until nearly five minutes had passed and went down nine.
“I thought we started super emotional and kind of were getting in our own way,” coach Brenda Frese said.
But Emily Fisher jumpstarted her team with a layup. Maryland went on an 11-0 run in about two minutes, taking advantage of James Madison (8-4) turnovers to quickly secure its first lead of the game.
[Zone defense powers Maryland women’s basketball to sixth straight win, 99-51, over Towson]
Shyanne Sellers dominated for the Terps in the first, scoring over half its points in the opening quarter. She continued to control the action throughout and added eight rebounds and six assists to her gaudy scoring.
The Terps picked up their defensive intensity in the second quarter, forcing the Dukes into eight turnovers and holding them scoreless for over five minutes.
Maryland took advantage of its opponent’s offensive woes, scoring nine points off turnovers. But James Madison, the 10th-best rebounding team in the nation, kept its deficit to single digits by scoring 10 second-chance points in the first half.
The Terps led 35-28 after two quarters but quickly boosted their lead to double digits for the first time in the game thanks to an and-one from Allie Kubek early in the second half.
[Emily Fisher is finding ways to contribute to Maryland women’s basketball without scoring]
Unfortunately for Maryland, two Faith Masonius fouls gave James Madison extra scoring opportunities. It also put a key player on the bench in a game where the Terps were already shorthanded. Lavender Briggs, Jakia Brown-Turner and Hawa Doumbouya were sick and did not play, per a team spokesperson.
Sellers’ potent offense was crucial for the Terps in the first half, but in the third quarter, her teammates stepped up.
Kubek used her size in the paint to draw fouls and made four of five free throw attempts. Bri McDaniel, who was 1-for-6 in the first 20 minutes, made a three-pointer to extend Maryland’s lead to 13.
Maryland’s defense kept the Dukes down, forcing James Madison into 10 straight misses to end the third quarter. The Terps made 46.7 percent of their fourth-quarter field goals and made seven free throws — two of them helping Sellers break her own mark — to cruise to victory.
“Every time we challenge [Sellers] on something, she takes it to heart and gets better and I think that’s why she’s just scratching the surface which is pretty exciting,” Frese said.
