Before Maryland women’s basketball faced No. 1 UCLA on Jan. 26, coach Brenda Frese was open with her expectations for Sarah Te-Biasu.
With two of Maryland’s top three scorers absent, Frese emphasized that Te-Biasu needed to step up offensively. Bri McDaniel suffered a season-ending ACL tear on Jan. 14, while senior guard Shyanne Sellers exited with a knee sprain days later.
“I told her we need at least three [3-pointers],” Frese said.
Te-Biasu delivered, filling the offensive void while matching Frese’s desired total against the Bruins. The graduate guard followed that up with an even better performance less than a week after — pouring in a season-high 20 points and four triples in No. 14 Maryland’s 82-73 win at Penn State Wednesday night.
The victory marked her third consecutive game with double-digit points.
“That’s what we need from her,” Frese said. “I thought she had total command of the game.”
Sellers played limited minutes Wednesday in her first game back from injury. The senior guard was held scoreless in the first half with just one shot attempt.
Te-Biasu took control once more, pacing the Terp offense with several early scores.
[No. 14 Maryland women’s basketball leads from start to finish in 82-73 win over Penn State]
A pair of first-quarter 3-pointers gave Te-Biasu six points, matching Penn State’s total during the opening six-and-a-half minutes.
With a Penn State full-court press in play late in the first quarter, Te-Biasu stood on the baseline as Maryland’s primary inbounder — leading Maryland’s facilitating efforts with two assists in 49 seconds.
First, she dribbled upcourt, surveying the swarming Nittany Lion defense. Te-Biasu hurled the ball with a double-team approaching, placing the three-quarters court pass in Allie Kubek’s hands for an easy layup. Te-Biasu accelerated in transition one possession later, finding Kubek once more on a right-hand hook through the backpedaling Penn State zone.
Te-Biasu finished with four assists. She tallied nine in Maryland’s last two outings — her highest two-game assist total this season.
She nearly doubled her scoring total minutes later, hunting shots while igniting the road offense to a quick double-digit lead. Te-Biasu’s third 3-pointer initiated a 7-2 Maryland run midway through the second quarter and made the VCU transfer the only Terp with double figures at the break.
The Nittany Lions cut Maryland’s lead to single digits to begin the fourth quarter thanks to a 16-2 run and enhanced press defense. Penn State forced 23 Terp turnovers, two of which came from Te-Biasu in the fourth quarter.
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“[We’re] staying composed,” Te-Biasu said. “We have a couple turnovers, but after that we just got together and confident in making the right plays.”
Te-Biasu and the Maryland backcourt adjusted through the final minutes, methodically breaking the Penn State press while effectively halting its timely mistakes. The Terps didn’t commit a turnover in the final five minutes, cleaning up errors in a crucial moment.
With a little more than a minute left on the shot clock, Te-Biasu received the ball on the left wing. She took a sidestep, smoothly creating space before drilling a running floater.
Te-Biasu’s final basket extended the Terps’ lead back to double-digits, icing Maryland’s first win in more than two weeks and snapping a three-game losing streak.
A confident mindset and unity remain at the forefront of Maryland’s outlook amid injuries and limited depth, Te-Biasu said. Newfound scoring contributions from Maryland’s supporting cast have paid dividends.
“Be ready when your number’s called,” Frese said. “I think these guys are really starting to figure that out and understand it, and they’re watching it play out.”
