With just over five minutes left Sunday against Washington, Saylor Poffenbarger searched for a teammate with the ball on the right wing. Kaylene Smikle curled around the baseline before receiving a hand-off from Poffenbarger.
The junior guard slowed down a beat before taking three firm pound dribbles and a left-handed layup. The ball dropped in for an and-one to tie Smikle’s career-high point total, while giving Maryland women’s basketball the late breathing room it needed.
Smikle’s 36-point scoring outburst helped Maryland (19-5, 9-4 Big Ten) claw its way back after a slow start. The Terps overcame a 15-point first quarter deficit to defeat Washington, 81-73, at Seattle’s Alaska Airlines Arena.
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Washington (14-10, 5-7 Big Ten) entered as the second-best shooting team in the Big Ten with a 36.3 percent clip on 3-pointers. Fresh off a 12-triple outing last Wednesday at Penn State, the Huskies continued their red-hot shooting stretch right away against the Terps.
Junior guard Elle Ladine made two triples within the game’s opening five minutes, pushing Washington to a 13-4 start. The Huskies converted on four of nine 3-pointers in the first quarter, extending their lead to as much as 15 near the end of the frame.
“They’re really good with threes and their pick-and-roll to layups,” coach Brenda Frese said. “We had to be really disciplined on the defensive end.”
But Maryland’s defense picked up in the quarter’s final two minutes, restricting the Huskies to just one made field goal in the span while translating defense to offense in a flurry.
A pair of Shyanne Sellers free throws capped a 6-0 Maryland run during the final 51 seconds, trimming its deficit to single digits by the end of the frame.
Sellers was held without a point in Maryland’s win over Oregon on Thursday, logging limited minutes in her third game back from a knee sprain. It marked just the fourth scoreless game of her career, and the first since her freshman year.
The senior guard bounced back on Sunday with a convincing 15-point outing. She scored nine points on six shots in the first half, doubling her number of shot attempts from the game against the Ducks.
“Being a little bit more calculated, I have to make different movements now than I was before [the injury],” Sellers said. “Just getting myself into position where I could score. I think I’m getting it back a little bit.”
[No. 16 Maryland women’s basketball tops Oregon, 79-61, for coach Brenda Frese’s 600th win]
The Terps’ final basket of the first quarter came on a driving layup from Smikle, who led Maryland with nine points after 10 minutes.
Maryland dominated the second quarter, 25-9, in large part due to Smike’s brilliance. The junior guard scored another nine points in the period, providing a collage of crafty second-chance scores to give herself 18 by halftime.
“I noticed in transition that they weren’t able to stop me going downhill,” Smikle said. “I just kept going, and I wasn’t stopped … the rest is history.”
The Huskies registered just four attempted shots amid a scoring drought through the final two and a half minutes of the half.
Maryland broke the silence in an emphatic close to the first half. Sellers received a pass at the top of the perimeter with just under 50 seconds and fired a pass into the paint. Allie Kubek sealed her defender, catching the ball for an easy layup moments later.
“From our end, we were able to expose them in the paint,” Frese said. “Our paint points were huge … whether it be getting downhill off the bounce and being able to attack, or inside-out with our post players.”
Sellers’ second of five eventual assists elevated the senior guard to fifth in program history in that category, passing five-time WNBA All-Star Alyssa Thomas. The Terps jetted out to a 44-36 lead at the half.
Maryland’s pressure defense held steady out of the break, limiting the Husky offense to 6-for-17 shooting while forcing four third-quarter turnovers.
Smikle’s red-hot offense complimented the Terps’ defensive success. She scored 13 more points in the period on 5-for-5 shooting, maintaining Maryland’s double digit lead through 30 minutes of play.
Washington, led by former Maryland associate head coach Tina Langley, commanded a 12-0 scoring run midway through the fourth quarter. It reduced the deficit to as few as four with just minutes remaining. A pair of stepback jumpers from Ladine, who finished with a team-high 23 points, kept the score close down the stretch.
But free throw success from Kubek and Christina Dalce through the final seconds clinched Maryland’s second consecutive win — capping its two-game West Coast road trip.
