Maryland women’s basketball made history in its more than 2,800 mile long trip to face off against Oregon and Washington — wins headlined by the performance of a pair of guards.
Graduate student Sarah Te-Biasu scored a season-high 26 points on a 9-for-11 shooting display in the win against the Ducks, while junior Kaylene Smikle notched a career-high 36 points in a comeback win over the Huskies.
The Terps’ success kept them alive for a double bye in the Big Ten tournament, which is awarded to the conference’s top four teams at the end of the season.
Maryland will face two conference foes in the middle of the standings at home, starting Thursday with Nebraska. Before tip-off, catch up on the latest women’s basketball news.
Terps make history on West Coast
With the addition of Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington to the conference, Big Ten teams situated in the midwest or east have travelled to out west to play either both schools in California or the Pacific Northwest.
Before last weekend, no Big Ten team this season picked up two wins on the journey. Maryland became the first.
Coach Brenda Frese credited the accomplishment to acclimating herself and her players to the new time zone. Scheduled excursions and events, including a paint party in Oregon and a visit to the Space Needle in Seattle, helped keep the team busy out of a hotel room.
[Kaylene Smikle, Sarah Te-Biasu carried Maryland women’s basketball on its West Coast trip]
“It’s really, really hard,” Frese said. “The flight out there was six hours, and [it’s a] three-hour time zone difference.”
Maryland jumped out to an early lead against Oregon and coasted to an 18-point win, the Terps’ first victory over the Ducks in program history and Frese’s 600th win as Maryland’s coach.
The Terps’ second victory didn’t come as easy. They trailed Washington by as much as 15 points, but Smikle’s career day secured a perfect road trip.
Nebraska’s bigs will test Maryland
The Terps have struggled against size in the interior this season. UCLA’s Lauren Betts dropped 33 points in January, while Penn State’s Gracie Merkle scored 18 in the first half en route to a 24-point display three days later.
The Cornhuskers deploy a similar threat in senior Alexis Markowski. The center/forward averages just less than 15 points a game this year, but has crossed the 20-point threshold in five outings. Freshman Petra Bozan stands at 6-foot-3, like Markowski, and averaging five points a game so far this season.
Frese noted the key to slowing down Nebraska’s play in the paint will start with Maryland’s guards. The Terps’ defensive effort will be vital in preventing the Cornhuskers’ bigs from getting touches close to the basket.
“We have challenged our post players because that’s been an area of weakness for us,” Frese said. “It also works both ends. Our guards have to provide enough ball pressure and intensity as well.”
[No. 16 Maryland women’s basketball avoids late scare, beats Washington, 81-73]
Maryland’s forwards — seniors Christina Dalce and Amari DeBerry, and graduate student Allie Kubek — will be crucial to stop Markowski. DeBerry could receive a third start, as she began the Terps’ matchup against Betts and the Bruins and ranks as the tallest rostered Terp at 6-foot-6.
Maryland’s double-bye outlook
The Terps’ 66-65 loss to Illinois on Feb. 2 dented their hopes of finishing in the Big Ten standings’ coveted top four.
Maryland enters its two-game homestand in fifth place, just below the double-bye line to the Fighting Illini. Both teams possess a conference record of 9-4, with Illinois holding the tiebreaker on head-to-head record. Michigan State slots in sixth with an 8-4 record.
But there is good news for the Terps.
The Fighting Illini and the Spartans haven’t taken their West Coast trips, with each having to face UCLA and USC. The Bruins and Trojans are a combined 22-1 against Big Ten teams before they face each other Thursday.
Wins over Nebraska,which is 7-6, and Michigan, 9-5 in Big Ten play, will put Maryland in a position to nab a high finish in the standings with help from the conference’s newest members.
