Dominant 3rd quarter fuels Terps to comeback victory

COLLEGE PARK — Trailing at halftime has not been a usual recipe for success this winter for Maryland women’s basketball. The Terps were 1-4 in games during which they faced a deficit at intermission.

It’s a good thing the No. 8 Terps don’t pay much attention to trends. They overcame a nine-point hole at halftime by outscoring visiting Illinois by 20 points in the second half — including by 23 in the third quarter — to emerge with an 82-71 victory Sunday afternoon before an announced 7,301 at Xfinity Center.

Maryland’s only previous win after trailing at halftime occurred on Dec. 8 when it turned a 38-35 disadvantage into a 77-74 triumph at Purdue. It had lost games with halftime deficits to No. 1 South Carolina (81-56 on Nov. 11), Depaul (76-67 on Nov. 25), then-No. 6 Indiana (68-61 on Jan. 12) and then-No. 6 Iowa (96-82 on Feb. 2).

Facing a 37-28 hole at intermission, the Terps (21-5 overall, 12-3 Big Ten), who collected their third straight victory and eighth in their last nine games, outscored the Fighting Illini, 31-8, in a pivotal third quarter to enjoy a 59-45 advantage at the start of the fourth period.

“Halftime was what halftime needed to be, and I think that fired us up,” senior shooting guard Diamond Miller said. “When we came back out, we came out playing good defense and executing on both sides of the court.”

Coach Brenda Frese appreciated the players’ response to what she described as an “uncharacteristically cold” offensive display in the first half. They shot 38% from the floor and missed all 10 of their

3-point attempts before the break.

“It’s just a really good win and showed a lot, being down so much in the first half against a really good team,” she said. “Sometimes we get stubborn not listening in timeouts, but I thought we regrouped at halftime with the understanding that every game is going to be different. Us getting to the free-throw line 16 times in the second half and being 100% was a big X-factor on top of our defense. Those two areas were where they understood we could be successful.”

On a day when the program feted its four-member senior class before the game, that group played significant roles in Maryland’s win. Miller scored a gamehigh 31 points, which was just one shy of her career best set in a 73-68 victory over then-No. 17 Baylor on Nov. 20. She also compiled nine rebounds and four assists.

Shooting guard Abby Meyers, a Princeton transfer who grew up in nearby Potomac, scored 14 of her 18 points in that third quarter and added four offensive rebounds and four steals. Small forward Faith Masonius compiled six points, six rebounds and two steals, and point guard Elisa Pinzan finished with three assists and two steals.

The Terps also got 13 points, six assists, five steals and four rebounds from sophomore shooting guard Shyanne Sellers.

In addition to Meyers’ performance, Maryland’s comeback in the third quarter was fueled by its ability to pressure the Illinois players into turnovers. The Illini turned the ball over 10 times in that period, and the Terps tied a season high with 18 steals.

They scored 29 points off of 25 total miscues by Illinois, which became the fifth opponent in the last six games to turn the ball over 20 or more times against Maryland. The Terps also outscored the Illini 30-13 on fastbreaks.

“We got our hands big, and that kind of just upped our energy,” Masonius said. “We realize that once we press, we can get those steals and get wide-open layups, and it could be that easy.”

If there was one area in which Maryland faltered, it was 3-point shooting. The offense missed all 17 of its shots from behind the arc, while the Illini converted 12 of 22 (54.5%) of its 3-point attempts.

With no shots falling from long range, the Terps attacked the rim and outscored Illinois 56-12 in the paint. They also made all 18 of their free-throw attempts.

“We were forcing shots, not being disciplined,” Meyers said. “Coach at halftime said, ‘Let’s run it to them. They don’t want to defend us.’ I think we, especially Diamond, capitalized on that. We attacked the paint, got some and-ones. It’s interesting winning a game [and] being 0-for-17 while the other team is 12-for-22. But it shows our depth and how we can win games in a lot of different ways.”

Junior point guard Makira Cook paced Illinois (19-7, 9-6) with 29 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Senior shooting guard Jada Peebles came off the bench to drop 17 points, sophomore power forward Brynn Shoup-Hill racked up 11 points, eight rebounds and two assists before fouling out with 30.8 seconds left in the third quarter, and sophomore shooting guard Adalia McKenzie amassed 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Their production was much needed for a team that missed junior point guard Genesis Bryant, a North Carolina State transfer who ranked second in scoring (14.8 points per game) but injured her ankle in the first half of a 72-64 win at Nebraska on Thursday night.

Still, coach Shauna Green pointed out that the Illini squandered a 17-point lead in the third quarter at then-No. 3 Ohio State that turned into an 87-81 loss on Jan. 8.

“It was a good experience for some of our other guys to have to step up and be under that pressure and learn from that,” she said. “For us to kind of get to that next level, we’ve got to be able to handle pressure because if you look at it, these guys today, we had a lead. Against Ohio State, we were up 17 in the third quarter, and it was the same thing, that pressure got to us, and we ended up losing that game by a couple. So those were two games where the pressure alone was really the difference in the game.”