Terps capture their 6th Big Ten crown
Program now owns 23 regular-season titles
Though Penn State tried to keep pace with the best team in the Big Ten Conference, it met the fate in the third quarter so many of its league counterparts are used to: down by 20 and counting, with no hope of recovery.
Another hapless victim in No. 8 Maryland’s conquering march to the Big Ten tournament.
The Terps captured the Big Ten regular-season crown for themselves Saturday, burying the Nittany Lions 88-61 before the first crowd of the season in their last hurrah in the Xfinity Center in 2021.
Since joining the Big Ten Conference for the 2014-15 season, Maryland has won the regular-season title every year but one. It’s the 23rd regular-season crown as a program.
Coach Brenda Frese said she knows her team is peaking at the right time as with the Big Ten tournament starting for the Terps on Thursday.
“Really, you look at these last 10 games, at the dominance — that’s what we’ve been preparing for, March,” she said. “This is the first goal of many.”
The Terps (21-2, 17-1 Big Ten) cut down the net to celebrate the regular-season crown, something the program had never done before. Frese explained that there’s no promise to the future; last year’s NCAA tournament, after all, was canceled due to the pandemic.
It was only fitting each member climbed up to snip a piece for herself.
“It did hit differently,” Frese said. “I think we all recognize the fact that we’re in a pandemic. There’s nothing guaranteed for tomorrow. … We don’t want to take anything for granted. We want to cherish this body of work our players and staff and everybody has put in.”
Maryland permitted a small group of players’ families to watch their Terps close a perfect 10-0 record on their home court.
“It was definitely special and very cool for our families to come see us play,” sophomore Ashley Owusu said.
Chloe Bibby scored a game-high 15 as four of Maryland’s five starters hit double figures. Freshman Angel Reese (St. Frances) scored 11 points off the bench in the Baltimore native’s fifth game back from a foot injury.
“It just goes to show all 11 of us can score at any time,” forward Mimi Collins said.
Owusu scored 12, below the 20- and 30-plus performances she’s put up in games this season. That’s far from a reason for Frese to be concerned.
“It show’s the balance,” Frese said. “[Ashley’s] our lead floor general. I think Ashley has a great pulse of when she needs to take over in games that are highly contested and when she needs to share the basketball.”
After a taste of jitters led to a brief Penn State advantage, Maryland ticked off some of its greatest hits quickly: running up a lopsided scoring streak (10-3) to a significant lead with a Katie Benzan 3-pointer and by forcing Penn State into a shot-clock violation and multiple sloppy turnovers.
Caught up in Maryland’s choking defense, the Nittany Lions turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter alone, three times into Benzan’s hands and twice into Owusu’s.
Waldorf native Collins (12 points), ran a highlight reel of her own in front of the little hometown crowd, scoring 10 points by quarter’s end for a 27-15 lead.
Trying to outrun Maryland for fast-break points failed Penn State, so a handful carved out footholds around the perimeter and laid in a couple 3-pointers. Buckets like that gave Penn State the juice to stay within 10 points.
“We weren’t playing to our standard — maybe the expectation, to have your family and friends in the stands for once, had an impression on us early,” Frese said. “Once we settled down, playing the way we know how to defend, the way we know how to move the basketball on the offensive end, I thought you saw terrific response in the third quarter.”