Before the Maryland women’s basketball team departed College Park for San Antonio, Terrapins coach Brenda Frese brought the team together to take a closer look at the program’s 2006 national championship trophy.
Frese wanted her players to believe a similar result was possible, because she believed there were several similarities between the 2006 Terrapins and this year’s version — a young core that can score in bunches and a squad that also entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed.
She wanted to emphasize how difficult it is to win a title, the necessity to play to the standard they have all season and maintain the unselfish offense that has gotten the team to this point.
The first step on the path to a new trophy came Monday, when Maryland met No. 15-seed Mount St. Mary’s in the first round in San Antonio. And the Terrapins wasted no time in starting the competition out with a flourish, drubbing the Mountaineers 98-45 in a well-balanced offensive showcase.
“You saw it on display, just the unselfishness, making easy plays for one another,” Frese said. “That’s when we’re playing our best basketball.”
Maryland leads the country in scoring, averaging 91.3 points per game with six players in double figures. The Terrapins surpassed that output Monday with a breakneck pace in transition, turning fast breaks into 28 points.
Mount St. Mary’s struggled to contain guards Ashley Owusu and Diamond Miller, who led the squad with 20 and 19 points, respectively. The pair connected on a slew of transition opportunities, including a coast-to-coast give-and-go during a dominant second quarter.
The Mountaineers hung around in the first quarter, knocking down four 3-pointers. But a 15-6 run to close that frame gave the Terrapins a 10-point cushion into the first break, and they’d only extend that advantage in the second quarter, outscoring Mount St. Mary’s 25-4 in the period to set the stage for a routine finish.
“We kind of came out flat in the first quarter with our defense,” Owusu said. “So we were just talking in the huddles and the timeouts, talking to one another, saying we’ve got to pick up our defensive intensity.”
The plan worked, leading to eight Mount St. Mary’s turnovers in the second quarter. Maryland forced 20 overall and turned those giveaways into 30 points.
The Terrapins shot 52% from the field while the Mountaineers converted 25% of their attempts. And besides Miller and Owusu, three other players finished with double-digit scoring tallies for Maryland, another well-balanced offensive display that pushed the contest far out of sight.
“We love to get up-and-down, we love to have a ton of possessions and make plays for one another,” Frese said. “But it definitely starts with our defense.”
Frese has guided Maryland to this point despite an offseason of uncertainty. Her team lost five of its top six scorers from the year before, with several transferring away. But Frese retooled the group with a few incoming transfers, such as forwards Chloe Bibby, Alaysia Styles and Mimi Collins, and guard Katie Benzan.
And with those new faces, Frese has guided the Terrapins to a 25-2 season so far. They won the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, and Monday’s win extended what’s now a 14-game winning streak.
But to Frese, Monday’s win is just the start. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have brought her players to view the 2006 national championship trophy before departing for San Antonio — a reminder of the loftier goals for this team.
“I love the way this team plays,” Frese said. “This team actually has a better assist-to-turnover ratio than that ’06 team. But the ’06 team still has the trophy, and we’re excited for this team to see what lies ahead.”
• Andy Kostka can be reached at akostka@washingtontimes.com.
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