COLLEGE PARK — Ashley Owusu scored 24 points and Diamond Miller added 23 to lift fourth-seeded Maryland to a 102-71 rout of 13th-seeded Delaware on Friday.
Jasmine Dickey led the Blue Hens with 31 points, but they couldn’t keep up with a Maryland team that looked healthy and ready for this NCAA Tournament. The Terrapins (22-8) advanced to face 12th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday.
“That was Maryland basketball,” Terrapins coach Brenda Frese said. “That was a lot of fun.”
Katie Benzan scored 17 points for Maryland. The Terrapins finished with five players in double figures — Angel Reese scored 15 points and Chloe Bibby had 11. Depth is still an issue for Maryland, which used only seven players in the first three quarters, but the Terps were up 80-56 after three, and tired legs didn’t seem to be an issue at the end.
Delaware (24-8) also had a short bench while the game was still competitive, and less balanced scoring. Dickey, who has already announced her intention to enter the WNBA draft, scored plenty but needed 32 shot attempts to do it.
“They’re bigger guards so you have to shoot a little bit higher,” Dickey said. “Attacking the rim was a little bit tough, too.”
The Terrapins led 27-17 after one quarter. Then Benzan went to work, going 4 for 4 from 3-point range in the second.
Delaware still trailed by just 10 at halftime, but Benzan opened the second half with another 3, and Maryland eventually went ahead 67-46 on a layup by Bibby.
BIG PICTURE
Delaware: Dickey showed why she has pro potential, but the Blue Hens were overwhelmed in the second half after a credible performance in the first.
“We don’t want this one game to take away from a phenomenal season,” Delaware coach Natasha Adair said. “It hurts, as it should, but as their coach, I couldn’t ask for a better crew.”
Maryland: It wasn’t just Benzan shooting well. The Terps were 10 of 20 beyond the arc as a team and shot 59% from the field. Now Maryland’s shallow rotation will be tested with only one day of rest before the second round.
FRESH START
The Terrapins entered the season ranked in the top five, but they dealt with injury problems and barely ended up hosting these first two rounds as a No. 4 seed in their region. A break following the Big Ten Tournament gave the team a chance to regroup.
“It’s a new season today,” Miller said.
Miller missed several games early this season because of knee problems. Owusu missed a handful down the stretch.
“This team has battled a lot of adversity, especially Diamond and Ash, through injuries, which has never really occurred in their careers,” Frese said. “Really proud of them to stay the course. Ashley coming back off such a long break and has really used the last two weeks to get where she really needed to get to for our team. I thought she had a tremendous floor general game.”
UP NEXT
The Terrapins take on an FGCU team that knocked off fifth-seeded Virginia Tech 84-81.
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