Indiana converted on its first six shots against Maryland and jumped to an early 14 point lead.
The Hoosiers never lost their early momentum and defeated Maryland women’s basketball (17-12, 9-9 B1G) 71-54 in the regular season finale.
No. 14 Indiana (24-4, 15-3 B1G) finished their home slate a perfect 15-0 as nearly the entire starting lineup scored in double figures.
Maryland awaits the results of the final Big Ten games today to determine its seed in the Big Ten tournament. The Terps are slotted as the 7th or 8th seed and will play their first game of the Big Ten tournament on March 7. If Purdue beats Michigan the Terps will be the 7th seed but if Michigan wins, Maryland will be the 8th seed.
“The biggest thing for us is forgetting everything,” Shyanne Sellers said. “They don’t call it ‘March Madness’ for no reason. Anything can happen and I don’t feel like we’re too far out.”
Maryland got whistled for four fouls in the first four minutes of the game, sending Indiana to the bonus early. The Terps remained disciplined however, not fouling the rest of the first quarter.
Maryland settled after the Hoosiers early run and responded with twelve unanswered points, fueled by offensive boards and second chance points.
Indiana quickly ripped off 12 straight points in the second quarter as Maryland struggled to generate open shots. The Hoosier defense forced four second quarter turnovers and capitalized with seven points off them. Indiana finished with 16 points off Maryland’s 13 turnovers.
Maryland’s seven man-rotation couldn’t handle Indiana’s veteran led team. Sara Scalia, Mackenzie Holmes and Yarden Garzon carried Indiana in the first half scoring 35 of the team’s 39 first half points. Garzon connected on four three pointers in the first half.
Indiana’s defense gave Maryland fits as the Terps shot just 28.8% from the field. It was the lowest display since Maryland shot 30.3% against Washington State on Thanksgiving. The Terps couldn’t capitalize on layups and missed 22 of 35 attempts.
“We just got to make layups,” Brown-Turner said. “Those are easy shots, it’s just not letting teams speed us up.”
Bri McDaniel started 0-9 from the field and missed multiple layups, including a fast break attempt late in the first half.
Maryland dominated the offensive glass, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds compared to Indiana’s five. Yet, Maryland could not take advantage of all those second chance looks and only scored 12 second chance points.
Jakia Brown-Turner was the lone bright spot for the Terps. The graduate student continued her recent hot streak and recorded her sixth double-double of the season. The forward scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
“This is a prideful locker room, it’s a team that has fought all season so I would expect they’ll come back out on a mission and ready to play,” coach Brenda Frese said.
