Midway through the third quarter, Faith Masonius poked a steal along the sideline and Shyanne Sellers raced up the court. Sellers dished out a short bounce pass to Bri McDaniel, who launched the ball up with one hand.
McDaniel’s shot went so high that the ball sailed out of the camera’s view before falling through the net, a wild shot that went the Terps way.
Maryland women’s basketball (13-10, 5-7 Big Ten) snapped its four-game losing streak, picking up a crucial 67-59 win over Rutgers (7-18, 1-11 Big Ten). The victory was just the Terps’ second road win of the season.
Maryland entered Tuesday’s road contest off Saturday’s emotional, prime-time game against No. 3 Iowa. The Terps started off slow despite forcing four Rutgers turnovers and grabbing offensive rebounds, a previous weak point especially late in games — they grabbed seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter but could not take advantage of those extra possessions, scoring only two second chance points in the frame.
The balanced rebounding game continued for Maryland in the second quarter. It corralled seven more offensive rebounds, converting those extra chances into seven points.
Masonius had big contributions early in her return to the starting lineup for the first time since Dec. 20 against James Madison. The wing found lanes under the basket for some off the backboard layups, and her nifty passing vision included a speedy dime to Allie Kubek through traffic for the easy layup. Masonius also collected four rebounds, one of four Terps in the first half to secure four or more boards.
Despite all its added opportunities, Maryland couldn’t establish much of an offensive rhythm for most of the first half. The Terps started the game 9-33 from the field before closing out the half making five of their last seven shots to gain some breathing room at halftime with a 37-28 lead.
“I thought our legs were tired when you see us missing free throws and layups, those are uncharacteristic for us,” coach Brenda Frese said.
Maryland built on its 5-0 run to close out the first half, scoring seven unanswered points to start the third quarter using defense to ignite the offense with three steals. But Rutgers didn’t go away, using a 7-0 run to make it a 10-point game after a few offensive fouls and turnovers gave the Scarlet Knights momentum late in the third quarter.
Freshman sharpshooter Jillian Huerter, former Terp Kevin Huerter’s younger sister, hit a trio of three-pointers — her first points of the night — that opened up the offense. Rutgers used a 10-0 run to trim Maryland’s lead all the way down to three with two minutes left.
Even with Rutgers not going away, the dominance on the offensive glass was a huge asset. The Terps set a new season high in offensive rebounds, grabbing 25 crucial boards as Maryland needed all of its 12 second chance points to defeat Rutgers.
Despite not hitting a field goal for the final five minutes of the game, the Terps came up clutch at the free throw line. McDaniel hit four crucial free throws over the final two minutes and Sellers added another one to survive the pesky Scarlet Knights.
“I just think that it shows that we’re getting better and we’re connected,” Jakia Brown-Turner said. “We’re a great team.”
