Maryland women’s basketball’s three-point shooting was working early against Minnesota. The Terps started the game hot from deep, connecting on five looks from beyond the arc in the opening quarter.
Then Maryland went inside. The Terps scored double-digit points in each of the next two periods to pull away from the Gophers.
That pairing of early three-point scoring and a heavy interior presence after that led Maryland (10-4, 2-1 B1G) to a rebound performance following its first loss since Thanksgiving. The Terps defeated Minnesota (11-3, 1-2 B1G), 72-64, to start 2024 with a victory.
“I thought our defense set the tone, able to force them into 20 turnovers and then our unselfishness,” coach Brenda Frese said. “… Two-to-one assist to turnover ratio so just a pretty complete 40 minute game for us.”
The Gophers came out strong, headlined by their center Sophie Hart. Hart scored Minnesota’s first eight points as it opened the game with an 8-6 lead, but the junior was kept relatively quiet the rest of game as she finished with 13 points.
The Terps’ connections from deep allowed them to contend with Hart’s early scoring, as each of their first three made field goals came from three-point range.
Allie Kubek headlined Maryland’s early production from beyond the arc despite entering Wednesday with just six made threes on the season. The forward’s three connects from deep in the first quarter marked a new season-high.
Kubek accounted for half of the Terps’ first-quarter points. Her teammates stepped up to flip Maryland’s deficit entering the second period into a quick lead — the Terps used three different scores on a 10-2 run to build up a 28-23 lead and gain some momentum.
Lavender Briggs, in her second game back from injury, built off a strong 25-point performance Sunday against Nebraska. The graduate student scored nine points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists in the first half as Maryland out-scored Minnesota by 10 points in the second quarter to enter the break up seven.
Mara Braun was the lone consistent scorer for the Gophers in the first half. The guard made a pair of three’s in each quarter to pace her side with 12 points at halftime, keeping Minnesota’s deficit in single digits. Braun finished the game as the Gophers leading scorer with 20 points.
The Gophers started the third quarter on fire, tying the game at 45 before Kubek converted a one-handed layup through traffic off of Shyanne Sellers’ seventh assist of the night to give the Terps a lead they kept the rest of the game.
Sellers excelled as a facilitator, finishing with 8 assists. But the junior still left her mark with her shooting, connecting on five of her eight looks en route to a 15-point showing. The performance was a needed bounce back for Sellers, who scored just four points on 14.3 percent shooting and seven turnovers against Nebraska last time out.
Sellers keyed the Terps’ overall unselfish play, as they notched assists on 22 of their 28 field goals. Three players recorded four or more assists, led by Sellers and Bri McDaniel with a combined 14 assists.
“I think just good ball movement and then body movement,” Sellers said. “[Also] making good reads, not taking a good shot but a great shot. That’s what we did all night.”
Minnesota put together a late rally to trim Maryland’s lead down to five with 1:14 left in the game. But the Terps calmly knocked down their free throws down the stretch to secure their second Big Ten win of the season.
