Preview: Maryland women’s basketball faces Illinois in key conference matchup

Maryland women’s basketball (13-10, 5-7 B1G) hopes to build off a strong win Tuesday at Rutgers with a trip to Illinois (11-11, 5-7 B1G) on Sunday. 

The Terps defeated the Scarlet Knights in Piscataway, 67-59, despite a fourth quarter comeback by the home team.

Maryland led by as much as 14 with 7:48 left in the final frame but Rutgers stormed back to trim its deficit to three with little over two minutes remaining. The Terps didn’t let the slide continue, scoring seven straight points and holding the Scarlet Knights scoreless to close the game and snap their four-game losing skid.

“We’re getting better and we’re connected,” wing Jakia Brown-Turner said. “We’re embracing finishing out these wins and doing the little things.”

Maryland now sits in eighth place in the Big Ten standings with six conference matchups left before the conference tournament. But the Terps are only two Big Ten wins back from entering a tie for fourth place.

Sunday’s matchup holds extreme importance because Maryland is currently tied with Illinois for that eighth spot. Despite the Illini having a worse overall record regardless of the game’s outcome, they would still jump the Terps in conference standings with a win.

Brown-Turner’s performance will be one of the main factors for a Maryland victory. The graduate student broke her streak Tuesday of five-straight games with 20 or more points, yet still notched her third double-double of the season. Brown-Turner has averaged 19.3 points per game over the past eight contests.

“My teammates have a lot of confidence and my coaches have a lot of confidence in me … they’re putting me in a good position to make those,” Brown-Turner said after a 25-point effort against Iowa.

Brown-Turner’s first 20-point game of the streak and season started at home against Illinois Jan. 20. The Terps narrowly escaped that day with a 90-82 victory at Xfinity Center.

Maryland held a large lead in the fourth quarter of that game as well — leading by 11 with 3:06 left in the game. The Illini quickly cut that lead to six just a minute later to create a competitive final two minutes, but the Terps held on as Illinois couldn’t stop the Maryland offense to close the game. 

Bri McDaniel led the Terps that game with 22 points — a regular outing for the sophomore guard since entering the new year. McDaniel has averaged 16 points in 2024 in 10 games, and is the team’s second leading scorer on the season.

McDaniel and Brown-Turner create a formidable scoring trio with guard Shyanne Sellers. But Sellers’ health has been shaky as of late — the junior has been dealing with a knee injury since suffering it against Penn State Jan. 28. 

Sellers missed one game but has returned to action for the past two games, appearing hobbled at times. The guard still notched 14 and 16 points, respectively, and is the team’s leading scorer at 15.4 points per game.

Maryland’s scoring trio will look to hamper Illinois’ scoring duo of its own — guards Makira Cook and Genesis Bryant. 

Cook averages 14.9 points per game while Bryant adds another 14.1. Bryant led the Illini in the two teams’ prior matchup with 19 points and Cook recorded 13.

With Illinois’ record at .500, many Maryland teams of the past may have shrugged off the Illini as an upcoming matchup. But this Terps team is different — they’ve lost four games to unranked opponents and haven’t seen themselves ranked since Week 2 of the season.

Just like every other matchup as the regular season closes, this game could determine the outcome of the Terps’ season as a whole.