One winning streak will end Sunday afternoon when the two hottest teams in the Big Ten face off. Maryland women’s basketball (16-10, 8-7 Big Ten) looks to extend its four-game winning streak by pulling off a shocking upset of No. 2 Ohio State (23-3, 14-1 Big Ten) to snap its 13-game winning streak.
The Terps had a chance to secure a major home win against the Buckeyes last month, but gave up eight offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter. The Buckeyes took full advantage of the extra possessions, securing an 84-76 win. Ohio State won the second chance point battle 15-9, the ultimate difference maker in determining the result.
“We shored up our rebounding, that’s going to be a huge area for us,” coach Brenda Frese said.
Maryland has tightened up on the glass since that loss, only giving up an average of 11.5 offensive rebounds a game after giving up as many as 20 against Nebraska on Dec. 31 and those 19 against the Buckeyes.
Ohio State’s win in College Park marked its fourth straight. Ever since that matchup all the Buckeyes have done is win, stretching their winning streak double-digits. Included in Ohio State’s streak was a massive 100-92 upset of then-No. 2 Iowa at home, allowing it to shoot up the AP Poll over the last several weeks.
The Buckeyes’ hot stretch has them in firm control at the top of the Big Ten, holding a 1.5-game advantage over second place No. 14 Indiana.
Maryland faces an uphill climb to take down the top team in the conference, and that task will be a bit more challenging without forward Lavender Briggs. The graduate student went down Wednesday night in the second quarter against Rutgers, severely injuring her knee while going for a loose ball.
“I felt her injury,” wing Jakia Brown-Turner said. “We know we want to finish the rest of the season for Lav, Riley [Nelson] and Emma [Chardon] and we’re just going to play hard for them.”
Frese announced Friday that Briggs will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, marking an abrupt end to Briggs’ collegiate career. Briggs is the third Terp to go down with a season ending knee injury, joining Chardon and Nelson, further exposing Maryland’s lack of depth and inability to add more players from the transfer portal last offseason.
The Terps are now down to a primary seven-man rotation for the final month of the season with Briggs out as they push towards making the NCAA Tournament.
Briggs contributed 16 points off the bench in Maryland’s narrow loss to Ohio State earlier this season, meaning the Terps will need some more players to step up and score in the rematch.
One player that will see her minutes increase is freshman Emily Fisher, who has seen playing time this season but so far is not known for her scoring. Fisher is averaging just 2.7 points per game but will need to step up and attempt more shots with Briggs out for the remainder of the season.
“She’s no longer a freshman anymore,” Frese said. “I like how she’s been practicing and how she’s been playing…she’s more than ready.”
Sunday’s matchup is set for a 2 p.m. start in Columbus.
