Takeaways from No. 14 Maryland women’s basketball’s loss to Illinois

Photo courtesy of University of Maryland Athletics

No. 14 Maryland women’s basketball snapped its three-game losing streak against Penn State Wednesday and looked to get back on track against Illinois. 

However, Maryland had its second-lowest-scoring output of the season in a heartbreaking loss. 

Here are the takeaways from the game. 

Unloading the bench

With Shyanne Sellers already missing two games with a knee sprain, the Terps couldn’t afford to lose her again. In the third, she appeared to have possibly reaggravated the injury but returned to the game. 

With injuries shaking up the Terps lineup, Brenda Frese has looked deeper into her bench in recent games, with no exception against Illinois. 

After coming in late in Maryland’s win against Penn State on Wednesday, sophomore guard Emily Fisher got some early burn against Illinois. She got on the board with a layup in the first quarter and played 21 minutes. 

Eight different Terps played in the first quarter. With Mir McLean entering the game in the second quarter, nine different Terps played in the first half as Maryland looks to strengthen its bench late in the season. 

“I’ve got to role with players that are showing me in practices and games that we can count on,” Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said. “They’ll all get there, but we need them all to be there now in February.” 

Late Game Struggles 

Maryland has built sizable leads in many conference games this season but struggled to close out their opponents. 

Against Minnesota and Penn State, the Terps led by as many as 20 points in the second half but only led by five points late in the game. 

The same was true against Illinois, as Maryland struggled to hold its lead after taking a nine-point lead early in the third quarter.

The game was tied going into the fourth quarter. Maryland struggled to get rebounds, allowing the Fighting Illini to take a four-point lead. From here, Maryland’s defense forced a nearly five-minute Illinois scoring drought. 

The Treps answered with two huge buckets. Sellers knocked down a turn-around jumper, followed by a three from Sarah Te-Biasu to take a one-point lead. 

Maryland took a five-point lead with under three minutes, but Illinois fought back again, taking a late lead on free throws.

Despite having a chance to take the lead in the final seconds, Sellers could not convert, as Maryland failed to close out the game. 

“This is how good every single team is in league play,” Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said. “Just learning these valuable lessons that will prepare us for March.” 

Illinois plays Spoiler 

Maryland came into this matchup 17-0 all-time against Illinois. That seemed to be perfect news, as it was Senior Day for the Terps, and Frese was coaching for her 600th win at Maryland. 

However, the Fighting Illini had other plans – upsetting the Terps 66-65 in an eventful fourth quarter to spoil a magical day for Maryland women’s basketball. 

“I usually try to use things like that to motivate our team, and I didn’t do any of that today,” Illinois head coach Shauna Green said. “We just approached this game like any other game, and we have respect.” 

Despite shooting just 39% from the field, Illinois made up for it from the three-point line, shooting 10-21 (48%), and the free–throw line, 8-8  (100%). 

“We knew they were an elite free-throw shooting team”, Frese said. “We wanted to keep them off the line. When you talk about 100% from the free throw line, you know that was really impactful.”