The Terps posted a valiant effort but fell just short.
No. 8 Maryland women’s basketball dropped its first game of the season to No. 4 USC, 79-74, Wednesday night in College Park.
The Terps put forth a valiant effort and proved they belong among the nation’s best, but came up short late, failing to pull off the upset.
Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s action.
The Terps couldn’t close it out
With 2:18 remaining, the Terps and Trojans were tied at 72. The Trojans then went on a 7-0 run, essentially putting the game out of reach.
“Obviously disappointed to not close this one out, but just didn’t make enough plays down the stretch,” head coach Brenda Frese said.
The Terps played with a lead for a lot of the night, but folded for the first time all season late. Maryland had multiple possessions come up empty down the stretch, allowing USC to steal the lead and build enough of a margin to prevent a late comeback.
“I think we had a few empty possessions toward the end. In a top-10 matchup, you can’t have back-to-back empty possessions,” Shyanne Sellers said.
The moment where Maryland seemingly lost the game was in the final 30 seconds, when JuJu Watkins fouled out and the Terps held possession down by three points. But Saylor Poffenbarger missed a game-tying 3-pointer, and USC grabbed the rebound, all but seizing the victory.
However, before the Trojans took the lead things teetered downhill for the Terps. Before she fouled out, Bri McDaniel missed two shots with around four minutes remaining — one was completely wide open and the other was a missed layup off a turnover. Meanwhile, Kiki Iriafren connected on a clutch and-1 with 1:28 remaining. The Terps then missed three shots without Frese calling timeout, despite having three in her pocket.
Dalce and Sellers performed well
Despite the loss, Sellers and Christina Dalce showed up.
Sellers held her own against Watkins on both ends of the floor. Watkins scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, but Sellers helped contain her for most of the night.
On offense, Sellers put up a season-high 26 points and two assists. She was Maryland’s primary scorer, as Kaylene Smikle struggled early.
“She was that calming force for us, was fearless tonight, put the team on her back,” Frese said. “That’s what you should do as a senior and with the talent that she has. So, she’s played in many of these games, and she thrives in them.”
Meanwhile, Dalce, who has struggled as of late, was crucial in a massive bounce-back performance.
“The past is the past, and this is the now, and you’re able to make a difference,” Dalce said. “Whether that’s getting on the defensive boards or offensive boards, or even scoring. So, I knew that this game meant a lot to everybody on the team. I knew I had to do my part to try to bring it in.”
Dalce was strong in every facet, tallying 15 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. She went 7-of-11 from the field and only had one trip to the charity stripe, splitting a pair of free throws.
She entered Wednesday with nine total blocks on the season, with her season-high being three against William & Mary.
“Loved seeing [Dalce] get her swag back,” Frese said. “We really needed to be able to have her tonight.”
Shot selection
One of Maryland’s biggest downfalls in Wednesday’s loss was its questionable shot selection. But even when the Terps took high-percentage shots, they didn’t make them.
The Terps shot 27-of-74 (36.5%) from the field and 2-of-14 (14.3%) from deep. Comparatively, USC went 26-of-64 (40.6%) from the field and 5-of-15 (33.3%) from three.
“A lot of plays that we tried to take difficult shots and we didn’t [make them],” Frese said.
Perhaps no shot exemplified this more than Poffenbarger’s potential game-tying three, which was taken off-balance.
Despite the loss, Maryland is undoubtedly one of the best teams in the nation, but poor shot selection could be a recipe for disaster moving forward.
“I think we build off of it,” Poffenbarger said. “There’s a lot to learn from this, but there’s also a lot to take away positively. Continuing to stay confident and get in the gym, we’ll be right back.”