Jakia Brown-Turner dominated on senior day to lift the Terps over the Lady Lions.
Most college basketball players don’t have the opportunity to play in two senior day games. But Maryland women’s basketball graduate guard Jakia Brown-Turner did, and her second was one of the best performances of her career.
After splashing a three late in the fourth quarter, chants of “MVP” rang throughout the arena. Brown-Turner recorded the a career-high 32 points to lead Maryland to a blowout victory over Penn State, 77-62.
The final score was lopsided, but the Terps were only up two heading into halftime. But in the third quarter, Brown-Turner scored 15 points to give them a double-digit advantage.
In the teams’ last meeting, Maryland gave up 112 points to the Lady Lions, but the Terps learned from their mistakes. Maryland held the second-best offense in the Big Ten to just 41.1% shooting from the field.
“I thought just defensively we made them have to work to score,” said Terps head coach Brenda Frese.
Takeaways and transition offense were also initiated by Maryland’s defense. The Terps scored 20 fastbreak points and came away with 11 steals.
“We kind of feed off our defense,” said Maryland forward Faith Masonius, “so we had to get those defensive stops to get our offense going.”
Maryland was also efficient passing the ball, as the team finished with 20 assists. Guard Shyanne Sellers finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in one of her best performances of the season.
Penn State guard Ashley Owusu was playing her first game back in College Park since transferring from Maryland after the 2022 season. She scored the first points of the game when she stole the ball in and glided to the hoop for an easy layup.
Neither team could grab a hold of a significant lead to start, but near the end of the first quarter, Maryland found a rhythm to take a 19-13 lead.
The scrappy back-and-forth nature of the game continued throughout the rest of the first half, as Maryland found itself up by just two points, 28-26, at the end of the second quarter. Both teams shot under 40% from the field in the first half.
The away team came out with a bang to start the second half, as Makenna Marisa hit two straight threes to give Penn State a six-point lead.
Despite the run by the Lady Lions, Maryland competed on both ends of the floor to find an answer. Brown-Turner took the game over in the following minutes, scoring 10 points during a 12-0 run to put the Terps up six. She continued driving into the paint, which Penn State couldn’t stop.
“Just staying together really helped me, and just like next-play mentality,” Brown-Turner said.
In the final minutes of the third quarter, the Terps controlled practically every facet of the game. Maryland kept cruising and built its lead in the fourth quarter to earn its third straight victory.
“You know, it’s a perfect time to be clicking,” said Frese.
Three things to know
1. Owusu was quiet in her return. While she is averaging 18.5 points per game this season, former Maryland guard Ashley Owusu struggled to make an impact in her first game back at XFINITY Center. She finished with only seven points and three assists, along with a team-high six turnovers.
2. Sellers is heating up. Sellers has had an up and down season despite being the Terps’ leading scorer. Recently, she’s been back to playing her best basketball, and on Sunday she fell just one assist and rebound shy of a triple-double.
“It’s fun to be trending the right way at the right time,” Sellers said.
3. McDaniel struggled off the bench. Bri McDaniel didn’t play her best coming off the bench for the first time since Nov. 25. She went a dismal 0-for-5 from the field, finishing with zero points and three rebounds.