The Terps earned their fourth win in five games.
No. 21 Maryland women’s basketball traveled to Evanston, Illinois, for a game it should have won comfortably. And while it wasn’t always comfortable, the Terps took down Northwestern, 85-79, Thursday night.
Here are three takeaways from the game.`
Maryland forced ample Northwestern turnovers
Turnovers have plagued Maryland this season, but against Northwestern, the Terps weaponized turnovers to help them win.
They turned the Wildcats over 22 times, but more importantly created 27 points off those turnovers. Meanwhile, Northwestern turned Maryland over 17 times for just 13 points, most of which came in the last few minutes.
“I think turnovers are costly. Teams can capitalize off them,” Shyanne Sellers said.
Some of the turnovers were the product of poor Northwestern decisions, but Maryland did a great job of getting in the passing lanes and playing aggressive defense.
Saylor Poffenbarger recorded three steals and saw multiple easy layups in transition before exiting with an ankle injury. Mir McLean also contributed two steals and four other Terps registered one.
Maryland’s wins this season have usually coincided with games where the Terps buckle down defensively and get aggressive.
Maryland panicked against the press, again
With about five minutes left in the game, it looked like Maryland would lead wire-to-wire and get a comfortable double-digit victory over Northwestern. Then, the Wildcats dialed up a full-court press, and Maryland crumbled, as it has done multiple times this year.
“It comes down to we need our guard play to be able to start learning from these mistakes,” Frese said.
The Terps turned it over six times in the last five minutes, mostly in their own backcourt, which allowed Northwestern easy layups in quick succession to cut the lead as low as four points.
Most of the turnovers were the product of a lazy pass that were easily picked off, or in one case, Emily Fisher dribbled into a crowd of three Wildcats and lost the ball.
Sellers has been particularly turnover prone, registering seven turnovers Thursday and averaging 3.2 per game.
“I think [we have to] settle down and go back to what was working,” Sellers said. “I got to take care of the ball, that’s on me.”
Maryland survived Thursday, but its tendency to completely fold against the press could prove very costly in the postseason.
“If we finish like this, we’re going home,” Sellers said.
Depth is a concern
Maryland’s depth has been a concern ever since Bri McDaniel went down with a season-ending injury. These concerns have increased exponentially now Poffenbarger’s questionable health.
Frese got 12 points from her bench Thursday, which included a scoreless outing from Allie Kubek. Her performance resulted in Frese deploying four guards and McLean at one point.
Poffenbarger has turned into an increasingly important member of the rotation with McDaniel out of the lineup. She was in the midst of one of her best performances of the season — posting with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists — before leaving the game.
If she misses significant time, Frese is left with just Kubek, Christina Dalce, McLean and Amari DeBerry in the frontcourt. DeBerry registered four points in her four minutes of game action Thursday.
Maryland will hope Poffenbarger can get healthy in time for the postseason and work with what it has in the meantime.
The Terps will get a much-needed week off.
“It’s good that we get a bye-week, we can get some rest,” Frese said.