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| Maryland women’s basketball learning hard lessons from turnovers | Maryland women’s basketball learning hard lessons from turnovers |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| Less than a minute into Monday night’s game against Ohio State, the fifth-ranked Maryland women’s basketball team committed its first turnover. The next one came 30 seconds later, followed quickly by another. Within the first three minutes of the first quarter, the Terrapins had five turnovers and no points, foreshadowing a 94-86 loss on the road filled with sloppy ball security. | |
| Maryland finished with 23 turnovers — its second most this season — and dropped its second in a row to the No. 7 Buckeyes. Ohio State’s series sweep has the first-place Buckeyes on track to dethrone Maryland as the Big Ten regular season champions and claim the top seed in the conference tournament early next month in Indianapolis. | |
| [Loss to Buckeyes signals shift in Big Ten power structure] | [Loss to Buckeyes signals shift in Big Ten power structure] |
| Turnovers, a point of emphasis heading into Thursday night’s game against visiting Purdue, have plagued Maryland most noticeably in its three losses. The Terrapins (21-3, 10-2 Big Ten) are averaging 21.7 in those games but 14.7 otherwise. Their 15.6 turnovers per game overall are 10th out of 14 teams in the conference. | Turnovers, a point of emphasis heading into Thursday night’s game against visiting Purdue, have plagued Maryland most noticeably in its three losses. The Terrapins (21-3, 10-2 Big Ten) are averaging 21.7 in those games but 14.7 otherwise. Their 15.6 turnovers per game overall are 10th out of 14 teams in the conference. |
| “To me, so many of these are unforced,” Maryland Coach Brenda Frese said. “They’re not based on what the defense is doing with us. I mean from that end, I think that would be very correctable, but it’s from a mental concentration and being prepared and executing the game plan. We’ve got to tighten up, obviously, in that area.” | “To me, so many of these are unforced,” Maryland Coach Brenda Frese said. “They’re not based on what the defense is doing with us. I mean from that end, I think that would be very correctable, but it’s from a mental concentration and being prepared and executing the game plan. We’ve got to tighten up, obviously, in that area.” |
| The Terrapins are minus-0.3 per game in turnover margin, also 10th in the conference, but finished plus-1.2 in that category last season with first-team Big Ten selection Lexie Brown as the starting point guard. | |
| Brown transferred to Duke in the offseason, leaving Chloe Pavlech and Brene Moseley to share primary ballhandling duties. The duo combined for eight assists but seven turnovers and only four points against Ohio State. In all, Maryland’s back court accounted for 16 turnovers. The Buckeyes wound up plus-11 in points off turnovers. | Brown transferred to Duke in the offseason, leaving Chloe Pavlech and Brene Moseley to share primary ballhandling duties. The duo combined for eight assists but seven turnovers and only four points against Ohio State. In all, Maryland’s back court accounted for 16 turnovers. The Buckeyes wound up plus-11 in points off turnovers. |
| [GW basketball coach gets thrown out of daughter’s high school game] | [GW basketball coach gets thrown out of daughter’s high school game] |
| Pavlech, a senior starter, and Moseley, a redshirt senior and top reserve, typically have been dependable making decisions with the ball. Moseley (Paint Branch High) is second in the Big Ten in assists-turnover ratio (2.6). The former Washington Post first-team All-Met also is fourth in the conference in assists per game (6.0). | |
| Moseley had her best all-around performance of the season in the first loss to Ohio State, when she had 20 points, 10 assists and three turnovers in an 80-71 defeat at Xfinity Center on Jan. 2. | Moseley had her best all-around performance of the season in the first loss to Ohio State, when she had 20 points, 10 assists and three turnovers in an 80-71 defeat at Xfinity Center on Jan. 2. |
| Pavlech is tied for seventh in the Big Ten in assist-turnover ratio (2.2), although she was responsible for the first two turnovers against Ohio State. She handed out a career-high nine assists with just two turnovers in an 83-73 loss to top-ranked Connecticut on Dec. 28, but Terrapins guards combined for 14 of the team’s 22 turnovers that night. | |
| “A lot of it is just a mentality that we’re going to take care of the ball,” sophomore guard Kristen Confroy said. “We’re going to make sharp passes and make sure we’re playing within the game and not try to force anything inside because that’s where a lot of the turnovers came from.” | “A lot of it is just a mentality that we’re going to take care of the ball,” sophomore guard Kristen Confroy said. “We’re going to make sharp passes and make sure we’re playing within the game and not try to force anything inside because that’s where a lot of the turnovers came from.” |
| Three-point field goal defense also has been significantly worse in Maryland’s losses, with opponents shooting 39.7 percent (23 for 58) from three-point range in those games. Maryland is allowing 28.2 percent three-point shooting overall and ranks second in the Big Ten in three-point field goal percentage defense. The Terrapins had been leading the conference until Ohio State went 12 for 23 (52.2 percent) from beyond the arc Monday. | |
| Maryland’s next opponent is hardly a three-point shooting threat. The Boilermakers (16-7, 7-5), in fact, have attempted the second-fewest threes in the Big Ten and are shooting 34 percent from beyond the arc. Purdue did shoot its third-highest three-point percentage of the season, going 7 for 16, in an 87-67 loss to the Terrapins on Feb. 2 in West Lafayette, Ind. | Maryland’s next opponent is hardly a three-point shooting threat. The Boilermakers (16-7, 7-5), in fact, have attempted the second-fewest threes in the Big Ten and are shooting 34 percent from beyond the arc. Purdue did shoot its third-highest three-point percentage of the season, going 7 for 16, in an 87-67 loss to the Terrapins on Feb. 2 in West Lafayette, Ind. |
| Shatori Walker-Kimbrough has particularly fond memories of that game after scoring a career-high 41 points, one short of matching Marissa Coleman’s school record set in 2009. Walker-Kimbrough added 30 points three days later in an 85-76 victory over No. 17 Michigan State to set a program record for points in consecutive games. | Shatori Walker-Kimbrough has particularly fond memories of that game after scoring a career-high 41 points, one short of matching Marissa Coleman’s school record set in 2009. Walker-Kimbrough added 30 points three days later in an 85-76 victory over No. 17 Michigan State to set a program record for points in consecutive games. |
| “I thought our zone last time against Purdue was really good,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “I think our defense was really good. I think our press slowed them down a little bit. That was what mostly created our offense. Staying true to who we are defensively and running, I think that’s why we were so successful.” | “I thought our zone last time against Purdue was really good,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “I think our defense was really good. I think our press slowed them down a little bit. That was what mostly created our offense. Staying true to who we are defensively and running, I think that’s why we were so successful.” |