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Maryland beats previously undefeated Princeton to reach Sweet 16 Maryland beats previously undefeated Princeton to reach Sweet 16
(about 2 hours later)
The Maryland women’s basketball team had heard all about undefeated Princeton over the past several days. The Tigers were supposedly the darlings of the NCAA tournament, especially with President Obama having picked his niece’s team to reach the Final Four. Maryland players had heard enough about how undefeated Princeton was supposedly the darling of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, especially after President Obama picked the team on which his niece is a reserve to reach the Final Four.
The top-seeded Terrapins had none of it Monday, surging out of intermission with a knockout flurry that yielded an 85-70 victory in the round-of-32 game in College Park. So the top-seeded Terrapins took particular glee Monday night in spoiling that story line, unleashing a knockout flurry immediately after halftime that yielded an 85-70 victory in the round of 32 in College Park.
In winning for a program-record 26th straight time, top-seeded Maryland (32-2) punched its ticket to the region semifinals in Spokane, Wash., where it will face heated rival Duke on Saturday. Eighth-seeded Princeton had marched through a weak nonconference schedule and the underwhelming Ivy League, but the Tigers couldn’t keep up with the Terrapins, who had gone on their own undefeated run in conference play in the Big Ten. In extending its program-record winning streak to 26 games, Maryland (32-2) advanced to the region semifinals in Spokane, Wash., where it will face longtime rival Duke, the No. 4 seed, on Saturday. The Terrapins are making their fourth straight appearance and seventh overall in the round of 16 under Brenda Frese, who was voted Big Ten coach of the year following an undefeated Big Ten regular season and the conference tournament title.
Redshirt senior Laurin Mincy led Maryland with a game-high 27 points on 9-for-11 shooting, including 6 for 7 from three-point range. Sophomore point guard Lexie Brown had 23 points with six rebounds and four assists, and reserve forward Tierney Pfirman chipped in 11 points, all in the first half. Eighth-seeded Princeton (31-1), meanwhile, had marched through a weak nonconference schedule and the underwhelming Ivy League, leaving it ill-equipped to keep pace with an opponent that owns the No. 5 Rating Percentage Index in the country and victories over 11 teams ranked in the Associated Press top 25.
Maryland’s onslaught following a four-point lead at halftime commenced when Mincy sank a layup on a fast break. Alex Wheatley scored for the eighth-seeded Tigers with 19 minutes 1 second left in the second half, but that field goal would be their last for the next five-plus minutes. The Terrapins, meanwhile, began to push the pace with defensive pressure that led to transition baskets. “Playing an undefeated team, a team Obama had picked over us, gave us a little added motivation to come in and make a statement,” Maryland guard Laurin Mincy said.
Mincy immediately made a pull-up jumper, and center Brionna Jones sank a pair of foul shots followed by a layup while drawing a foul. She missed the bonus, but guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough kept the momentum going with a jumper before Mincy’s three-pointer. Brown scored on a driving layup, and Maryland built a 57-40 lead as the Tigers missed six straight field goal attempts. The redshirt senior did so emphatically in her final game at Xfinity Center, scoring 27 points on 9-for-11 shooting and making a career-high six three-pointers in seven attempts. Sophomore point guard Lexie Brown had 23 points with six rebounds and four assists, and reserve forward Tierney Pfirman chipped in 11 points, all in the first half.
Tigers Coach Courtney Banghart called timeout, and while the stoppage allowed her players to briefly regroup, Maryland extended the lead to 62-42 after Brown’s three-pointer with 12:58 to play. Princeton (31-1) managed to whittle the deficit to 13, but the Terrapins scored the next 11 points capped by Mincy’s three-pointer for a 75-51 advantage with 7:32 remaining in the game. With Princeton determined to take away the Terrapins’ advantage inside, Maryland punished the nation’s top three-point-shooting outfit with some nifty work from beyond the arc itself. The Terrapins went 7 for 8 in the second half and shot 60 percent (12 of 20) overall from distance during a game in which Princeton held a 46-20 margin on points in the paint.
Ten straight points from the Tigers compelled Maryland Coach Brenda Frese to angrily call timeout. The Terrapins’ response was to find Mincy open along the left baseline, where she stared down her defender and rose to swish the final three-pointer of her career at Xfinity Center for a 78-61 lead with 4:29 to go. The Tigers shot just 35 percent in the second half and allowed 19 points overall on nine turnovers. Senior guard Blake Dietrick had 17 of her 26 points in the second half for Princeton, and sophomore guard Vanessa Smith chipped in 15 points and four rebounds.
The game began with both teams on torrid shooting paces and Princeton sagging defensively to prevent easy entry passes to Jones. The sophomore finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday’s 75-57 round-of-64 victory over New Mexico State, and the Tigers were determined not to allow the first-team all-Big Ten selection to have her way early. “What a great college basketball game, as we expected it to be,” Tigers Coach Courtney Banghart said. “Really, really give a lot of credit to Maryland. We forced them to shoot really well to beat us, and that was our goal going in, that we were going to make them make shots from the perimeter 15 feet and out. Man, they shot the ball really well.”
Jones picked up her first foul less than two minutes after tip-off and was not a factor in the first half. Maryland was able to make a run without her though to take a 16-10 lead courtesy of Mincy’s three-pointer, Brown’s driving layup, Walker-Kimbrough’s jumper and freshman guard Kiara Leslie’s jumper from a shade inside the three-point line. Maryland's onslaught following a four-point lead at halftime commenced when Mincy sank a layup on a fast break. Alex Wheatley scored for the Tigers with 19 minutes 1 second left in the second half, but that field goal would be their last for the next five-plus minutes. The Terrapins then began to push the pace with defensive pressure that led to transition baskets.
The Tigers reclaimed the lead by scoring 11 of the next 15 points, beginning with Amanda Berntsen’s two foul shots and a jumper by Vanessa Smith, who made three field goals in a row. Blake Dietrick’s driving layup gave the Tigers a 21-20 advantage that grew to four points when Annie Tarakchian collected an offensive rebound and scored. Mincy made a pull-up jumper, and center Brionna Jones (10 points, 10 rebounds) sank a pair of free throws followed by a layup while drawing a foul. She missed the bonus, but guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (10 points) kept the momentum going with a jumper before Mincy's three-pointer. Brown scored on a driving layup, and Maryland built a 57-40 lead as the Tigers missed six straight field goal attempts.
Walker-Kimbrough made two free throws, Pfirman sank a three-pointer from the right corner that bounced around the rim and fell through, and Mincy added a pair of foul shots to give the lead back to Maryland, 33-30. The Terrapins extended the margin to 42-38 going into the locker room thanks to Walker-Kimbrough’s long jumper seconds before the halftime buzzer. Banghart called a timeout, and while the stoppage allowed her players to regroup for a spell, Maryland extended its advantage to 62-42 after Brown's three-pointer with 12:58 to play. Princeton managed to whittle the deficit to 13, but the Terrapins scored the next 11 points capped by Mincy's three-pointer for a 75-51 lead, the largest of the game, with 7:32 to go.
Princeton’s previous largest deficit this season had been seven.
Ten straight points from the Tigers soon after compelled Frese to call a timeout. The Terrapins’ response was to find Mincy open along the left baseline, where she stared down her defender and rose to swish the final three-pointer of her career at Xfinity Center for a 78-61 lead with 4:29 to go.
“We wanted our play to kind of do our talking, to come out and just be who we are,” Frese said. “I love how this team takes a business-like approach. We wanted to be able to show that we felt like our conference had prepared us to be able to play an undefeated team.”
Note: Hours before the game, University of Maryland police received a call about a threat directed toward Princeton forward Leslie Robinson, President Obama’s niece.
There was increased security at the game as a precautionary measure, and an investigation revealed the threat was unsubstantiated.
“College Park police, I'm sure, had that under control,” Banghart said. “Leslie is safe. She's in my locker room. No one loves her like I do. She's an important part of our team. Keep the freaks out of our gym.”