#25 UW dug deep and came back to notch an impressive 2 OT win against #16 Maryland at Maryland.
The first quarter for UW was hard to watch – they only scored 11 points and looked lost on offense. The second quarter was more of the same, with UW allowing Maryland to go on runs and keep their 10+ point lead. UW mounted a comeback to pull within five but quickly let it get away from the again. Going into halftime they were down 35-23 and things did not look promising because UW was shooting 27% from FG
and 9% from 3 PT, far from their usual averages.
PLEASE NOTE: Maryland is 91-10 when they are up at halftime over coach Brenda Frese’s tenure.
As the second half started, UW came out swinging, locking down defensively, and running a more coherent and aggressive offensive scheme. This led UW to go on a 10-0 run behind two 3’s from Sayvia Sellers and a 3 from Avery Howell to tie the game. Sellers got fouled and made a free throw to help UW go up for the first time in the game. Maryland responded and tied it up to go into the 4th quarter.
The fourth quarter was more back and forth for the two teams – Maryland up by a few points and then UW tied it; rinse and repeat several times. With 2:12 left in the game, Maryland tied it up again. On UW’s possession, Howell got the ball and drove hard to the lane, but got blocked hard by Maryland. UW managed to get the ball back and Sellers scored by slicing to the hoop. Maryland responded by scoring again as well. With 90 seconds left, Hannah Stines got called for a phantom foul which cost UW the possession. Another foul was called on UW which sent Maryland to the line and they made both free throws, putting them up two.
UW called a timeout and the play they ran out of the timeout wasn’t effective and Maryland was able to draw Sellers into a foul, which gave Maryland an opportunity to go to the line to shoot two. Maryland made their first and missed their second.
With 24 seconds left, UW called a timeout and drew up a great play to get Brynn McGaughy, freshman extraordinaire, the ball on an offside layup. Unfortunately, McGaughy showed her True Freshman lack of ability to finish and missed the perfect opportunity that was given to her. A scramble for the ball ensued and UW came up with it. Elle Ladine, who was 2-5 overall from 3 for the game, made a beautiful 3 to tie the game with 12 seconds left. Maryland couldn’t execute and the game went into overtime.
PLEASE NOTE: I have been a big Chloe Briggs fan since she got to UW, but this year she hasn’t gotten as much playing time as her first two years. Her main specialty is getting her body in exactly the right position to draw charges from the other team. She is small in stature and she goes flying and the refs always call it. During the fourth quarter, when the game was close, she did this twice, drawing two big fouls from Maryland to get the momentum back on UW’s side.
The first overtime was more of the same – both teams fighting to win and going back and forth and back and forth for the lead. With 24 seconds left, Tina Langley drew up another great play because Maryland had been overplaying Sellers all game. UW overloaded the weakside and Sellers sealed her defender behind her for a backcut and Ladine lobbed it to her on the inbounds and Sellers scored a quick two putting UW up 1 with 4 seconds left. As time ran out, the refs called a late foul on Howell which went under review right away. After review, the refs said that the foul happened with .3 seconds left, which meant that Maryland went to the line to shoot two fouls. Maryland made both to tie the game and send it to 2OT.
PLEASE NOTE: Langley stuck with the same line up through both OTs until people started fouling out: McGaughy, Sellers, Stines, Ladine, and Howell. I liked it and I hope to see more of it.
Basically the second overtime looked a lot like the first OT except:
- Both teams got tired and missed shots, fouled unnecessarily and made lazy passes
- Howell fouled out with 17 points and 11 rebounds
- Sellers only had 2 fouls (!!) for the entire game – she also contributed 38 points and 6 assists (5 turnovers, so that sort of negates the assists, but hey)
- Sellers got a sweet block in a clutch moment
- Ladine missed two free throws in a clutch moment
- Maryland had three opportunities to score at the very end of the game and could not convert. They were frantic, hurried, and rushed, and somehow, even though the odds were in their favor with those many attempts, the basketball gods smiled on UW and Maryland did not score.
UW won 83-80.
Some Catch Up
We last checked in after UW beat #6 (at the time) ranked Michigan.
Since then,
- UW got thumped in a sad showing to Michigan State, losing 67-82
- UW lost to Purdue 72-78
- UW beat Indiana 82-63
- UW beat Minnesota 67-54
- UW beat Penn State 81-65
- UW beat Rutgers 76-48
Which means we’re on a 5 game winning streak, folks.
Big 10 Conference Play
Right now, both UCLA and Iowa are undefeated in conference. I somehow missed something because Iowa is good – they’ve beat Michigan State, Maryland, and Ohio State; all ranked teams.
Michigan has only one conference loss – to UW.
Michigan State and Ohio State both have two losses.
UW has three losses and then it drops from there. A curious thing is that Maryland is 5-5 in conference and they are ranked 16th.
My (probably controversial) take is that UW just needs to stay in the top half of the conference to make the tournament as a seeded team, and not a play-in team. They beat teams who will win their conference and make the tournament and now they’ve beat two ranked teams in their conference. It’s anybody’s ball game!
Next Up
Illinois (5-5 in conference play) this Sunday at 3pm.
