No. 2 Maryland opens first round of the NCAA tournament against No. 15 Mount St. Mary’s

Photo Courtesy of Maryland Athletics

It's been more ii full years since Maryland women'south basketball last took the floor in an NCAA tournament game, but on Monday night the two seeded Terps will be back in the big trip the light fantastic as they face off against the No. 15 seed Mountain St. Mary's (17-six) in the Round of 64.

While the argument could exist fabricated the Terps deserved a 1 seed in the tournament later on securing a 24-2 record and the Big Ten championship, the committee decided otherwise.

Maryland is a 2 seed in the Hemisfair region and will face up the winner of No. seven Alabama against No. 10 North Carolina if they can go by Mount St. Mary's. The No. 1 seed in the region is defending champion South Carolina, who finished with 4 losses on the year.

"They understand they're not going to make this bigger than it is," caput coach Brenda Frese said. "At that place's been a groovy looseness, a lot of fun but like nosotros've done all season long. Then, I don't expect annihilation to change."

The Terps have experienced a hoist of tournament success during Frese'south tenure as head autobus. Since Frese took over the program in 2003, Maryland has appeared in 15 NCAA tournaments, eight Sweetness Sixteens, six Aristocracy Eights, three Final Fours and has won 1 National Championship in 2006.

Despite all the success Frese'due south previous teams accept experienced, this may be her nearly talented offensive team nevertheless. Maryland leads the country in scoring, averaging 91.iii points per game, the highest scoring team in program history.

The Terps also lead the land in 3-point field goal percentage and assist/turnover ratio. Both the Terps 40.7% shooting from deep and 20.4 assists per game are on step to break program records.

Maryland is the but team in the state with six players averaging double-digit points. Ashley Owusu and Diamond Miller lead the team in scoring averaging 18.3 and 17.2 points respectively. Both are on footstep to have the highest scoring average of a sophomore in program history.

"I don't want to endeavour to exercise too much or practice also petty," Owusu said. "Just come in and play the style I've always played and assist my squad."

While the Terps have been smothered with both team and individual accomplishments thus far, including National Coach of the Year for Frese and an AP Third Squad All-American for Owusu, nothing would hateful more than the biggest prize of them all: an NCAA National Championship.

In that location'southward a lot of work to exist done to be the last 1's standing in San Antonio, but spectators and critics around the state certainly expect them to be one of the final teams to remain despite a lack of tournament experience from virtually players.

Nevertheless, one Terp starter who does have tournament feel is Chloe Bibby, a senior transfer from Mississippi State. Bibby played on some aristocracy Mississippi State teams that fabricated deep runs into the tournament and now plays a key role on a Maryland team looking to practice the same.

"For united states, it's just business organisation as usual," Bibby said. "We're not going to get in and try to play outside of ourselves or do annihilation different because what we've been doing throughout the whole season has been working."

Beginning up is a matchup with the winners of the North Eastward Conference in the Mountaineers. The in-state opponents were supposed to confront off earlier this flavour as part of the non-conference schedule, just that game got delayed due to positive COVID-19 tests within the Mount St. Mary'due south plan.

While the Mountaineers accept a balanced scoring attack, they turn the ball over merely nether xv times a game. Maryland, on the other hand, loves to speed their opponents up defensively with traps, forcing over 20 turnovers per game. In all likelihood, the Terps will implement a full-court or ¾ court printing early to attempt to plow defense into criminal offense in its outset circular matchup.

"They're very proficient inside and out," Frese said. "They similar to attack off the bounciness, but for united states of america we feel like we're playing some of our best basketball."

Frese has never lost a first round NCAA tournament matchup in her time at Maryland. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. on Monday and volition be broadcast on ESPN.

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Source: http://wmucsports.net/no-2-maryland-opens-first-round-of-the-ncaa-tournament-against-no-15-mount-st-marys/