The Terps escaped Saturday with a win.
No. 10 Maryland women’s basketball escaped its first game of this weekend’s Navy Classic tournament with a 66-56 victory over George Mason.
The Terps held a lead throughout the first half and survived a comeback effort to improve to 7-0 this season.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game.
Foul trouble haunted the Terps
Maryland women’s basketball got itself into foul trouble, committing 20 fouls on Saturday.
The Terps had 12 fouls in the first half and eight in the second, but that doesn’t tell the full story. Many of Maryland’s key players — including Shyanne Sellers, Kaylene Smikle and Christina Dalce — had three fouls during the third quarter, which allowed George Mason to mount a comeback.
“We were in a lot of foul trouble, a lot of adversity in this game and found a way to win in spite of not [having] one of our better games,” head coach Brenda Frese said.
Smikle fouled out in the final minute of the game, the first time a Terp had done so all season. It also snapped her streak of five consecutive games with 20 or more points.
Sellers, Dalce, Poffenbarger and Bri McDaniel all ended the day with three fouls, making Frese’s game management more difficult. It was increasingly more evident with McDaniel, who committed two quick fouls in the first half. She saw only a minute of action in the first half and seven minutes total.
It wasn’t just defensive fouls that haunted the Terps on Saturday. The Terps committed a number of offensive fouls, alongside some three-second violations that allowed George Mason to take the lead in the second half.
Despite winning, Maryland was uncharacteristically bad when it came to fouling. Usually, the Terps have one or two players in foul trouble during the second half.
One positive aspect of Maryland’s foul trouble was that it was cleaned up in the fourth quarter, as it mostly stayed out of foul trouble to secure the victory.
Unusual struggles from the free-throw line
Maryland had a poor performance from the charity stripe on Saturday against George Mason. Maryland was 13-of-27 (48%) from the charity stripe and 7-of-18 (39%) in the second half.
This poor performance was evident in the fourth quarter, when the Terps got to the free throw line but failed to connect.
“We were uncharacteristic at the free throw line today, so we had to weather the storm,” Frese said.
There was a stretch during the fourth quarter where Smikle and Dalce got to the free-throw line on multiple occasions and went 1-of-7 combined.
Free throws were mostly an issue with Dalce on Saturday — she was 0-of-6 on free throws and only had eight total points. However, she was prolific at getting to the line, consistently drawing fouls in the paint off second-chance opportunities.
For the rest of the Terps, Sarah Te-Biasu was 1-of-2 from the line, Smikle was 4-of-8, Sellers was 4-of-6 and Mir McLean was Maryland’s best from the line, going 4-of-5.
A lot of rebounds
Rebounds were a massive aspect in Sunday’s game on both sides. The Terps had 49 boards while the Patriots had 42.
Six Maryland players posted five or more rebounds in its first game of the Navy Classic. Poffenbarger led the way with 12 rebounds, which was her highest total of the season.
“There’s some I missed, but I think just getting a body and controlling, going in there every time,” Poffenbarger said. “They’re a really good rebounding team, so I think just a point of emphasis to us getting extra possessions and getting the ball was really important.”
As for the rest of the Terps, Dalce had nine boards, Sellers and Allie Kubek each coralled six and Te-Biasu and McLean each recorded five.
It was also a mark of the toughness shown by both teams, George Mason put the pressure on Maryland, forcing it to work for its rebounds.
“I thought they outworked us on the glass. I thought they were the tougher team in the third quarter,” Frese said.
Maryland also totaled 21 offensive rebounds, while George Mason had a staggering 25. Offensive rebounding was a huge reason why the game was so close, as it allowed the Patriots to draw fouls.