The Buckeyes took advantage of a short-handed Terps squad down the stretch.
No. 8 Maryland women’s basketball has lost two consecutive games for the first time this season, collapsing Thursday night against No. 12 Ohio State.
The Terps looked good early but faltered late, allowing the Buckeyes to take advantage and hand them a 74-66 loss.
Here are three takeaways from Thursday’s game.
Missed free throws haunted the Terps
Maryland missed 13 free throws Thursday. The Terps did an exceptional job drawing fouls and getting to the line, but could not knock them down late. Down the stretch in the second half, the Terps took several trips to the charity stripe only to leave empty-handed.
Maryland shot 21-of-34 (61.8%) from the free-throw line, its third-worst percentage in a game this season.
“I thought fatigue played into that on the free-throw percentage, because we’re a great free-throw shooting team,” head coach Brenda Frese said.
In an eight-point loss, every free throw mattered.
Third-quarter meltdown
The Terps played well in the first half and held a lead going into halftime, looking poised for a surprising road victory.
Ohio State proceeded to go on a remarkable 15-0 run that started with a quick sequence in Maryland’s half of the court. Ohio State scored six points on three layups in a span of 20 seconds.
“They decided to ramp up their physicality. Then, it got a lot more physical and we didn’t handle it [well],” Frese said.
Maryland could not produce against Ohio State’s full-court press, as its 10-point lead transformed into a five-point deficit.
“Having a short bench really showed in the third quarter,” Frese said. “We’re not going to get too high or too low in January. It’s obviously been a tough week.”
In addition, there were some questionable lineup decisions for Maryland that didn’t help the cause. Emily Fisher saw extended minutes in key moments Thursday — she hadn’t seen significant time all season.
“You have to be creative between the minutes, calling your timeouts, watching your foul trouble, mixing up your defenses, and then being able to see what kind of depth you can be able to have,” Frese said.
It was odd, considering Ava McKennie and Mir McLean did not see the floor in the second half, whereas Fisher saw her only minutes come in the second half and finished one point, after shooting 1-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Ohio State forced turnovers
Heading into Thursday night, one of the things Maryland looked to focus on against a steal-heavy team in Ohio State was ball security.
Compared to other games this season, Maryland’s turnover count wasn’t terrible. But the margin of turnovers between the two teams was notable, as the Terps tallied 17 to the Buckeyes’ six.
Ohio State took full advantage of Maryland’s mistakes, scoring 20 points off turnovers and accumulating 10 steals, while the Terps recorded just two steals.
Maryland had its turnover struggles largely in the first half, as 11 of the team’s 17 giveaways came in the opening 20 minutes. Five of Saylor Poffenbarger’s six turnovers came in the first half as well.
Despite only turning the ball over six times in the second half, the most crucial ones came in the third quarter. The start of Ohio State’s 15-0 run was sparked by Maryland fumbling the ball consecutively against the Buckeyes’ full-court press.
“We let them speed us up. But our passes were lazy, we weren’t really making the right read. But other than that, it’s something we should fix,” Kaylene Smikle said.
This isn’t the first time the Terps have faced a full-court press, but it was easily the most effective it’s been against them.