The obstacles got here in more than a few sizes and colours: an excessive amount of of Oregon famous person guard Sabrina Ionescu in 2017, that surprise of burnt orange from Texas in 2021, a throttling from top-ranked Stanford a yr in the past.
On Saturday, in but some other round-of-16 sport — described cruelly as “sweet” when it have been anything else however for the Terps — Frese and her avid gamers confronted but some other impediment. It was once giant and blue and bruising. But each and every barrier has a crack someplace, and Maryland finally discovered it.
“The last two years, we’ve gotten stuck at the Sweet 16,” senior Faith Masonius stated. “After our last home win, I told [Frese], ‘We’re not getting stuck there again.’ ”
After 8 lengthy years, the second-seeded Terrapins have returned to the magnificence of the elites. They knocked down a Notre Dame squad and its roster of tall and stout post avid gamers, advancing with a 76-59 win into Monday’s area ultimate. There, they’ll stare up at their fiercest problem but: the undefeated, top-seeded and reigning champion South Carolina Gamecocks.
At least the Terps know a factor or two about overcoming stumbling blocks.
“We’re going to have our hands full, but I know we’re ready for it,” senior guard Abby Meyers stated inside of a locker room the place the carpet was once nonetheless rainy from the celebratory bathe Frese continued from her avid gamers. “We just have dogs on our team, and we’re just going to work every second [the] next game we play.”
Dogs they’ll declare to be, however Maryland had to include the spirit of a extra sizable beast when going in opposition to Notre Dame as a result of the aches and bruises started early.
Less than 30 seconds into the sport, Masonius tried a scouse borrow, twisted her ankle and headed for the sideline, even though she briefly returned. A few mins later, sophomore Shyanne Sellers entered the rumble beneath the forums and her goggles paid the worth. The tempo and physicality had Meyers rooting for a industrial damage, and via the first media timeout, she was once bent over, clutching her knees and gasping for air.
“I mean, I was exhausted,” Meyers stated.
In the early phases of the sport, there have been few fouls known as, no timeouts, lots of turnovers and consistent battering. Notre Dame 6-foot-4 heart Lauren Ebo, a graduate scholar from D.C. who performed on that 2021 Texas staff that defeated the Terps, packed the paint. Formidable as Ebo was once inside of, Notre Dame’s Kylee Watson supplied as a lot top and had the pace to energy round the Maryland protection.
The Terrapins possess pace from their taller perimeter avid gamers (Diamond Miller and Sellers), however no longer the measurement to compare up in opposition to one thing so …
“Huge?” Masonius replied, completing the description of what Maryland might lack in roster composition.
The measurement disparity become obtrusive right through the first 5 mins — 5 mins of hell for Meyers.
“All I know is that I really needed that media timeout because I needed to catch my breath,” she stated. “I was pretty gassed at that point.”
Sellers, on her moment pair of goggles, didn’t display the similar indicators of fatigue. Still, she and Miller, and later freshman Bri McDaniel, felt the brunt of the Irish’s bigs. They had been tasked with protecting the post, and the task most likely affected their offensive output. Neither Miller nor Sellers scored in the first quarter. Miller, who averages just about 20 issues, finally cracked the giant goose egg when she put her head all the way down to drive a whistle with 2:53 final in the part. Soon after, Sellers — with a heads-up play — threw an inbounds cross off Ebo’s bottom and additionally generated foul pictures. Her leap forward on the scoreboard — Sellers made each unfastened throws — got here with 2:26 final in the part, however Notre Dame nonetheless led 29-25.
“The physicality was pretty brutal,” Sellers stated. “Ebo, [Maddy] Westbeld, Kylee Watson — they’re all really strong girls. We knew we had to battle really hard, and that’s exactly what we did for 40 minutes.”
Miller added: “We knew we had to compete against their bigs, and we were prepared.”
After halftime, it confirmed, and Maryland flexed some muscle. Though the Terps had stayed shut with three-pointers — they made 4 in the moment quarter — they fearlessly drove downhill in the 3rd. Sellers scored via touch for a layup and a nasty, giving Maryland a 34-32 lead. A little bit later when McDaniel, who dedicated her frame to no matter torture existed in the paint, took one among her many laborious falls and absorbed an offensive foul, the turnover supplied some other ownership for Maryland and another layup for Sellers.
Then with about 3 mins to head in the quarter, Sellers threw a lead cross to Miller, who was once streaking down the court docket to release Maryland’s free-flowing transition sport. Miller danced inside of and scored some other and-one layup.
“A terrific response. When you look at the box, 19 of the fouls drawn were between Shy, Diamond and Bri. I thought that aggressiveness [was what] we needed to have from the three of them,” Frese stated. “Just a different mentality, I thought, in the third quarter.”
It was once the mentality of the bully, and no longer the bullied.
Everything that makes up Sellers — her smile that teases mischief, her instincts that disclose an intelligence each on and off the court docket, and all that bravado — comes packaged in a spindly body. She’s slight. And on first look, it kind of feels a gusty wind may just knock her down. But close to the finish of that commanding 3rd quarter, after she scored at the rim, Sellers decreased her open palm to the flooring. She flashed the basketball signal language that has the similar that means round the global: Her opponent was once simply too small. Maryland had develop into the giant bads.
“When it comes to size advantage, a lot of times we’re the ones under,” Masonius stated. “Undersized … we’re pretty small, so we have to make up for that with heart and hustle. And I think just being able to pack the paint in with our defense and give ball pressure, so it’s not easy looks inside, is something that we really focused on, especially for this game.
“I think the majority of the time that you’re outsized by a team,” Masonius persisted, “you just have to have that extra heart and hustle and fight in you to push.”
Maryland did, which made its long-awaited hurdle previous this vicious around particularly candy.