Maryland Falls Short In NCAA Women's Tournament
The third-seeded Maryland women's basketball team saw their run in the NCAA Tournament come to an end with a 77-63 defeat at the hands of Oregon on Sunday. The Ducks, a 10-seed, outscored the Terrapins 19-11 in the second quarter to take a 36-27 halftime lead they would never relinquish. Maryland committed 21 turnovers (They committed 19 total in the first two rounds) and didn't make a three-point field goal. The 63 points was a season low for a team who came into the game leading all of Division I with a scoring average of 90.1 points per game.
Oregon was able to frustrate Maryland's Brionna Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough for much of the game. The Ducks, who have six players 6'3" or taller, made Jones work hard on every touch in the post. While Jones was able to finish with her 25th double-double on the season (16 points, 15 rebounds), the senior center shot just 8-16 from the floor.
Walker-Kimbrough also scored 16 points but shot just 6-18 from the field including 0-3 from behind the arc. The senior guard led the Big Ten and was fifth nationally in 3-point shooting percentage during the regular season.
"Their defense was pretty good, making my shots difficult," Walker-Kimbrough said. "I give credit to their defense."
The loss to Oregon marks the second straight year their NCAA Tournament run came to a halt at the hands of a Pac-12 conference opponent. Last year Washington ended Maryland's tournament run with a 75-65 win in College Park.
The Terrapins finish the 2016-17 campaign with a 32-3 record. They won the Big Ten regular-season and tournament championships for a third straight year. Jones and Walker-Kimbrough tied each other for the school record for most points (697) in a season. Both players surpassed Vicky Bullet's mark of 687 points during Saturday's loss. Walker-Kimbrough ends her career fourth on Maryland's all-time scoring list with 2,165 points. Jones finishes sixth on the all-time scoring list with 1,928 points. Her 1,209 rebounds are third most in program history.
While the disappointment of this loss will sting for a while, Maryland's head coach Brenda Frese feels her team has nothing to be ashamed of.
"I'm not going to let one game define the season we had," said Frese. "I'm extremely proud of this team and everything we've been through.
Greg Watkins is a reporter and producer for CBS Radio Baltimore. He covers Maryland Men's and Women's basketball for Baltimore's 105.7 The Fan. You can follow Greg on Twitter gregwatkins830