Maryland Terrapins: Lady Terps Earn Top Five AP Ranking
The Maryland Terrapin women’s basketball team are taking a page from the late great Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis and continue to “Just Win Baby.” The Lady Terps now have the fifth-best ranking in the AP poll after their 84-74 win against the Indiana Hoosiers. Lexie Brown (21 points, seven rebounds, three assists) and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (18 points, six rebounds, three assists) led the way for the team in addition to Brionna Jones having 10 points and 14 rebounds. Despite having 18 turnovers, the Terps got the win.
The Lady Terps, coached by Brenda Frese, are winners of 11 straight games since December 7th against Towson University. Their biggest wins in points have come against: Towson University (29 points), American University (44 points), and Coppin State (59 points). While those were dominating wins, the other victories during that streak weren’t that easy. A consistent positive for the Lady Terps over the last five games has been rebounding; they’ve out-rebounded their last five opponents while also gaining more than 10 assists a game during that span.
The next game on the schedule is against Michigan. The Wolverines are led by Cyesha Goree who averages 15.5 points per game, 10.6 rebounds per game and has a 58% field goal average. Katelynn Flaherty is another player Brenda Frese and crew should pay attention to because she averages 14.9 points per game in addition to being a problem from deep with a 42% three-point shot percentage. Michigan at home is 10-1 but has a 1-5 record on the road. So they could prove to be a challenge for the Terps because of their home court advantage.
The #5 team in the nation needs to cut down on turnovers.
What Maryland’s new ranking means is that they are top five in the nation, obviously; but they could be better. Will their winning streak improve against Michigan? Crashing the boards and passing the ball well will allow them to get the job done. As was previously stated, they had 18 turnovers against Indiana. Having a turnover number that high won’t help them beat Michigan or the opponents on the rest of their schedule. They need to control the ball and have smart possessions.
Ball control and getting easy shots through making the extra pass will help them win this game. Shutting Cyesha Goree down needs to be priority number one for the Terps defensively. Were she to have a double-double would be detrimental to the Lady Terps winning this game because she is a dominant scorer and rebounder. The Lady Terps have that in Brionna Jones as well, so it will be interesting to see how those two match up.
This Lady Terps team has the ability to go to a final four in my book with the way they’re playing, but turnovers need to be a thing of the past if they want to continue winning. Game time is 7 pm Thursday, January 29th in Ann Arbor.