COLLEGE PARK, MD – No. 20 Maryland continued to beat ranked teams as the Terps defeated No. 6 UConn, 85-78, on Sunday before a raucous crowd of 12,566 at XFINITY Center. The Terps (9-3 overall) now have three victories over ranked teams this season, including road wins at then-No. 7 Notre Dame and No. 17 Baylor.
Sunday's win was Maryland's first over UConn, as Maryland had dropped the previous seven meetings.
Abby Meyers keyed the victory as she scored 20 points, making 8-of-17 from the floor and 4-of-8 from three-point range. Shyanne Sellers tallied 19 points as four Terps scored in double-figures. Diamond Miller tallied 17 points and Brinae Alexander scored 13.
Meyers and Miller also grabbed six rebounds each. Sellers handed out six assists and had four blocked shots.
Maryland built a lead as large as 12 points in the third quarter, but UConn rallied all the way back to tie the game early in the fourth quarter. The Terps then reeled off eight points in a row to take a 70-62 lead on a Alexander jumper with seven minutes left in the fourth. Maryland held the lead the rest of the way.
Aaliyah Edwards led UConn with 25 points as the Huskies fell to 7-2.
Brenda's Takes
"Just a really incredible, special win. Like I told them in the locker room, I've done a lot of firsts here, but now the first time being able to have a team beat UConn. I will definitely remember win 601 because of this group. What I love the most was obviously the electric atmosphere we had in the building. It was sensational; it was the energy we needed to have. Really proud of just how we played. I thought we executed the game plan, switching a lot defensively…Just can't say enough about our resilience."
"I think the cool thing is just seeing the growth," Frese of her team's tough scheduling. "We've had a lot of new players that we've had to trust both offensively and defensively. You can see we have so much firepower, but it's taken a minute. They've just continued to keep trusting the process."
From The Girls
"It was really fun," Sellers said of the crowd and atmosphere. "Every game it's really nice to have a big crowd. Their energy just brings a lot of good things to us. You see when we have a big crowd, we always seem to show up for the crowd. It was just nice to have them have our backs and they gave us a lot of great energy. Like we always say, they're our best sixth man.
"I'm honored to play here and play in front of the amount of fans we had," Alexander said of her big fourth quarter shots. "In those moments, I really pride myself on locking and I gotta make those shots for my team. It felt really good to get us the lead, get us the momentum back."
Breaking Down The Action
- UConn led 19-15 after the first quarter as the Huskies hit 8-of-15 from the floor while the Terps struggled to find their shooting stroke (6-of-20).
- With UConn up 23-19 two minutes into the second quarter, the Terps ripped off eight points in a row to grab a 27-23 lead on a Meyers' triple. Meyers went on to score 11 consecutive points for the Terps as Maryland held the lead for the rest of the first half. Maryland led 43-36 at intermission with Meyers leading all scorers with 18 points, making 7-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-6 on three-pointers. The Terps outscored UConn, 28-17 in the second stanza.
- The lead grew to double-digits in the third quarter as Lavender Briggs and Sellers each hit shots in the opening minutes of the third, making it 54-43 with six minutes left in the third. UConn crept back within four to close the third at 62-58 on a 14-7 stretch to end the quarter.
- The Huskies continued their push early in the fourth quarter to tied the game at 62-62. Maryland answered with an 8-0 spurt to go up 70-62. Maryland led the rest of the way. Miller's dagger three-pointer with 34 seconds left sealed the game. She scored the final even points for Maryland in the win.
Beating Ranked Teams
- Since Brenda Frese took over in 2002-03, Maryland now has 88 wins over Associated Press top 25 teams, including 11 in the 2014-15 season, which set a new school record. Most recently, No. 20 Maryland beat No. 7 Notre Dame, 74-72, in South Bend, IN on Dec. 1 as Miller hit a one-legged fadeaway at the buzzer.
- The Terrapins are 88-71 against ranked teams over the last 19 years, all under Frese.
- Under Frese, Maryland has 27 wins over AP Top-10 teams.
1,000 Point Update
- Miller continues to stand 30th in career scoring at Maryland with 1,237. She is chasing Belinda Pearman at No. 29, who totaled 1,284 from 1981-84.
- Meyers now has 1,116 points in her career with 947 in her three seasons of action at Princeton before joining the Terps this season.
- Lavender Briggs, who surpassed the 1,000-point mark in Maryland's game against Notre Dame, now has 1,021 overall. She netted 961 at Florida.
- Elisa Pinzan is chasing 1,000 points as she has 964, for her career. She had 916 points at South Florida.
- Brinae Alexander is also approaching the 1,000-point threshold as she has 950 career points, with 841 coming at Vanderbilt.
Double-Figure Update
- Meyers hit double-digit scoring for the 10th time this season and 62nd in her career, notching 20 points.
- Sellers' 19 point-performance was her seventh consecutive game scoring 10 or more. She has accomplished that in 10 of 12 games this season and 23 times overall.
- With 15 points, Miller reached double-figures for the 10th time in 11 games played this season. She's recorded 10 points or more 65 times in her career.
- Alexander recorded 13 points, reaching double-digits for the fifth time this season and 47th in her career.
Notes and Nuggets
- The crowd of 12,566 was the largest since a sellout of 17,950 came to the Terps-UConn game on Dec. 29, 2016.
Up Next
- The Terps will break for finals for 10 days and then return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 21 when they face Purdue Fort Wayne on the road at 11 am.
- Shyanne Sellers' older sister, Shayla Sellers, plays for Purdue Fort Wayne, setting up a family showdown on Wednesday.
