When Maryland’s women’s basketball signed the No. 5 recruiting class in the country in November, it was a sign that another potentially special group of high school seniors was coming to College Park.
This week, fans got a glimpse at that potential. While Shakira Austin was off in Atlanta to play in the McDonald’s All-American game, Taylor Mikesell was getting buckets at a three-point shooting contest at San Antonio.
Shoutout to @HighSchoolSlam @amfam for inviting me to be apart of their national 3 point contest! It was an honor! pic.twitter.com/4MvISVoJix
— Taylor Mikesell (@TMikesell23) March 28, 2018
The Massillon, Ohio, native won the eighth annual American Family Insurance High School Girls 3-Point championship on Tuesday, and the event aired yesterday afternoon.
Mikesell scored a possible 65 out of 90 points in her three rounds, and beat Mercer County, Georgia’s Lexy Lake, 23-16, in a playoff to win the girls title. She then lost to the boys’ champion, Notre Dame commit Nate Laszewski, 23-20 in a winner-take-all round.
Mikesell is the No. 32 recruit and the No. 9 point guard in the class of 2018, according to ESPNW’s HoopGurlz rankings.
With Kristen Confroy and her 217 career threes—second-most in program history—gone, Maryland needs another perimeter threat to step up alongside Blair Watson when she returns. Mikesell looks like she can fill the void and form a deadly duo.
In other news
Speaking of shooters, Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale proved she was a clutch one this weekend, hitting game-winning shots in both the Final Four and national championship.
Nobody does buzzer-beaters like Arike Ogunbowale. pic.twitter.com/M6q4VdRpKC
— ESPN (@espn) April 2, 2018
It was also a pretty successful weekend for Maryland sports. Lefty Driesell’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame was officially announced Saturday morning.
The men’s and women’s lacrosse teams both crushed Michigan on Saturday.
Maryland baseball had a rough start to it’s weekend, getting shut out on Friday against Northwestern before winning one-run games on Saturday and Sunday to take the series.
Maryland softball is on a five-game winning streak after sweeping Iowa.
Maryland football got its second commit in the 2019 class from three-star linebacker and Maryland native Kameron Blount.
And finally, fellow Big Ten member Michigan will take on Villanova in the national championship game tonight, and our friends over at Terps Watch are still upset about how the way things ended at Ann Arbor in January.
Before you ask: no, we'll never stop talking about the Michigan game pic.twitter.com/IXef4mvKeo
— Terps Watch (@TerpsWatch) March 31, 2018