No. 8 Maryland women’s basketball dominates the paint, takes down Purdue, 88-59

With six and a half minutes to go in the third quarter, senior guard Katie Benzan pulled in the defensive rebound off a missed Purdue free throw. As she dribbled the ball down the court, she passed it to sophomore guard Diamond Miller, who quickly moved the ball off to senior forward Chloe Bibby inside the paint.

As the defenders swarmed Bibby, she found redshirt sophomore guard Mimi Collins under the basket who put it up and sank the layup. Collins’ bucket sparked a 7-0 run for the Terps that lasted over four minutes.

Led by a strong performance in the paint, Maryland defeated Purdue 88-59 to extend their win streak and secure the season sweep against the Boilermakers.

“[Purdue] really makes you work on the defensive end of the floor but I thought it was a really well-rounded game for a lot of players,” head coach Brenda Frese said.

After Maryland missed a layup on their first possession, Purdue pulled in the defensive rebound and drove to their basket. The Boilermakers turned over the ball under the basket and the Terps got to work.

Sophomore guard Ashley Owusu missed a jumper and as redshirt sophomore forward Mimi Collins pulled in the rebound, she passed it to sophomore guard Diamond Miller who hit her first three-point shot of the game to spark an 11-2 run for the Terps. With six minutes to go in the first quarter, Collins hit her first layup of the day as a part of the scoring run, forcing Purdue to call a timeout.

“I thought [Collins, Reese and Masonius] were strong and aggressive and hit the glass really well and were really unselfish making plays for one another,” Frese said.

The Terps finished the game with 54 points inside the paint, a stark difference from Purdue’s 28 points from inside.

With five minutes to go in the first quarter, Maryland was holding Purdue’s offense scoreless for about three minutes. The Boilermakers shot just 25% in the first five minutes of the game and were 0-for-2 from behind the arc.

However, the Boilermakers continued to fight, hitting a layup to spark a 7-0 run that lasted over two minutes.

Maryland’s three-and-a-half-minute scoring drought was snapped as Owusu’s jumper bounced off the rim and freshman forward Angel Reese jumped up to get the second chance bucket.

“I’m happy to be back with my team and contributing as much as I can. And whatever I have to do to help the team win, I’m willing to do, so I’m just happy to be back,” Reese said.

The Terps scored 14 second-chance points in the first half of this matchup. In the game against Iowa, where Maryland had an electric offensive showing, the Terps hit 14 second-chance points the entire game.

Purdue ended the quarter with a two-and-a-half minute scoring drought as Reese drained a buzzer-beater three from the left side of the basket to extend the Terps’ lead to 16-9 after the first frame.

The Terps ended the first 10 minutes of the game 7-of-17 from the field and 2-of-5 from behind the arc. Purdue shot 31% from the field and 0% from deep while both teams committed four turnovers.

In the second quarter, Maryland found its offensive groove, going on a 6-0 run sparked by a pair of free throws from Miller. About halfway through the frame, the Terps were successful on four of their last six shots from the field, perfect on their last three attempts, forcing a Purdue timeout.

Out of the timeout, Purdue continued to push but until they scored in the last 13 seconds of the half, the Boilermakers had a two-minute scoring drought. On the other side of the court, the Terps ended the first half hitting three of their last three field goals.

Headed into the locker room, Maryland had an 18-point lead at 44-26. The Terps finished the half shooting 45% from the field and 50% from deep while they held Purdue to 38% from the field and 14% from behind the arc.

To start off the third quarter, Maryland and Purdue exchanged threes after the Boilermakers hit a pair of free throws. With about five minutes to go in the quarter, Purdue hit just one of their last seven field goals and was on a scoring drought lasting over two minutes.

As the Terps continued to go on their 7-0 run that lasted over two and a half minutes, Purdue continued to miss the basket, missing five straight shots from the field with three minutes to go in the quarter.

After shooting from all over the court against Iowa, the majority of Maryland’s points against Purdue came from inside the paint, including six of the seven points scored on that run.

The Boilermakers snapped their drought with a free throw and then went a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, but the Terps held on strong to their lead and finished the third quarter up 64-41.

To start the fourth quarter, Miller hit two shots to extend Maryland’s lead but the Boilermakers continued to push going on an 8-0 run until it was snapped by a three from Miller with about seven minutes to go in the game.

Maryland had five players finish the game in double-digit scoring — Reese led the way with 17 points, followed by Miller’s 16. Collins and Owusu had 13 points each while Masonius recorded 10.

“I think that the team has been rolling without me and I’m just gonna pick up where I need, where I left off, and add to whatever they need me to add in the long run,” Reese said.

Three Things To Know

1. Maryland had a strong defensive showing. Purdue didn’t hit a shot from behind the arc until about 16 minutes into the game. To finish the first half, the Boilermakers shot 38% from the field, 3.7% worse than their average. Maryland also held the Boilermakers to just 1-of-7 from behind the arc in the half. Coming into this matchup, Purdue averaged 6.1 three-point shots per game. The Terps outrebounded the Boilermakers in the first half 24-18 and capitalized on Purdue’s 10 turnovers by scoring 14 points off the mistakes. Sophomore guard Faith Masonius led the team in steals with five.

“I thought [Faith] was really, really active and just made a lot of those, the toughness and gritty plays that you need to be able to have,” Frese said. “I thought she was tremendous tonight.”

2. Angel Reese made an impact on the court. Reese played nine minutes in the first half and in that time had seven points, four rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. The freshman forward shot 3-for-6 from the field and 1-for-1 from deep. Reese’s seven points in the first half were the third-most scored by a Terp in the first 20 minutes (Miller had nine and Owusu had eight). Reese finished the game with a team-high 17 points and nine rebounds, plus one assist, three blocks and two steals in just 19 minutes on the court.

3. Maryland continues to play unselfishly. In the first half, the Terps recorded 10 assists, on track to meet their average 20 per game. Owusu, who is seventh in the nation in assists, finished the first half with four while six other players had one each. To finish the game, Maryland had 21 assists on 35 made baskets, with Owusu leading the way with five dimes.

“We have so many assists like we were in double figures of assists, and it just goes to show that they all 11 of us can score anytime so we’re just truly 11 strong,” Collins said.