Maryland women’s basketball stops Ohio State for Brenda Frese’s 499th win
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COLLEGE PARK, MD – JANUARY 5: Maryland’s Kaila Charles splits the defense of Makayla Waterman, left, and Dorka Juhasz. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)
Maryland women’s basketball Coach Brenda Frese saw a lack of preparedness and focus ahead of her team’s New Year’s Eve upset loss to Rutgers, so she took advantage of the fact that her Terrapins are still on winter break and assigned them a little homework.
Frese had her players prepare the scouting reports for Ohio State, pages and pages of detail on each player from the Big Ten rival that had beaten them in their previous meeting, the league tournament championship in March. The Terps’ studying paid off Saturday at Xfinity Center, as No. 4 Maryland hung on for a 75-69 win against the Buckeyes.
It was the 499th victory for Frese, who is just 20 years into her career as a head coach. She will go for No. 500 at Nebraska on Tuesday.
“I thought we showed our character down the stretch, especially in the fourth quarter,” Frese said of Saturday’s win. “We had to get stops on the defensive end. We were able to step up, and we forced them into five turnovers in that stretch. . . . We’re still trying to learn ourselves with our strengths and our weaknesses, and obviously with the competition every night that we face, understanding that we’re going to get everyone’s best shot.”
[Terps men get one for the road, roll at Rutgers]
Just as in previous conference games against Penn State and Rutgers, Maryland (13-1, 2-1 Big Ten) was on the receiving end of Ohio State’s best effort. The Buckeyes (4-8, 0-3) were aggressive on offense in the first half, shooting 48.1 percent against a Terps defense that took some time to adjust, particularly against 6-foot-4 forward Dorka Juhasz.
Juhasz, a freshman from Hungary, led the team with 18 points and 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season, overwhelming Maryland’s 6-foot-5 freshman center Shakira Austin along the way. Austin, the Terps’ leading rebounder who has struggled in conference play, was held to six rebounds and went scoreless, missing all six of her shots from the field.
“The thing I love about [Juhasz] is she’s got great versatility. She can score around the basket. She can shoot the three. She also can put the ball on the floor,” Ohio State Coach Kevin McGuff said. “It was fun. We saw two really talented young post players tonight, and so hopefully that can blossom, as well, to see those compete against each other in the coming years.”
With Austin having faded, junior forward Stephanie Jones took the lead on defense and for the second game this conference season Maryland played through its veterans to secure a win.
Junior Kaila Charles led the team with 24 points and added six rebounds. Jones had 16 points and seven rebounds. Junior Blair Watson led the team on the glass with eight rebounds.
“They’ve been through the wars,” Frese said. “Just the confidence level, the trust level that you have in your vets, they want the responsibility. They shoulder it. This is year three, and year four when you talk about Bri [Fraser]. Just accepting that that’s what vets should do. Down the stretch you put your team on your back.”
The outlier in the veteran-led victory was freshman wing Taylor Mikesell, who had nine of her 13 points in the fourth quarter.
After Juhasz tied the game at 66 with 4:08 to play, the Buckeyes scored just one field goal for the rest of the game. It was Mikesell’s three-pointer with 3:04 remaining that finally got the Terps sufficient separation. While the rest of her teammates locked in on Juhasz defensively, Mikesell closed the game with three free throws.
“Taylor was sensational — you get a box and one, it says a lot of respect that other teams have for her,” Frese said. “She just waited patiently to get those windows, and a timely three couldn’t have been more critical to our success.”
Juhasz scored just two points in the fourth quarter.
“Collectively, we all just locked in,” Jones said. “We knew she was the leading scorer and rebounder, so knowing that, just making her moves hard, boxing her out and knowing where she’s at on the court.”
Frese was pleased with how her team bounced back from the Rutgers loss in terms of focus and more tangible on-court things such as rebounds. After a shorter Rutgers team beat Maryland on the glass, the Terps outrebounded Ohio State 40-31. Their defense on the whole was more consistent, even if their offense still had weak spots.
In addition to Austin’s off night, point guard Channise Lewis scored all five of her points from the free throw line and shot 0 for 4 from the field. Against Penn State she shot 1 for 2 and against Rutgers she shot 0 for 1.
But Frese and her players made clear that Maryland is still a work in progress — hence the homework ahead of Saturday’s win.
“We’re still learning, for sure. Every day is a process,” Mikesell said. “I think we got exposed in the Rutgers game with rebounding and just all-around effort, going for loose balls and stuff. We locked in the past three days, just getting better. Every day we’re trying to get better at something, because you can’t stay the same in this type of league.”
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