Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
After a Big Ten title and so many hopes for their post season, the Maryland women, failed to make it out of the second round of the NCAA Tournament in a shocking loss to the 7th Ranked Washington Huskies, 74-65.
The Terrapins (31-4) failed in their bid to reach a fifth consecutive region semifinals amid 15 turnovers, 37 percent shooting and an inability to slow Washington junior guard Kelsey Plum. The fourth-leading scorer in the country finished with a game-high 32 points, including 13 free throws on 14 attempts , and seven assists.
Junior guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough led Maryland with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and redshirt senior point guard Brene Moseley added 16 points and seven assists in the final game of her career. It also was the last game for classmates Tierney Pfirman, Malina Howard and Chloe Pavlech.
“Obviously a tough night for us,” Frese said. “This thing stings a lot, but we have a lot to thank this team for, especially our seniors, when you talk about Sweet 16s, two Final Fours, Big Ten titles and all that they’ve meant to our standard. I thought the better team obviously won tonight. It was a tough shooting night for us. It was very uncharacteristic.”
For Washington, they advance to Lexington behind a solid effort from Junior Guard Kelsey Plum who is no stranger to scoring in big numbers. She is a Two-time All-Pac-12 Team (2014, ’15) and UW All-Time Single-season scoring leader (746 points). She led the way with 32 points tonight and took a few minutes to stand alone by herself with her eyes closed on the court before interviews in what may have been the biggest game or her career so far.
The Terrapins got to 68-63 with 29 seconds left in regulation, but Washington went 6 for 6 from the free throw line the rest of the way to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001.
“I think right now there’s just a lot of disappointment for how we’re sending our seniors out,” sophomore guard Kristen Confroy said. “Maybe tomorrow we’ll look to the future, but for right now it’s just being with our seniors.”
