Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker’
College Park, MD–
There have been quite a few thrilling Terp women’s basketball games at Xfinity Center during the Brenda Frese era, but the double overtime thrilling 111-108 victory over Alabama marking the 12th time the Terps have reached the Sweet 16 under Frese.
The star of the first game against Norfolk State in the opening round Sarah Te-Biasu got it done again tonight when Frese needed her the most… in overtime.
Te-Biasu forced the first overtime with her 3-pointer, Sarah Ashlee Barker was fouled by Saylor Poffenbarger shooting a 3 with 0.7 seconds left in OT. Barker swished all three attempts to tie it at 96 and send the game to a second extra session. All Poffenbarger would have to do is create the separation between her and Barker, but the continuation caused her to foul when the shot could have very well missed and the Terps would have advanced without the extra overtime.
Barker becomes just the third player to put up numbers like tonight but failed to get her team to the next level, which she wanted to do in her final year at Alabama.
The three players other than Barker are Drake’s Lorri Bauman had 50 against Maryland in a 1982 regional final, Texas Tech’s Sheryl Swoopes scored 47 in the 1993 title game against Ohio State, and Stanford’s Jayne Appel had 46 in a 2009 regional final against Iowa State.
The biggest note of the night was that the Terps were down by 17 points with 3:28 remaining in the third quarter and they rallied to shoot 77.6 percent for the remainder of the game setting up one of the most memorable NCAA Tournament games in recent memory.
Alabama also had to play a good portion of the double overtime without two players that had fouled out and changed the dynamics of the game to the finish.
The victory tonight also marks the first time in school history that both the men’s and women’s team have reached the Sweet 16 in the same season.
Next up is a trip to Birmingham for the Terps to face South Carolina on Friday. Game times to be announced at the conclusion of tournament games tonight.
