Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Birmingham, AL-
Coming into today’s match up against the #1 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks, the Terps on paper seemed outmatched, but as Brenda Frese has done all tournament long, she found the defensive combination late in the game and held Dawn Staley and her squad at bay, that was until the final seconds.
Despite the Terps forcing 17 turnovers during the game that translated to 18 points, it was one final turnover by Shyanne Sellers that mattered the most that allowed the Gamecocks to escape, 71-67 and move on the Elite 8 and ultimately a chance for another National Championship.
After the Terps Alie Kubeck fouled out with a little over 3 minutes remaining it forced Frese to go to her depleted bench and ultimately the size of South Carolina was a huge factor in preventing the Terps to get any easy buckets in the paint.
Kaylene Smikle led the Terps with 17 points. She also grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists.
South Carolina used its height to get out of the gate early behind Chloe Kitts 10 points, but again Frese was able to shut down the offense inside the paint and Kitts was able to score just 5 points the remainder of the game.
“I’m really, really proud of this group. I thought they came out and you saw our players competed as hard as they have for forty minutes. I knew they would. We were this resilient all season long, going 10-1 on the road. We wanted to pack the paint, battle on the glass, and I thought we did that to the very end. Just appreciate this group. It was such a journey with all of them starting all the way back when we brought ten new players in and every single one of them choosing to buy in and believe in this coaching staff and believe in the system,” said Frese.
“I know we’re disappointed, because we felt like through the journey and through this game that we had a chance to be able to move on, but we hold our head high just given how we played tonight.”
After the game Gamecocks Head Coach Dawn Staley praised the Terps pressure on defense and the ability to take two of their best players out of the game.
” I think they forced us into quite a few mistakes we wouldn’t normally make. You can give Brenda a lot of credit for that. She has done a great job with her program and forced quite a few teams into making a lot of mistakes during this tournament,” said Staley.
The biggest overall story of this game was Gamecocks Sophomore MiLaysia Fulwiley. She was the major difference in the second half and her strong finish with 23 points and her two baskets with under 7 minutes remaining in the game may have been the major difference in the finish tonight.
