#1 UConn Holds Off #6 Maryland 83-73
AP Photo
With two games remaining in 2015, the UConn Huskies have been unstoppable. The Huskies haven’t lost in 2015 and have won every game by 10 or more. The Maryland Terrapins came into the Maggie Dixon Classic Monday night 11-0 and has averaged 93 points per game in the month of December. Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese said in the locker room before the game “We’ve already done the work, we’re just going to go out and play Maryland basketball.” Maryland’s move to the Big Ten last year gives them a more difficult schedule and make them a more battle tested team. Maryland features Junior Center Brionna Jones and Senior Guard Brene Moseley. For UConn, Breanna Stewart missed the last game against LSU, but with the week-long break from that game, Stewart was back for the game. Saniya Chong who has missed the last three games with an IT Band soreness, also returned to take on the Terrapins.
Game Recap
Stewart looked like her normal self, scoring back to back baskets for the Huskies to start the game. The Terrapins however play great defense early and score 6 straight points off 2 early Husky turnovers. Maryland with the early 6-4 lead. 2 early fouls on Shatori Walker-Kimbrough for Maryland raises some concerns from the Maryland Guard and she heads to the bench. Moriah Jefferson drives the lane and looks to pass, but crashes into the defender for an offensive foul. UConn leads at the media break 7-6. Kia Nurse hits a 3 to extend the lead to 10-6. Turnovers mounting for both teams early, not sure if it’s good defense or game rust. UConn gets 3 straight offensive rebounds and Tuck puts it back for a 14-8 lead. Samuelson hits her first 3 pointer of the game, but then Maryland goes deep to Chloe Pavlech for a layup 19-14. Another backcourt foul gives Jefferson 2 free throws. UConn leads after the 1st quarter 21-14.
Brionna Jones hits another shot, she’s now 5-5 with 10 points for Maryland. 10 turnovers in 11 minutes of play for the Huskies, this is exactly what Maryland needs to slow the Huskies down. 3 pointer for Pavlech, score tied at 21. 5 minutes into the quarter, UConn is 1 for 7 from the field. Walker-Kimbrough with a steal and breakaway to tie the game at 25-25. Tuck scores down low, but again Maryland goes deep off the score to tie the game again. Malina Howard gets a rebound and a put back to force a UConn timeout, Maryland leads 29-27. Just as Jefferson ties the game, Walker-Kimbrough hits a big 3 to regain the lead. With 40 seconds left and UConn down 1, Stewart hits a 3 pointer to regain the lead, then Jefferson steals the ball and hits a jumper for a 36-32 Husky lead at the half. 13 Turnovers for the Huskies in the first half.
Coach Frese at the half said “We know we’ve got to rebound and we know we can. We need to put in 20 more minutes of great basketball.” UConn however came out hot to extend the lead with baskets by Williams, then Stewart to lead 40-32. Not sure why Tuck is shooting deep threes, but 2 misses leads to 2 big 3 pointers by Kristen Confroy to tie the game back up 40-40. Maryland has a deep bench, another key to beating UConn. Maryland listened to Coach Frese, pulls down three straight offensive rebounds and Fraser puts the last one in and hits the extra free throw to give Maryland a 43-41 lead. Jones picks up her 3rd foul, Maryland needs Jones to stay in the game. Stewart blocks a shot, Nurse on the other end hits a 3 pointer to give the Huskies a 3 point lead. Stewart and Tuck go down low where they need to take control and score back to back lay-ins to force the Maryland timeout with a 50-43 UConn lead with 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. Jefferson makes an amazing circus shot on a drive to the hoop to end the quarter. UConn taking control with 56-47 lead. 0 turnovers for UConn in the third.
UConn continues to stay hot to start the 4th, Tuck hits a jumper, then hits 2 free throws to surpass 1,000 points for her career. Jones stays steady with back to back baskets for Maryland, but Stewart goes underneath again to give UConn a 12 point lead. Confroy and Walker-Kimbrough each hit 3 pointers to cut the lead to 65-57. Jones scores and gets fouled again, misses the free throw, but Walker-Kimbrough gets fouled, but misses both, still 6 point UConn lead. Jones picks up 4th foul, heads straight to the bench. Confroy hits another 3 to cut the lead to 5. 2 free throws by Nurse and a drive and score by Stewart pushes lead back to 9. Just as quickly though, Tierney Pfirman and Jones get 2 down low baskets to bring it back to 5 and force a UConn timeout with 1:40 left to play. Saniya Chong hits a huge 3 with 45 seconds left, UConn by 7. Confroy misses a three, UConn gets the rebound, 2 more points from the free throw line for Jefferson. Jefferson finishes the game with 2 more free throws. UConn wins 83-73.
Reaction
Maryland is a very good team. They are a deep team with multiple guard options and solid bigs in Jones and Howard. They forced the Huskies into 13 first half turnovers. They scored multiple times on a quick outlet pass off of a score, catching UConn off guard. UConn even got out of their game, shooting deep threes and leaving too many threes unguarded. That being said, UConn has the best player in the country in Breanna Stewart and around Stewart, Jefferson, Tuck and Nurse give UConn just too many options to try to stop. Maryland kept this game very close by focusing on the keys to beat UConn, but even with those keys, UConn was still was able to shoot the clutch threes that they needed and control the paint with Stewart and Tuck. UConn will play Cincinnati Wednesday for the last game of 2015. UConn extends their record to 10-0 and remain undefeated in 2015 and have won all games by 10 or more points.
