Terps let an early lead slip for their second loss of the season.
Maryland women’s basketball head coach Brenda Frese called a timeout with five and a half minutes on the clock against Ohio State. Her team was down six points and needed a spark.
Freshman guard Rainey Welson got to an open pull-up midrange off the dribble that went halfway down, then rattled out. On the other end, the Buckeyes’ leading scorer, Jaloni Cambridge, stepped into a 3-pointer from the wing and splashed it. Thirty seconds later, she did the same thing, giving them their biggest lead of 12 points.
It was the finishing blow in the Terps’ second loss of the season. Despite leading by 15 early in the first half, the Terps eventually fell, 89-76. Cambridge edged out Oluchi Okananwa’s 27 points, scoring a game-high 28 in the win.
In Maryland’s Thursday night blowout victory against Rutgers, senior forward Yarden Garzon got into that lethal shooter’s rhythm that she found for many years as a Hoosier. It carried straight into Sunday afternoon, as the Terps jumped on Ohio State early.
After Okananwa got to the rim for a couple of layups, Garzon rained in three triples across a few minutes to build Maryland a double-digit first quarter lead. On the other end, Frese stuck Okananwa and her lethal combination of lateral quickness and defensive grit on the Buckeyes’ leading scorer, Jaloni Cambridge, forcing them to try manufacturing offense from other places.
The Terps executed well in the first 10 minutes, building a 12-point lead. Games between the Terps and Buckeyes always feature momentum swings, though, and one came early in the second quarter.
Ohio State’s reputation as a bad 3-point shooting team — it entered with the worst make percentage in the conference — worked in its favor, as Maryland let the Buckeyes have a couple open looks that they knocked down. Jaloni’s older sister, Kennedy Cambridge, knocked down two early in the quarter. Maryland’s turnover bug bit it again, as it gave away the ball multiple times in the backcourt.
Jaloni Cambridge continued to struggle to score from the floor, but she drew fouls that got her going from the charity stripe. In the second quarter, Ohio State shot 10 free throws to Maryland’s zero, helping it win the quarter by 10 and cut Maryland’s lead to two at the break.
Early in the third quarter, on a loose ball at halfcourt, the refs whistled Okananwa for her third foul. She trotted to the bench, where she sat for a long stretch.
In her absence, Maryland struggled to generate offense. Saylor Poffenbarger, who started the season extremely aggressive with the ball in her hands, pump faked out of some seemingly good looks, either opting into a tougher shot or giving up the ball.
Conversely, Jaloni Cambridge built herself into the game, hunting switches off ball-screens to get downhill and score. Ohio State grabbed the lead in the third frame, taking a two-point advantage into the last 10 minutes.
Prior to Maryland’s timeout midway through the fourth quarter, Welson laced a three from the corner to cut the lead to one point. That sent the crowd into a frenzy, but there wasn’t much time to celebrate — it was instantly answered by Kennedy Cambridge on the other end.
It was that kind of game for the Terps, as Ohio State seemed to have a counter-punch for every second-half jab the Terps threw. After Jaloni Cambridge’s two 3-pointers, Maryland got one more lifeline from four quick Okananwa points. But the Terps gave up two offensive rebounds and a bucket that put the finishing touches on the victory for Ohio State.
Three things to know
1. Ohio State had a season-best shooting night. Coming in shooting under 30% from three, Ohio State went 11-of-22 from beyond the arc Sunday afternoon. Both Cambridge sisters hit some massive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to push the Buckeyes over the finish line. It remains to be seen whether they can replicate the performance when the teams meet again in Columbus in February.
2. Biggest crowd of the year. Maryland had a rowdy home crowd, easily its biggest of the year. The Xfinity Center faithful did their best to give the Terps the energy they needed, but they left deflated as Ohio State’s big shots knocked the wind out of the atmosphere at multiple points.
3. Welson was an X-factor again. One positive from the Terps’ loss was that Welson’s hot shooting night against Rutgers carried over. It seems that the freshman has regained her confidence and stroke from beyond the arc, hitting four 3-pointers on eight attempts.
Category: General Sports
