Maryland Women's Basketball Earns No. 5 Seed in NCAA Tournament
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After another very successful regular season, the Maryland Terrapins women's basketball squad is heading to their 15th straight NCAA Tournament and 21st overall under head coach Brenda Frese.
This year, the Terps finished 23-8 (11-7) with ranked victories over Kentucky, Michigan State, and Ohio State.
However, an upset at the hands of Oregon in the Big Ten Tournament knocked them down from No. 14 to No. 17 in the AP Poll. As a result, College Park will not be a host site for playoff basketball this year.
Instead, Maryland heads to the Chapel Hill portion of the bracket as a No. 5 seed, where they will face No. 12 Murray State in the First Round.
The Racers made the dance as an automatic qualifier for winning the Missouri Valley Conference. They enter the postseason with a 31-3 (19-1) record.
The game will take place Friday at 3pm EST and be broadcast on ESPNU.
Meanwhile, No. 4 UNC will host No. 13 Western Illinois, with the winners meeting in the Second Round.
"The Committee always has a hard decision to make, and I was really at peace," Coach Frese said at the Terps' selection show watch party. "I've had plenty of (Tournament) teams, whether it's at home or on the road. It's a mindset this time of year. It doesn't come down to a building, it comes down to a mindset, if you're ready to do what it takes for 40 minutes to go win a game."
12 Big Ten teams were selected this year. UCLA, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio State are all hosts.
Illinois, Iowa State, Michigan State, Oregon, USC, and Washington also made the cut, while Nebraksa needs to defeat Richmond in the First Four.
Here's the complete bracket:
Maryland has overcome significant injuries to get to this point. Kaylene Smikle, who was the Terps' leading scorer last season, had knee surgery in December that sidelined her for the rest of the season.
First-year Lea Bartelme, who started the first four games, and sophomore Ava McKennie were also announced out for the year before even hitting conference play.
But several other players have stepped up in the trio's absence.
The Terps have been led offensively by Duke transfer Oluchi Okananwa, who averages 18.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. She's had 13 games with at least 20 points and three double-doubles, one of which came during the victory at No. 8 Ohio State.
Okananwa is also the ninth-most accurate scorer in the Big Ten with a 52.4% field goal rate.
"I think any opportunity to be a part of March Madness is truly a blessing," Okananwa said Sunday night. "To know that we have another game to play... we're not taking that for granted."
Indiana transfer Yarden Garzon has also been a huge help as the team's three-point specialist. Garzon leads the Big Ten with 87 made threes (2.8 per game) and is third in the conference shooting 38.0% from distance.
Elsewhere, rookie Addi Mack has emerged as a third scoring option (10.7 PPG), while Saylor Poffenbarger and Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu have combined to average 13.6 rebounds, helping the Terps rank second in the conference in that regard.
With their matchup now set, this group will seek to continue the program standard of winning in March. Under Coach Frese, Maryland is an astounding 19-1 in NCAA First Round matchups, with their only loss coming two years ago to Iowa State.
Stay tuned for Tournament coverage of the Terps On SI.
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Mike joined Maryland On SI with over four years of sportswriting experience. He started off his career in Syracuse on the Orange football beat, where he was featured on CBS Sports' Cover 3 Podcast and local ESPN sports talk radio. After that, he had a brief stint reporting on Major League Baseball before returning to college sports.
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