Women's Basketball Comeback Not Enough In NCAA Tournament Second Round Against North Carolina
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The Maryland Terrapins women's basketball team fell 74-66 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to the North Carolina Tar Heels at Carmichael Arena this afternoon. Despite battling back in the second half from a double-digit deficit, the Terps were unable to complete the comeback, with North Carolina advancing to face the winner of the No. 1 UConn and No. 9 Syracuse game tomorrow evening.
Junior guard Oluchi Okananwa led all Terps (24-9) scorers with 21 points. Okananwa shot 9-of-18 from the floor, grabbed six rebounds, and had two steals. Okananwa, a familiar face to the Tar Heels (28-7) after playing them the previous two seasons with Duke, responded well on the offensive end after being held to only seven points in 14 minutes of play in Friday'sfirst-round victory over Murray State.
Okananwa finished the season scoring in double figures in 28 contests and with at least 20 points in 14 of the contests.
Maryland opened the game with an early six-point advantage within the first five minutes. But from that point on, North Carolina started to take over, led by guard Elina Aarisalo, who scored 13 first-half points, putting them ahead 42-33 at halftime.
Aarisalo's backcourt mate, Lanie Grant, who finished with 20, also gave the Terps' perimeter defense trouble, breaking them down to drive inside the rack for efficient easy looks.
In the third quarter, the Terps locked in defensively, switching to their full-court press, which led the Tar Heels to go scoreless for nearly the first four minutes.
North Carolina led 48-41 at the 4:42 mark; however, Maryland finished the quarter, outscoring them 10-2, tying the game at 50-50 heading into the final quarter of play.
Entering the fourth quarter, Kyndal Walker drew a foul on the Terps' first offensive possession, which gave the Terps their first lead, 52-50, since being up 14-13 in the first quarter.
After that, a key 9-2 run by the Tar Heels allowed them to regain the lead and go up by multiple possessions quickly.
Back-to-back layups by Saylor Poffenbarger and Okananwa made it 63-60 deficit at the three-minute mark.
A pair of free throws by Aarnisalo, followed by a quick response from Okananwa, who hit a layup, once again made it a three-point game. But a huge three-pointer made by Nyla Brooks and a layup by Grant helped the Tar Heels ultimately put the game out of reach with under a minute remaining.
Freshman Addi Mack scored 13 points, knocking all three of Maryland's three-pointers on the day. Mir McLean had her second-straight double-double performance, scoring 12 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
McLean and Poffenbarger, who had 10 boards herself, led the effort on the glass, creating second-chance points for the Terps.
Walker added 10 points off the bench.
Key Team Stats
- The Terps hurt themselves in two areas today, free throws (17-of-31, 55%) & the three-point line (3-of-23, 13%).
- Maryland outrebounded North Carolina 41-40 (grabbing 21 offensive rebounds, leading to 21 second-chance points).
- The Terps had 12 steals, which helped in forcing 16 Tar Heels turnovers.
- North Carolina outscored Maryland 44-34 in points scored in the paint.
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Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.