CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The crowd inside State Farm Center roared late in the fourth quarter as Maryland’s Shyanne Sellers lined up for a second free throw. She had missed the first, and an in-game promotion would reward ticket holders with free McNuggets if she missed again. After a flick of Sellers’s wrist, the ball rolled around every inch of the rim before falling though the net as an exasperated gasp came from the stands.
Sellers backpedaled down the court, smiled and gave a little fist pump, fully aware that she had denied the Illinois faithful. The Terrapins as a whole did, too: They remained undefeated in 16 meetings with the Fighting Illini in their 69-53 victory Sunday afternoon.
“If we were staying another night, I might have missed on purpose, but I had to [make it],” Sellers said, again flashing that devilish grin.
Sellers hadn’t made her typical impact for Maryland (14-10, 6-7 Big Ten) in the first three quarters, but then the fourth rolled around. She powered through a defender for an and-one layup. Moments later came a pull-up jumper from the top of the circle. Then the junior guard smiled when her turnaround fadeaway went down to give the Terps a 16-point lead.
Illinois’ last lead came with 5:32 left in the first quarter — it was all of two points — and the Illini led for all of 54 seconds on the day, but the visitors couldn’t pull away until late.
“That was just our mind-set in the fourth quarter: Just put our nose down, keep working and extending the lead as big as we could,” Sellers said.
It wasn’t the prettiest 40 minutes for the Terps, but they broke away in the fourth quarter. Committing 19 turnovers against 11 assists was the biggest issue, but the Terps owned the boards 47-33 and held the Illini to 31.8 percent shooting.
“That’s definitely something that we’re trying to key in on,” Jakia Brown-Turner said of the Terps’ recent rebounding success.
Sellers finished with game highs in points (18), rebounds (11, tied with Illinois’ Camille Hobby) and turnovers (six). Lavender Briggs had 15 points, and Brown-Turner added 11 points and 10 rebounds. Allie Kubek came off the bench to post 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Hobby led Illinois (11-12, 5-8) with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Genesis Bryant scored 13 points.
Maryland went to halftime with a 27-22 lead that should have been wider after Illinois struggled mightily to score. The Illini shot 25.7 percent in the first half; at one point, Coach Shauna Green shouted, “Make a layup!”
“I felt like we were just communicating really well and walling up on defense,” Briggs said. “We were very active and moving together like on a string, just making them take tough shots, contested shots.”
Maryland didn’t truly take advantage as it piled up turnovers, many of which Coach Brenda Frese said were unforced errors.
Here’s what else to know about Maryland’s win:
Tournament watch
Each time out, Maryland is trying to send a message that it belongs in the NCAA tournament. ESPN’s most recent bracket projection had them as the first team out, even though it entered Sunday’s game ranked fifth in strength of schedule (according to WarrenNolan.com) and 27th in RPI (per RealTimeRPI.com). After a four-game skid that included losses to top-10 teams Iowa and Indiana, Maryland has responded with back-to-back wins.
“A really important top-50 win for us on the road as we continue on in this February push,” Frese said.
Starter shuffle
After Tuesday’s win at Rutgers, Frese said she would tinker with her starting lineup depending on matchups. Sellers, Brown-Turner, Bri McDaniel and Brinae Alexander have been mainstays, but the fifth spot has been in flux. Faith Masonius (four points, three assists, three rebounds) started her second consecutive game Sunday after not getting the nod since Dec. 20. She did not start the second half; Frese went with Kubek instead.
“Allie was able to do a really good job physicality-wise,” Frese said. “... Allie had a lot of success against [Illinois] at home. Allie came in in that first half and provided a lot of great things offensively, defensively as well as rebounding. So, huge. We needed to have that from both her and [Briggs] off the bench.”
Happy birthday
Brown-Turner celebrated her 23rd birthday Sunday with a bit of a reunion. The graduate transfer spent four seasons at North Carolina State, where she played with a pair of players now with the Illini: Bryant and Hobby.
Play4Kay
Both teams wore pink-and-white uniforms to support the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. Maryland’s jerseys and warmups were pink with white trim and black lettering. The Illini wore white uniforms with pink numbers, blue lettering and white-and-pink trimming.
Up next
Maryland hosts Penn State (16-8, 7-6) at 1 p.m. next Sunday (Big Ten Plus). The Nittany Lions rolled to a 112-76 victory over the visiting Terps on Jan. 28.
