Maryland women make it look easy, advance to Sweet 16 with 100-64 demolition of Alabama

Maybe she wasn’t exaggerating.

The No. 2-seeded Terps put on another show Wednesday with a 100-64 second-round victory over No. 7 Alabama in a game that was never competitive. Maryland never trailed for the 12th time this season and reached the 100-point plateau for the seventh time. This is the first time they’ve scored 90 or more points twice in a single NCAA tournament.

“I think we would be a difficult scout,” Maryland Coach Brenda Frese said with a chuckle. “They’ve really spoiled me. As a staff, we get disappointed if we don’t score 100 and we’re doing it against such great competition.

“They’ve showed it all season. It’s almost like a standard that they’ve set that we’re disappointed when we don’t meet it.”

The Terps will head to the Sweet 16 and face the winner of No. 3 UCLA and No. 6 Texas in the Hemisfair Region. It’s the 14th Sweet 16 in program history and first since 2017.

Maryland has won its opening two games by an average of 44.5 points as the postseason dominance continues. The Big Ten champs won their three conference tournament games by an average of 21 points and haven’t had a single-digit decision since a two-point loss to Ohio State on Jan. 25.

The second-round rout was a full team effort. Maryland got 46 points off the bench as freshman Angel Reese scored a team-high 19 and Faith Masonius had a career-high 16 on 7-of-8 shooting. Freese called Masonius an “unsung hero” this season and said it was “poetic justice” for her to have her best game of the season.

This was Reese’s best performance — one point shy of a career high — since returning from a broken bone in her foot that forced her to miss most of the regular season.

“I feel more comfortable,” Reese said. “I’m just trusting in the coaches and trusting in my teammates and the game is just falling into my hands. I feel really confident right now and that’s what’s helping me right now.

“I feel like I am back and this was one of my best games.”

Mimi Collins posted 13 points and six rebounds. Ashley Owusu, the team’s leading scorer, was more of a defensive presence and finished with 10 points and eight assists. She also had three steals.

The team didn’t even need much from three of its top four scorers in Diamond Miller (13 points), Chloe Bibby (9) and Katie Benzan (9).

Jasmine Walker was the lone bright spot for Alabama with 23 points.

“Obviously, it’s fun when you’ve got your bench just coming out and destroying,” Masonius said. “That’s a championship team right there. If one person’s not having a good night, you can turn and somebody else is going to have a night.

“It’s just that championship mentality that anyone can do it. Just feeding that hot hand and exposing everything we’ve got. We’ve got so many different options and so many different assets. It’s important that we keep using them.”

The game was over after the opening 10 minutes as Maryland used an 18-3 run to close the first quarter and take a 30-9 lead. Collins opened the game with nine straight points and outscored the Crimson Tide, 9-4, by herself. Masonius brought instant energy off the bench and scored eight in the first quarter alone. Reese took over in the second quarter and showed her full array of skills that included a scoop layup and a no-look pass to a cutting Masonius for a reverse layup.

“They are just really hard to guard,” Alabama Coach Kristy Curry said, a bit exasperated. “They’re so good offensively, we just didn’t have an answer.

“They’re just extremely good offensively. Their runs are normally really, really long. They’ve done this consistently all year. We’ve seen it on film. … At the end of the day, they’re just really good. … We just had a really hard time guarding them, but we’re not the only ones that have had a really hard time guarding them all year.”

As impressive as the offense was, the defense absolutely stifled an Alabama team that began the day averaging 75 points. The Crimson Tide shot just 26.7 percent in the first quarter and was 1 for 6 from behind the arc.

Alabama shot just 35.7 percent in the first half and committed 11 turnovers. Maryland scored 18 first-half points off those turnovers. The Terps had 13 steals in the game, including four from Bibby.

“Our focus was to truly stop their big three,” Masonius said. “We really locked in on our defensive strategy and our scout today. Just really focused on those things and I thought that really set us apart. Our defense tonight. Just getting out and getting those steals and locking up on defense.

“Championship teams play defense. They play great defense and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to be a championship team.”