5 Things to Know as Women’s Basketball Joins Sweet 16 Madness

Terp fans barely had time to recover from Derik Queen’s buzzer-beater sending the Maryland men’s basketball team to the Sweet 16 before the women’s squad dribbled up its own drama.

Down by 17 points, the Terps clawed their way back with a series of clutch buckets and key stops to claim an exhilarating double-overtime victory over No. 5 seed Alabama on Monday, launching them dancing into the Sweet 16 themselves and marking the first time the men’s and women’s teams advanced together. While NCAA Tournament success is familiar territory for the Terps, the 111-108 win—the second-highest-scoring women’s game in March Madness history—was one for the books.

“This one, absolutely, I'm going to remember for a really long time with this group and just everything that they've had to (go) through this season,” head coach Brenda Frese said.

How have they battled to make it this far? Before hunkering down at a watch party for Friday’s matchup with No. 1 seed South Carolina, huddle up to get the X’s and O’s on this year’s Terps:

Sarah Te-Biasu has ice in her veins.
With 12 seconds left in regulation on Monday, the graduate student guard lofted up a three-pointer to knot the contest at 83 and send it into its first overtime. But her game-changing moments didn’t end there: She scored 15 of her season-high 26 points in the fourth quarter or later, and her defensive denial on the Crimson Tide’s last-second inbound play secured the victory.

“It was really a fight,” Te-Biasu said. “We just kept playing for each other the whole game.”

She’s no stranger to high-pressure hoops. In Maryland’s regular-season finale vs. Ohio State—its only other overtime game this season—she nailed a running three with one second remaining for a 93-90 win.

The Terps dare you to doubt them.
Littered on the locker room floor after that Buckeye beatdown were crumpled-up papers with messages like “you suck” printed in bold letters. Pregame, the team had posted criticisms that it had heard this season to add fuel to its fire—then reveled in ripping them down after bucking the naysayers.

The Terps—who sport “Doubt Us” shirts on the sideline—used the tactic again in the NCAA Tournament. Coaches hung brackets predicting Maryland’s second-round exit ahead of their game vs. Alabama, and then players labeled them “BUSTED” as they celebrated punching their Sweet 16 ticket.

“We’re bracket breakers,” said junior guard Kaylene Smikle. “People are gonna continue to doubt us, and we’re gonna continue to prove them wrong.”

For Maryland’s star senior, pro talent runs in the family.
Fans tuning into Maryland’s first two tournament games might have seen the camera flash to a Terp parent with a storied hoops background: Guard Shyanne Sellers’ dad, Brad Sellers, played alongside Michael Jordan on the Chicago Bulls.

But the standout senior has impressed in her own right during her four years in College Park. A three-time All-Big Ten First Team honoree, she’s the only Terp to record 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists, and she’s scored in double figures 25 times this season. A recent WNBA mock draft suggests she’ll follow in her dad’s footsteps to the pros, projecting she’ll be the No. 6 pick.

“I’m grateful for it to end this way, obviously, with the win,” she said after defeating Alabama in her final game at the Xfinity Center. “But I know our job’s not done yet.”

Transfer teammates reunited with the Terps.
While Maryland’s retooled team this year features seven transfers, two of them already had plenty of experience sharing the same court.

Redshirt junior guard Saylor Poffenbarger and grad student guard/forward Mir McLean, who grew up in Middletown, Md., and Baltimore, respectively, squared off in high school and later teamed up for the 2020-21 season at UConn. They both ended up transferring— Poffenbarger to Arkansas and McLean to Virginia—before entering the portal again this offseason and finding success with their hometown Terps.

“Maryland’s home. It’s always been home,” McLean said. “We’re so happy to be back. … It’s super fun having her in my face again on the court.”

Frese is building on a milestone year.
Besides leading the Terps to their 15^th straight NCAA Tournament appearance—their 21^st bid in her 23 seasons at the helm—Frese added to her highlight reel with her 600^th win as Maryland’s head coach, a 79-61 defeat of Oregon on Feb. 6.

She’s the winningest coach in Maryland basketball history, now with 607 W’s, and her career-winning percentage of 77.03% is tops all-time among Division I coaches.

“So many incredible wins,” she said after the milestone victory. “Those don't happen without great players, great staffs, great support staffs, great families.”