Women’s Basketball Dominates Radford to Reach Second Round

The third-seeded Terps women’s basketball team easily handled Radford on Saturday to advance to tonight’s second-round NCAA Tournament game, while the sixth-seeded men dropped a heartbreaker to LSU to end their season in the round of 32.

Freshman Taylor Mikesell scored 16 points and junior Kaila Charles added 14 with nine rebounds to lead the women’s team to a 73–51 victory. Junior Stephanie Jones scored 12 points and freshman Shakira Austin tallied 11 to help Maryland (29–4) reach the second round for the 15th time in as many tries under Head Coach Brenda Frese.

The Terps cranked up the defense against a Radford team that arrived with an 18-game winning streak. Maryland limited the Highlanders to 29.7 percent shooting, forced 17 turnovers and notched 11 steals. Standing tall in the middle of the zone was 6-foot-5 Austin, who proved to be a formidable obstacle.

"I thought we were ready to go from the tip, especially on the defensive end," Frese said.

Pressing on defense from the outset on both ends of court, Maryland forced four turnovers and held Radford (26–7) without a field goal until forward Destinee Walker popped a three-pointer with five and a half minutes gone to make it 16–5.

"Our start set the tone for the game, and it was something we couldn't recover from," Radford coach Mike McGuire said.

On the offensive end for Maryland, Mikesell, a freshman guard, made four three-pointers to set the school single-season record of 94. Jones made all six of her shots in the first half, and Charles helped UMD finish with a 46–40 rebounding advantage.

This is UMD’s 27th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, its ninth straight and 15th overall bid in Frese’s 17 years at Maryland. The Terps are 46–25 (.648) all-time in the tourney and 34–13 (.723) under Frese. She's led the Terps to eight Sweet Sixteens, six Elite Eights, three Final Fours and the 2006 NCAA title.
 
Maryland will take on No. 6-seeded UCLA (21–12) in the second round at 7 tonight at Xfinity Center. The game will be televised on ESPN. For tickets, call the Terrapin Ticket Office at 1-800-IM-A-TERP or click here. For the full NCAA bracket, click here.

Men’s Team Falls to LSU in Second Round

After defeating Belmont in their NCAA Tournament opener on Thursday, the Terps fell just short in the round of 32 on Saturday, losing to LSU, 69–67.

The Terrapins (23–11) rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half to make it a nail-biter down the stretch. In the game’s final minute, Tigers guard Skylar Mays hit a huge three-pointer with 40 seconds remaining that put LSU (28-6) up, 67¬–64. Maryland’s Jalen Smith answered on the other end to tie it back up, but LSU’s Tremont Waters drove by three defenders and scooped in a banking layup with 1.6 seconds remaining to give the third-seeded Tigers the victory.

Smith led Maryland with 15 points, and sophomore forward Bruno Fernando added 10 points and 15 rebounds.

"I love coaching them. They made coaching fun again,” Head Coach Mark Turgeon said. “I was proud of them, and they represented our school all year in the right way. They're great kids, and I don't know why it didn't go our way today. But they deserved better, and they can hang their heads high."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.