By Taylor Lyons The Baltimore Sun
Share this story

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland basketball hasn’t lacked unforgettable NCAA Tournament moments this week, but the women’s team was intent on providing another Monday night against No. 5 seed Alabama.

Sarah Te-Biasu became the hero across the final seconds of regulation and the two extra periods, scoring eight of her 26 points in the second overtime to push Maryland to a 111-108 victory over Alabama and its third Sweet 16 appearance in the past four years.

ADVERTISING

The Terps nearly had a victory in hand at the end of the the first overtime, but a three-point lead with just seconds to play is hardly safe in March. A critical Saylor Poffenbarger foul on a 3-point shooter gave Alabama another chance, and Sarah Ashlee Barker, who finished the game with a career-high 45 points, drained all three chances from the line to force double overtime. Maryland bounced back from the error, making enough plays in the final five minutes to survive. Shyanne Sellers added 28 points and Kaylene Smikle scored 26 in the win, the second highest scoring women’s NCAA Tournament game ever.

Maryland led 19-15 after the opening quarter as Sellers sprinted out to seven early points. Then the senior guard, playing her final game in Xfinity Center after a record-setting four years, connected on a 3-pointer to begin the second quarter as the Terps found a seven-point advantage. It grew to 10 after a Kaylene Smikle steal and score, spelling an Alabama timeout with the Crimson Tide searching for answers.

They found them.

Alabama closed the first half on a 18-6 run to enter the break up two. Maryland made just one field goal over the final six minutes of the period. Like Saturday’s second-half comeback against No. 13 seed Norfolk State, the Terps played from behind.

The crispness that was on display early Monday was absent in Maryland’s opening-round win, in which the Terps trailed at the half but came back to win by 13 and advance. Frese credited that to jitters that come with the NCAA Tournament — most of her roster had never been here before. At first, it appeared those were gone by Monday night.

Three quick Alabama buckets after play resumed brought a frustrated Frese onto the court to stop the run. Her team, down seven facing its largest deficit of the night, went from smiling and finding easy buckets to straight faced and struggling to find a rhythm.

Seven became 14 after Barker’s third 3-pointer of the night that spelled another Frese timeout with four minutes to play in the third. Maryland was helpless. A game that once appeared in command for the Terps slipped into one they couldn’t control. That was compounded when Sellers collected her fourth foul in the final moments of the third quarter and sat for longer than she otherwise would have the rest of the way.

But a quick run without the star guard brought Maryland back to down 73-67 with six minutes to play, and another late push capped by a Te-Biasu triple in the final 15 seconds evened the score and pushed the game to its first overtime.

There, Poffenbarger missed one of two free throws with six seconds left to keep Alabama within three points. She then gave the Crimson Tide a gift via a foul that led to Barker’s made free throws and extended the game another five minutes. Both sides eclipsed 100 points in the second overtime, a charge on the Maryland side led by Te-Biasu’s three field goals and pair of 3-pointers. And Sellers stayed out of trouble and never fouled out despite being one away for more than 15 minutes of game time.

Up three with seconds to play and Alabama owning possession again — the same situation the Terps mishandled minutes earlier — Maryland didn’t foul and closed out the victory.

A loss would have dismissed this group earlier than it hoped when Frese constructed this roster last spring. It also would have been the second consecutive season Maryland bowed out before the Sweet 16. Instead, top-seeded South Carolina looms next. The reigning national champion Gamecocks went undefeated last year but entered this March with three losses.

No. 1 Texas 65, No. 8 Illinois 48

(FLM) — Madison Booker scored a game-high 20 points and reserve Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda added 19 as the Longhorns cruised past the Illini in a second-round matchup in Austin, Texas.

Taylor Jones chipped in 12 points for the Longhorns (33-3), which advanced to the Sweet 16 on Saturday for a matchup with fifth-seeded Tennessee.

Texas hit 46.7 percent of its shots from the field and enjoyed a 36-18 advantage in points in the paint.

Adalia McKenzie scored 13 points for the Fighting Illini (22-10) and Berry Wallace added 12 but they couldn’t do much with the Longhorns’ tough defense.

Illinois made only 16 of 42 shots from the field and coughed up 20 turnovers that were turned into 23 points.

No. 3 N. Carolina 58, No. 6 W. Virginia 47

(FLM) — Alyssa Ustby scored 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting and the Tar Heels held on to beat the Mountaineers in a low-scoring battle in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Reniya Kelly and Lexi Donarski added 11 points apiece for North Carolina (29-7). Indya Nivar added a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with six points for the Tar Heels, who advanced to face rival No. 2 Duke in the Sweet 16.

Jordan Harrison scored 10 points to lead West Virginia (25-8). Kyah Watson finished with nine points and 15 rebounds.

The Tar Heels outscored the Mountaineers 24-21 in the first half. West Virginia took a 35-33 lead in the third quarter thanks to an 8-0 run capped by two free throws from Sydney Woodley, but North Carolina responded with an immediate 9-0 surge that included a go-ahead 3-pointer by Donarski.

The Mountaineers never caught up again, trailing by at least seven throughout the fourth quarter.