COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland forward Tianna Hawkins grabbed nine offensive rebounds and scored the Terrapins’ final five points off second-chance opportunities to lead Maryland in an upset victory over the Blue Devils.
Although No. 5 Duke (22-4, 13-1 in the ACC) led by as many as 12 points Sunday afternoon, Blue Devil forward Haley Peters saw her 3-point attempt blocked away as time expired to give the No. 8 Terrapins (23-4, 10-4) a 63-61 victory at the Comcast Center.
Early in the first half, Duke dominated the flow of the game. Forcing seven Maryland turnovers in the first eight minutes, the Blue Devils jumped out to a 17-5 lead.
“They tried to come in and kind of punch us early,” Terrapin head coach Brenda Frese said. “It took us about 10 minutes to get our senses.”
After going a stretch of over seven minutes without registering a field goal, Maryland went on an 11-2 run to cut the lead to three, taking advantage of Duke’s early foul trouble.
Despite keeping Hawkins, the ACC’s leading rebounder with 9.8 boards per game, off the glass entirely, and holding Alyssa Thomas, the ACC’s leading scorer at 16.9 points per game, to zero field goals, the Blue Devils only led 29-28 at halftime.
Led by Hawkins’ revitalized rebounding on the offensive end in the second half and a strong shooting performance from Laurin Mincy, the Terrapins never let Duke pull away.
“You challenge Tianna at halftime—no rebounds—and she goes out and gets nine offensive rebounds,” Frese said. “Laurin Mincey… had the courage and the confidence today to be able to step up and continue to make plays for us.”
Overall, Maryland held a 23-16 advantage over the Blue Devils on the offensive glass.
“There’s no excuse for that,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “To think that they had seven more shots at the bucket because of their rebounding offensively is inexcusable.”
The Terrapins outrebounded the Blue Devils 45-36, who were led by Elizabeth Williams and Allison Vernerey, each of whom grabbed seven boards.
“We didn’t do the things we needed to do,” Williams said. “We missed so many box-outs…. That really changes the game, and those are things we can really control, and we really didn’t do that today.”
In one Maryland possession, Duke even gave up seven offensive rebounds. The second chances would ultimately cost the Blue Devils as the Terrapins took a four-point lead with 3:36 to go.
Then, after Peters sank a jumper to give the Blue Devils a 59-58 lead with 1:48 remaining, the battle on the boards came to haunt Duke again. Following a Maryland miss, Hawkins scooped up the rebound and went up strong, drawing the foul and sinking the shot.
“I happened to go on the boards and was able to make the three-point play,” Hawkins said.
On the next play, Duke guard Chelsea Gray, who scored 16 points, took her defender one-on-one straight to the basket for a layup to tie the game at 61 with just 21 seconds remaining.
Hawkins came up with another second-chance bucket on the ensuing play, however, giving her nine rebounds and the team a 63-61 lead.
Duke then called a timeout to set up one final play, leaving 10.5 seconds on the clock.
After Gray had sliced through the defense on the previous possession for an easy bucket, McCallie said the team planned to put the ball back in her hands for the final possession. But, the Terrapins adjusted accordingly.
“We really felt like they were going to go to Gray,” Frese said. “So, we put in Kim Rodgers. Just her strength alone kind of matches Chelsea.”
Rodgers succeeded in keeping Gray out of the lane, forcing her to the right corner. Gray then beat Rodgers off the dribble, but found her path to the basket clogged by help-side defenders. She quickly swung the ball to Shay Selby at the top of the key, who then found Peters in the corner.
Although Peters got her shot off with time left on the clock, Thomas leapt and swatted it away as time expired, preserving the Maryland victory.
Despite Duke’s impressive effort to hold Thomas to 2-of-12 shooting, Thomas made the game-saving play and combined with Hawkins for 21 rebounds.
“If we’re not going to rebound and really dominate the boards, we’re going to have trouble with a lot of teams,” McCallie said.
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