Blog from Todd Carton
The Maryland women’s basketball team bounced back from their loss at Ohio State with a 93-60 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on senior day Sunday afternoon in College Park in front of an announced crowd of 10,107. The win gave the Terrapins a share of the conference championship – their third in as many years in the Big Ten.
Maryland honored their two person senior class – Brionna Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough –with both a pre-game ceremony and an emotional post game tribute that saw both players honored by having their jerseys hung from the Xfinity Center rafters. In addition to claiming three conference championships and a pair of B1G Tournament titles, the senior duo played key roles in Maryland’s back to back Final Four appearances in 2014 and 2015. The Terps will head into this season’s B1G tourney as the number two seed behind co-champion Ohio State.
Individually, the pair have posted some gaudy numbers. They’ve both played in each of Maryland’s 136 games since their freshman year and, with a deep post season run have a chance to surpass Ashleigh Newman’s string of 141 consecutive games played.
Walker-Kimbrough currently ranks second all time in three point field goals (173) made and her career .455 percentage is best among four year players. She’s tied for fifth in free throw shooting percentage with a career mark of .803 and fifth in field goals made (756). Her 220 steals tie her for the tenth spot with Vicki Brick and with 356 assists and 616 rebounds she stands 18th and 20th respectively. Her average of 15.0 points per game is seventh best all-time and she recently became Maryland fifth player to pass 2,000 points for her career. She needs 43 points to pass Kristi Toliver for the fourth spot.
As for Jones, who has become one of the country’s best post players, she has also written her name all over Maryland’s record books. With 1,792 points, she’s currently seventh all-time and, before all is said and done, could pass Shay Doron for the sixth spot. Her 13.2 points per game slots her 15th overall. Jones is fourth in blocked shots with 149 and, with her 14th rebound Sunday, tied Marissa Coleman for third most in program history. Her average of 8.4 per game is sixth best all time. But it’s putting the ball in the basket where Jones truly excels. Her .645 career field goal percentage is scond only to Crystal Langhorne’s .652. As a junior, Jones led the country by shooting .665 from the floor. She’s stepped up her game as a senior making 69 percent of her shots and is on track to once again lead the nation.
As for the game itself, it was a ho-hum affair that the Terps effectively put away with a 26-6 run over nine and a half minutes that spanned the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second and that extended a 7-6 lead to 33-12. The Golden Gophers would get no closer than 19 the rest of the way.
Fittingly, Maryland’s seniors led the way combining for 51 of the Terrapins’ 93 points. Walker-Kimbrough finished with 27 that included 5-7 from three while Jones poured in 24 making seven of her nine shots and sinking 10 of 14 from the free throw line. With 14 rebounds, Jones registered her 20th double double of the season and 53rd of her career.
Those in attendance got a glimpse of the future as well. Freshman Kaila Charles also racked up a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, point guard Destiny Slocum dished out eight assists leaving her just three shy of the freshman record of 171 held by Dara Taylor. Although she had a rough day shooting making just one of her six three point attempts, that one moved her within one of Toliver’s freshman record of 59.
The Terps will open their quest to claim the Big Ten Tournament title at 6:30 Friday night in Indianapolis where they will face the winner of Thursday’s game between seventh seeded Penn State and the number 10 seed Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Todd
Since I wrote this, Brionna Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough were unanimously named to both the coaches and media All Big-Ten teams. Both earned spots on the conference’s all-defensive teams.
Additionally, Destiny Slocum was named the B1G’s Freshman of the Year. Kaila Charles joined her as a member of the league’s all-freshman squad.
· 11/12/2019