NCAAW: Isi Ozzy-Momodu a bright sport for Maryland Terps in Iowa loss

If the writing wasn’t already on the wall that now-No. 15 Maryland isn’t destined to end their 20-year championship drought this season, their 97-67 loss to No. 3 UCLA last Sunday screamed that they are once again a step below the ultra-elite teams of women’s college basketball.

Frustratingly, that has been the story for the Terps over the last five years.

Aside from an Elite Eight in 2023, the Sweet 16 has been par for the course for Maryland, with trips there in 2021, 2022 and 2025. In 2024, they nearly missed the NCAA Tournament altogether, but a huge upset win over then-No. 4 Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament earned them a bid, and they then had a big lead over then-freshman Audi Crooks and Iowa State in the first round before falling victim to an incredible comeback.

You have to go back to 2020 to find a Maryland team that truly finished the season as a national championship contender. That year, they only lost four games, all to No. 3 seeds or higher in Swish Appeal’s hypothetical bracket, and though the margin of defeat vs. Northwestern (23) was concerning, the Terps avenged their loss to the Wildcats, as well as their loss to Iowa. They finished No. 4 in the AP poll and likely would have been a No. 1 seed, and if not, certainly a No. 2.

Although South Carolina and Oregon were the two teams that most missed out on a possible championship in 2020, I think Maryland had a shot to win it all as well. Certainly they were a Final Four contender, and actually a Final Four team if you go by the final poll.

In 2021, No. 2 seed Maryland attracted national championship contender buzz after their complete domination in the first two rounds, including a 100-64 dismantling of No. 7 seed Alabama. However, they suffered an extremely disappointing loss in the Sweet 16 to a No. 6-seed Texas team featuring head coach Vic Schaefer in his first year in Austin and eventual No. 1 WNBA pick Charli Collier. In 2022, they couldn’t crack the code against eventual No. 1-seeds NC State (losing by 18), Stanford (by 18) and South Carolina (by seven) in the regular season. Other losses pushed them down to a No. 4 seed that wasn’t befitting of their talent, forcing them into an earlier-than-necessary exit from the Big Dance at the hands of Stanford (by six, though it was more of a blowout than the final margin indicates).

Last season was a similar story; they lost to three eventual No. 1 seeds in the regular season (USC by five, Texas by 38 and UCLA by 15) before being eliminated by the fourth (South Carolina by four) in the Sweet 16.

Irrational Terrapin optimism didn’t pan out against the Big Ten-best Bruins

As I mentioned in my preview of the game, UCLA was circled on Maryland’s calendar this year.

It was the game—like all those previous contests against No. 1 seeds—that would determine if Maryland could vault themselves into the top tier. UCLA began the season at No. 3. The next-highest ranked team in the preseason on the Terps’ entire schedule was No. 13 Michigan, who placed below Maryland’s own ranking of No. 10.

By the time the matchup vs. the Bruins rolled around, Maryland had lost quite a bit of talent—talent it knows isn’t coming back this season—and they’d shown vulnerability on the court because of it.

First, Lea Bartelme, a freshman who had emerged as Maryland’s starting point guard and a good player, suffered a season-ending ACL tear. The Terps lost more depth when Ava McKennie suffered the same injury. Then, Kaylene Smikle announced that she would miss the remainder of the season due to her knee injury. Then, Bri McDaniel revealed she would not return from her ACL tear until next year. Then, the Terps lost by three at Illinois, a team that is currently receiving votes but unranked. Then, they lost to now-No. 12 Ohio State by 13 at home.

Still, I held out hope that Maryland wasn’t too much of a different team without Smikle and knew that with her they had defeated Kentucky, who had defeated LSU, who had defeated Texas, who had defeated UCLA. There has been a lot of parity in women’s college basketball this season. On Thursday, No. 2 South Carolina lost to No. 16 Oklahoma, who has lost to Kentucky, who has lost to Mississippi State, a team that has not been close to receiving any votes. And No. 1 UConn only beat No. 7 Michigan by three, while the Wolverines have lost to No. 25 Washington, who has lost to three teams not receiving votes.

But the scoring prowess of Gabriela Jaquez (22 points), Charlisse Leger-Walker (17) and Gianna Kneepkens (16) did the Terps in.

I had been particularly worried about Jaquez and Kneepkens, wondering before the game if Maryland’s inconsistent 3-point shooting could keep up with their efficiency from beyond the arc. And, since I previously warned UCLA opponents to be wary of her, I should have known that Leger-Walker was going to be just as dangerous, even though she has not always been an efficient 3-point shooter. The trio combined with Angela Dugalić to go 12-for-21 from 3. The Bruins were 13-for-23 (56.5 percent) overall and converted at an incredible 62.5 percent rate from the field.

Maryland almost—and maybe should have—beaten Iowa

When Maryland lost their second game in a row, which also was third in four and fourth in seven, on Thursday, they surrendered a 44.4 percent clip from deep, as No. 10 Iowa shot 8-for-18. There’s reason to think that the Terps focused too much on slowing UCLA’s and Iowa’s bigs, thus leaving the perimeter open.

What was more frustrating, however, was Maryland’s offense across the UCLA and Iowa games.

Yes, missing Smikle, in particular, takes away a lot of easy points via drives and free throws, but Maryland has the offensive weapons needed to beat the Hawkeyes, though maybe not the Bruins. It took quite a while for Iowa to pull away and build their 17-point fourth-quarter lead. Maryland had plenty of opportunities to go on a run and take the lead. And I know, based on the active Terps’ offensive strengths, that the formula was available. Yet, they took too long to decide what to do on a lot of possessions and then ended them with bad decisions. Iowa helped any time leading scorer Oluchi Okananwa started to drive, a significant reason why she was held scoreless in the first half and to one point through three quarters.

In Okananwa’s stead, Isi Ozzy-Momodu stepped up with a team- and career-high 18 points.

She has been a reliable inside scorer all year, sporting an 80-for-140 mark from the field for a 57.1 percent clip, which would be tied for 23rd in the nation if she were eligible based on volume. Credit Maryland for getting Isi the ball more, as she eclipsed her previous career-high in field goal attempts by four with 15 attempts. I like the idea of prioritizing her touches, as she has shown the ability to use her post moves to get around her defender for easy layups. I’m not surprised that she dropped 18 against a top-10 team; she’s shown the potential for that all season long.

While they’ve allowed hot shooting from distance, Maryland’s own 3-point accuracy has been off; they’ve been under 27 percent three games in a row. Clearly, they’ve missed freshman Rainey Welson, who was out with a concussion over that stretch. Welson had back-to-back 4-for-8 efforts from long range prior to missing those three contests.

It’s nice to know that the Terps can storm back from any deficit—they repeated what they did against Minnesota by coming back from down 17 with 3:15 remaining and down seven with 36 seconds left to tie the game against Iowa and send it to overtime. But they need to play smarter from the jump. And Okananwa needs to stay out of the frequent foul trouble she’s been in. She’s so valuable! When she fouled out in overtime, there was a huge drop off in Maryland’s defensive speed and, therefore, intensity, which had fueled the Terps’ furious comeback.

If Oluchi doesn’t foul out, Maryland might have earned the top-10 win.

The Terps have to stop the bleeding and take care of business

Up next is a Wednesday visit from Washington head coach Tina Langley, who was an assistant at Maryland from 2008-09 to 2014-15, meaning she was a part of two Final Four teams.

The Huskies can challenge the Terps. As mentioned, they’ve beaten Michigan. However, they’ve also lost to the USC that Maryland recently beat, in addition to dropping games to Stanford and Purdue, neither of which received votes in the latest AP poll.

It’s crucial for Maryland to bounce back here, as well as win all of their remaining games against teams lower than them, if they want to remain in contention to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Homecourt advantage was crucial in last year’s second-round, double-overtime win over Alabama; without it, the Terps likely don’t advance to the Sweet 16.