Illinois spoils the party, denies Frese her 600th win at Maryland by beating Terps for the 1st time

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Brenda Frese needed one win to reach 600 at Maryland.

Instead, Illinois achieved a milestone of its own.

The Illini beat the Terrapins for the first time — they were 0-17 previously — and delayed Frese’s big day with a 66-65 victory Sunday. It was a sour result for Maryland on a day when it honored its seniors before the game. It was also quite a breakthrough for Illinois.

“I have so much respect for her and how she does stuff and the program that she’s built,” Illinois coach Shauna Green said. “She’s someone that I’ve always really looked up to and aspired to have a program with toughness and grit, and just how hard they play. Just a ton of respect for them, so this was a big win for us.”

Genesis Bryant scored 20 points, including two free throws with 6.3 seconds remaining that decided the game. Illinois had used up its final timeout while trying to protect a one-point lead. Then a turnover gave Maryland the ball back, and Shyanne Sellers scored to put the Terrapins up 65-64.

Bryant was unfazed, drawing a foul and converting from the line.

“I did not want to use that last timeout, but I saw a turnover coming,” Green said. “Obviously then we did turn it over, and then they scored. … Genesis, the poise and the calmness and the confidence, the presence of mind knowing that we always just want to set a high ball screen there and get to the rim.”

Green said she didn’t use Maryland’s senior day as motivation for her team.

“It’s funny. I usually try to use things like that to motivate our team, and I didn’t do any of that today,” Green said. “This is a veteran team. They understand how good Maryland is.”

And the Illini should know better than most how hard it is to win at Maryland.

“How does a program never beat someone? It’s mind blowing. How do you never beat someone?” Green said. “That’s kind of what we took over.”

Now Illinois (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten) is even with Maryland (17-5, 7-4) in the conference standings. The Illini went 10 of 21 from 3-point range Sunday.

“Every single one of their kids hit 3s tonight,” Frese said. “Usually it’s just Genesis. You saw the role player kids making 3s.”