On a night when forward Tianna Hawkins was a welcome answer for the unrivaled scoring punch of Virginia’s Monica Wright, the questions of just how the Terrapin women’s basketball team’s forward had been pressed into such an unenviable duty were far more telling than her actual performance.
Hawkins matched the Cavalier’s preseason All-American score-for-score in the first half and had a team-high 18 points in an 82-68 loss Monday. But when Wright exploded for 22 second-half points, the Terps’ talented but inconsistent freshman couldn’t keep up.
Even worse, though, few else showed up. Reigning ACC Freshman of the Year Lynetta Kizer came off the bench for the second straight game and failed to match the same dominance she’d displayed in the two teams’ earlier matchup, a Terps win in Charlottesville, Va. Starting forward Diandra Tchatchouang, battling symptoms of the flu, played a lackluster 15 minutes. And the Terps’ crop of young guards could never attune their own performances to that of Wright.
It’s been an all-too-familiar situation for coach Brenda Frese. With only one upperclassman on a team of just 10 active players, one drop-off in play can have a drastic impact on play. Several, however, can – and have – spelled disaster for the Terps. Just how they can respond to the season’s latest stretch of adversity will be in full view Thursday, when the Terps take on Wake Forest.
“We sound like a broken record,” Frese said. “We’ve continued to do some of the same mistakes, slow starts… illegal screens, just letting momentum turn.”
The factors that have spelled defeat for the Terps the last two games have been as expected as they have been unusual.
Consistency was not predicted of the Terps’ youthful set of guards, and guard Lori Bjork has indeed been the only constant on the team this season. Freshman point guard Dara Taylor followed two solid performances against Virginia Tech and Longwood with a combined 13 turnovers against Georgia Tech and Virginia. Anjale Barrett has been less erratic, but her last-second miss at the line against the Yellow Jackets was only the latest in a line of free throw foibles. Kim Rodgers is often a boom-or-bust talent at guard whose value in any game is largely determined by her three-point shooting.
The recent revolving door in the frontcourt has been a result of more atypical circumstances. After starting every game this season in which her health had allowed, Kizer has been left out of the starting five the last two games. She was kept out against Georgia Tech for an undisclosed violation of team rules, and was again left off against Virginia in favor of Hawkins because, according to Frese, the freshman was the better option.
“Lynetta’s got to get back to being Lynetta and being the force that we need her to be, both offensively and on the glass,” Frese said.
Tchatchouang, meanwhile, has been partially sidelined by a debilitating flu. Frese said her talented freshman took two IVs Sunday to aide her recovery, but she played less than a half of action in both losses, scoring just 1 point total. Although the loss of her scoring ability was obvious, her absence created other issues.
Her ball handling was sorely missed against the Yellow Jackets’ pressing defense, which forced the Terps into nearly 30 turnovers and a one-point loss. And without Tchatchouang’s length and defensive presence, Cavaliers star Monica Wright had almost free reign whenever she ventured into the paint.
The issues are plenty, and they’ll need to be resolved by Thursday evening. Although Wake Forest is an unspectacular member of the ACC’s middle pack, they are 4-0 at home, including a 64-57 win over the Cavaliers in late January. And unlike the Terps, they’re a veteran team, returning nine letterwinners and three starters from last year’s squad.
Nonetheless, the Terps must get well – both on and off the court – if they want to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
“Competitors keep fighting, winners keep fighting,” Frese said. “Day-by-day, we just have to stay improiving in practice. You’re seeing areas of it. Collectively, as a team, we don’t have it. We consistently have got to get a team that is going to show up and play for 40 minutes.”