COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — In the final seconds of another 40-minute night, Katie Benzan had enough energy left for one more big play.
Benzan made a floater with 11.8 seconds remaining to put Maryland up by three and the No. 13 Terrapins held on for a 67-64 victory over No. 10 Indiana on Friday night when Nicole Cardano-Hillary missed everything on a shot from the right wing.
“Their bigs didn’t help up because Angel (Reese) was killing them all night,” Benzan said. “So then I just read the defense and floated it right up, and luckily enough it went in.”
Reese scored 20 points with 16 rebounds for the Terps, who led almost the entire game and finally held off the slumping Hoosiers. Indiana (19-7, 11-5 Big Ten) lost for the fourth time in five games to close the regular season. Maryland (21-7, 13-4) had an eight-game winning streak snapped in a loss to Michigan last weekend, but the Terps rebounded despite the absence of guard Ashley Owusu, who was out with an illness.
Benzan handled much of the ball-handling in Owusu’s absence, and she finished with 10 points and six assists while playing the entire game. Benzan has played all but 48 seconds of Maryland’s past three games.
Maryland led by four heading into the fourth quarter, and Indiana couldn’t get the lead lower than that until Cardano-Hillary’s 3-pointer with 34.4 seconds to play — her first basket of the game after eight misses.
With the score 65-64, Benzan slipped free in close and scored, meaning the Hoosiers needed a 3 to tie. Maryland did a good job making it tough on Indiana’s final possession, and the Hoosiers were running out of time when Cardano-Hillary tossed up an air ball.
Grace Berger led Indiana with 16 points. Diamond Miller scored 16 points for Maryland.
Indiana took a 2-0 lead, and that was the only time the Hoosiers were ahead. Shyanne Sellers made a 3-pointer to put Maryland up 19-8 late in the first quarter.
“Got off to a really sloppy start,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said. “First media timeout in the first quarter, we’d turned it over five times, and you just can’t do that. And I think we had two air balls in that segment as well.”
A 3 by Chloe Bibby put the Terrapins up 35-23 in the second. Indiana closed the half on a 9-2 run and trailed 37-32, but Maryland returned the favor with an 8-2 run to start the third.
BIG PICTURE
Indiana: The Hoosiers are struggling at the wrong time. They certainly had their chances to overtake Maryland in the final quarter, but their offense wasn’t up to the task.
Maryland: This was a big win for the Terps, who had lost five consecutive games against top-10 opponents. Included in that stretch was an overtime defeat against Indiana on Jan. 2.
STRETCHED THIN
Aside from Emma Chardon’s 47 seconds, Maryland only used six players in the game.
“Katie never came off the floor and hit that game winner at the end. That’s the kind of shape she’s in. That’s why we can play her 40 minutes,” coach Brenda Frese said. “Nobody’s feeling sorry for us, where our numbers are at, and neither are we.”
Indiana only used seven players. The Hoosiers at least had three days off before this game after playing five games in the previous 10 days.
“We played a third of our Big Ten schedule in 10 days, if you can imagine that, and we had four one-day preps,” Moren said. “So we’ve had absolutely no practice time. It’s like an NBA schedule right now we’ve endured.”
UP NEXT
Each team awaits its seeding in the Big Ten Tournament.
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Follow Noah Trister at https://www.twitter.com/noahtrister
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