Shyanne Sellers had one final chance to leave her mark on the Xfinity Center.
The basketball arena in College Park, Maryland, where she appeared in 127 games over the past four seasons, was the place she called home, and the place where she made a name for herself in women’s basketball.
Sellers became one of greatest players in Maryland women’s basketball history in that gym, where she became the first player in team history to record 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists.
And trailing the Alabama Crimson Tide by 17 points with 3:25 left to play in the third quarter of Maryland’s Round of 32 matchup, that final goodbye looked like it was going to be bittersweet at best.
Her farewell to College Park saw the Terps give up 60 points in the paint and allow Alabama’s Sarah Ashlee Barker to score 45 points — the fourth most points in an NCAA Tournament game history.
Maryland had seen a sloppy loss like this before this season, suffering similar 20-plus-point losses against Nebraska and Texas, but this time it was different: a pair of seniors in Sellers and Sarah Te-Biasu were willing to leave everything they had on that court one last time for each other.
Te-Biasu has been a constant for the Terps after Bri McDaniel tore her ACL in her right knee against Minnesota in January, and the team needed a player who could replicate the 10.6 points, 2.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds she was producing off the bench.
Kaylene Smikle, who played her first two seasons at Rutgers, transferred to play under head coach Brenda Frese, knowing that playing for the Terps meant playing for a program that prides itself on performance in March.
So when they needed to play for each other most, during what, for some, could have been their last time playing at home, they gave everything and then some, and they pulled out a 111-108 win in double overtime.
Scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, Te-Biasu put Maryland through to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five years. Her 26 points, alongside Sellers’ 28 (16 of which also came in the fourth and overtime) set up a rematch to avenge an Elite Eight loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks in 2023.
Smikle fouled out in overtime with 23 points, but scored 14 of her points in the second half and overtime, with Allie Kubek adding to the comeback with 19 points and 12 rebounds, the 12th double-double of her career.
“Maryland is made in March, and we’re successful in March. I love being an underdog. I’ve taken note of everybody who has counted the Terps out,” said Shyanne Sellers before the tournament.
The Terps saw themselves in this situation in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, as they needed to overcome a 25-point deficit against Michigan. Te-Biasu drilled a three and Maryland went on a 16-0 run. The Terps trailed by just one point with 1:26 left to play in the first half, but the Wolverines reestablished a 20-plus point lead in the third, and they never looked back.
Maryland wasn’t about to let history repeat itself a fourth time, and despite trailing by 17 so late once again, they knew what it was going to take to get back into the game.
As Barker was ready to be the hero for the Crimson Tide, Maryland held their own defensively, despite Sellers being on the bench with four fouls and Saylor Poffenbarger committing a foul that allowed Barker back to the free throw line.
“It was a specific timeout,” said Sellers. “We were just talking about ‘score, stop, score, stop, score, get it within 10’, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Te-Biasu will be remembered for her efforts for a long time, as she hit two threes in overtime to help seal the victory, adding to her six assists and three steals, including the game-sealing one with one second left in double overtime.
She has shot over 70 percent from deep in Maryland’s last five games, being the clutch shooter the Terps have needed time and time again.
“It was fun, it was really fun,” Te-Biasu said. “I know it was a tight game and everything, but we have fun.”
Te-Biasu, Sellers, and Smikle combined for 78 points, but Maryland’s rotational players were just as important as they have been all year.
On top of her double-double, Kubek added five assists and no turnovers, Mir McLean came off the bench and grabbed 10 rebounds while also shutting down Barker, and with the team in foul trouble Amari DeBerry stepped up on both sides of the ball.
“I’m going to remember this one for a really long time, with this group and everything that they’ve had to get through this season,” Frese said.
Te-Biasu, a player who stepped up in the face of injury, played 50 minutes in the win, only coming out of the game for singular defensive possessions — and was carried off the court by her teammates postgame after her efforts.
Since that Minnesota game, Te-Biasu has played no less than 31 minutes a night and has tallied 15 points in six of the last seven games for the Terps. She has been a player that has executed any role asked of her, as she upholds Maryland’s spirit of playing for each other.
“It feels good,” Te-Biasu said. “It was really a fight. We went double overtime but we just kept playing for each other the whole game. I think it was like the third and fourth quarter, it was a little bit tough for us but we never gave up and we just kept fighting. That’s all we did.”
