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Diamond Miller always stays on the court after the Maryland Terrapins warm-up drills are complete. Her team huddles together for a quick message and heads off to the dressing room, and Miller searches for a ball – she needs another to go inside. On Sunday afternoon, it was a quick shot from inside.
This layup led to many more. The second-team All-American heavily attacked the rim as she helped the Terps rally from a halftime deficit to a 77-64 win over Arizona in the second round of the NCAA tournament and Maryland to its third straight Sweet 16 sent.
The Terps (27-6), the No. 2 in the Greenville (SC) area, wiped out an underperforming second quarter with a dominant third. On Saturday, the Terps meet third-seeded Notre Dame, who went 53-48 against No. 11-seeded Mississippi State the previous Sunday in South Bend, Indiana. 72, on December 1st.
Top seeded South Carolina also advanced to the regional semifinals by defeating eighth seeded South Florida 76-45. No. 4 UCLA or no. 5 Oklahoma, who meet in Los Angeles on Monday, will be the reigning national champions’ next opponents.
Miller did a little bit of everything on Sunday as Maryland tried to run at every opportunity — after Makes or Misses. She finished with 24 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals. With her 20-man team midway through the fourth quarter, the senior forced a jump ball to earn an Arizona turnover. The crowd exploded as she pivoted and displayed her long arms to signal it was Maryland’s ball.
Sunday was probably the last time Miller played a college game at the Xfinity Center; She is expected to be a lottery pick in the WNBA draft. As she checked out for the last time, she put her hands on her hips, exhaled, and hugged Coach Brenda Frese on the way to the bench.
Shyanne Sellers also left her fingerprints throughout the game with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Faith Masonius (12 points) scored her third straight game in double figures after going 11 straight games without doing so. Brinae Alexander scored 12 points off the bench.
Maryland took control of the game in the third quarter, opening on a 19-4 run that was topped by a layup by Sellers after a pretty assist from Miller. Arizona (22-10) had beaten the Terps 25-15 in the second quarter, but Maryland picked up their defense, beating the Wildcats 29-9 in the third and driving the rest of the way.
Maryland likes to “hit first” and get his opponent to call the first timeout. The Terps accomplished just that with a 12-2 run, forcing Arizona to call a time-out after falling 6-0 behind. The Wildcats flipped the ball on their first three possessions and Maryland went into the second quarter 17-8.
The second quarter was a different story. A three-pointer by Abby Meyers with a 7-16 lead gave Maryland a 25-14 lead, but the game had already begun to turn. Sellers had checked out after committing her second foul with 7:49 left, and the Terps would go nearly four minutes without a hit after Meyers’ bucket. Arizona went 10 straight points together at this stretch, taking advantage of Maryland’s poor shot selection and transitioning from those misses.
Arizona took their first lead 31-29 and went into halftime with a 33-32 lead. The Wildcats shot a staggering 63.2 percent in the second quarter to fuel their comeback, but Miller and the rest of the Terps had other plans for the second half.