Shyanne Sellers, warming to the role of star, leads Maryland past JMU

That realization was confirmed again in the second quarter at Xfinity Center as Sellers sat under the basket with blood trickling from a gash under her right eye. The wound opened courtesy of an opponent’s elbow and is indicative of the physicality that Sellers is enduring these days.

“I don’t think it was intentional, but she got me pretty good,” Sellers said. “Teams are going to be aggressive — they think I can’t handle it or something. But I have a great group around me that can take the pressure off me.”

After the hit, the junior rose with a grimace, smacked her hands together in frustration and then handled it the way Maryland has come to expect — by making her free throws as part of a 20-point first half and career-high 29-point effort to go with nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.

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For the remainder of the Terps’ final nonconference game, Sellers smiled, laughed and chest-bumped with teammates while shaking off further attempts by the Dukes to rattle her.

Opposing defenses are beginning to treat Sellers like a star. Frese believes she is ready for the challenge.

“She’s learning how to play at that level,” the coach said. “She’s so talented. … She is stacking the days of that mentality. Every time we challenge her, she takes it to heart and gets better. That’s why she’s just scratching the surface, which is pretty exciting.”

The win was the seventh straight for Maryland (9-3). While they’ve all come with a margin of at least nine points, they’ve been against mostly mid- and low-major competition (the exception being a 71-58 home win over Big Ten foe Northwestern). The earlier portion of Maryland’s schedule included losses at now-No. 1 South Carolina and then-No. 8 Connecticut and against then-No. 23 Washington State at a neutral site.

The Terps return to Big Ten play New Year’s Eve at Nebraska, and Frese believes the conference’s depth offers few breaks. Nonconference bouts such as these have helped Sellers find her voice and have allowed the team to work through adversity.

Against JMU, Maryland created its own adversity, getting off to a sluggish start with miscues coming in bunches.

James Madison (8-4), the reigning Sun Belt champion, frustrated the Terps’ offense on early paint touches and with offensive rebounds. With a jumbled rotation spurred by the absence of graduate guards Lavender Briggs and Jakia Brown-Turner and freshman center Hawa Doumbouya, who were out with an illness, the Terps came up empty on their first seven shot attempts and found themselves in a 9-0 hole midway through the first quarter.

Maryland got its first field goal from freshman Emily Fisher, a driving layup that ignited the offense. Maryland connected on its next three trips, all layups with several degrees of difficulty. Sellers then hit two three-pointers at the end of the quarter to give the Terps an 18-17 lead. Still, Maryland began with eight turnovers to just four assists.

“Super proud of our group, the resiliency — I thought it was a tough week coming off final exams. You saw the slow start; that was indicative of the eight days since we last played,” Frese said. “We kind of weathered the storm and those runs they had.”

Though the Dukes kept it close for much of the second quarter, transition opportunities favored the Terps, with the first-half outburst from Sellers fueling a 35-28 halftime advantage. The Dukes, aiming to tilt volatility in their favor and play spoiler, swung the ball around the perimeter but made just 4 of 16 shots from deep in the half.

“[James Madison] did a really good job of being disciplined on defense,” sophomore guard Bri McDaniel said. “We had a slow start, but we came ready to play.”

Though the Dukes never got back within two possessions of Maryland, their 19 offensive boards made things difficult for the Terrapins, who took a 13-point lead into the final quarter.

Sellers called it a night following a flashy pass to McDaniel for a layup that pushed the lead to 19. It was her sixth assist, and it prompted her to stare at her open-faced palm before high-fiving Frese.

McDaniel added 15 points and nine rebounds, finishing as the only other Terp in double figures while Faith Masonius scored eight points in her first start since Nov. 19.

Redshirt sophomore guard Peyton McDaniel had 25 points, eight rebounds and three steals to pace the Dukes. Carole Miller, a graduate guard from Maryland and a 2019 first-team All-Met selection at Edison, was one of three Dukes with six points.

“We’ll see how much we’ve gained from the difficult nonconference schedule,” Frese said. “I think we’re built for it.”