The Golden Gophers (19-10, 11-7 Big Ten) ended the regular season with a 110-77 loss at No. 6 Maryland (27-3, 16-2). Minnesota will have the No. 5 seed for the Big Ten tournament this week.

Rachel Banham led the Maroon and Gold with 26 points and is the Big Ten’s scoring champion with a conference record average of 30.5 points per game in league play. She also ends the 18-game Big Ten schedule with a record 75 three-pointers. Joanna Hedstrom made five triples and had 21 points

Maryland shot 57.5 percent as it captured the Big Ten regular-season title outright with the win. Tierney Pfirman led the Terrapins with 29 points. The Gophers kept the game close until early in the second quarter before the Terps opened up a larger lead. Maryland outrebounded Minnesota 53-23 and scored 56 of its points in the paint.

 

How it happened

Banham made two free throws and a three-pointer to cut Maryland’s lead to 6-5 before the Terrapins went on a 6-0 run and induced a Gophers timeout. Minnesota trailed by 10 at the 2:26 mark but got within 25-19 by the end of the quarter. Two three-pointers by Banham and one by Hedstrom helped keep the Gophers close while Maryland went inside for 12 of its points.

The Gophers cut the deficit to two points early in the second, then Brionna Jones scored seven straight points for the Terps. Maryland went on to build an 18-point advantage near the end of the period. The Gophers went to the locker room down 52-34. Banham had nine points and Hedstrom had eight at the half.

Banham scored 15 points in the third, but the Terps continued to widen the gap.

Carlie Wagner scored 11 points in the final frame, and Hedstrom hit two of her three-pointers.

 

More notes

As a team, Minnesota set the Big Ten season record with 169 three-pointers, edging out Ohio State (167). The Gophers made 13 of their 37 three-point attempts on Sunday.

Banham broke the scoring record set by Northwestern’s Anucha Browne in 1984-85. Browne scored 529 points (29.4 per game) during that conference season.

 

Up next

Minnesota has a first-round bye and will begin play in Indianapolis against the winner of a game between Northwestern and Wisconsin. The Thursday game will air on Big Ten Network 25 minutes after the 11 a.m. game ends.