No. 20 Maryland women’s basketball was tied with No. 12 North Carolina five times over the course of the Terps’ final exhibition game of the season, with neither team able to break away and obtain a stable lead.
With only four seconds left, Addi Mack headed to the free throw line with a chance to ice the game. Mack made both to push the Terps into a two-possession lead. Tar Heel Nyla Brooks fired off a 3- pointer to close the game, but missed the net entirely, handing Maryland its second exhibition win, 72-68.
The Tar Heels broke through the Terps’ defense in the first quarter, pulling away with a 10-4 lead. Stanford transfer Nunu Agara managed to briefly pull Maryland out of its deficit, sparking a run before making a fast break layup to tie the game at 13 apiece. Agara went on to score 15 of Maryland’s 32 first-half points and finished with a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double that she credited to her new team.
“The passion comes from just playing for my teammates,” Agara said, “They’re my sisters, and I want to do well.”
Oluchi Okananwa gave Maryland its first lead of the day. With less than a minute left in the first quarter, the senior stole the ball around mid court and banked a jumper from the paint. Just seconds later, she made a layup on the back of Chloe Sotell’s defensive rebound.
Addi Mack briefly returned to shooting glory with her first 3-pointer of the day in the first seconds of the second quarter. When the Terps faced off in the postseason against the Tar Heels, Mack went 3-for-5 from outside the arc. The sophomore didn’t attempt another deep ball for the rest of the game, though.
McDaniel’s layup put the Terps back up, 26-25, halfway through the second quarter. After a North Carolina jumper, sophomore Maria Boiko restored the lead just a minute later. After logging her first defensive rebound, the Belarusian forward splashed a second-chance pull up shot for her first points of the season.
Maryland created several opportunities for points on the back of turnovers but couldn’t finish them. Redshirt freshman Lea Bartelme dove for the ball to force a turnover and passed to freshman Trinity Jones to score a layup, but Jones couldn’t complete the shot.
Maryland dominated the paint in the first half, outscoring North Carolina in the paint, 20-8. The Terps also outrebounded North Carolina 23-18, allowing just one first-half offensive rebound.
Head coach Brenda Frese said Agara needed to do a better job anchoring the defense after the Terps allowed 40 points in the paint and 18 offensive rebounds against Virginia Tech on Monday. Those numbers dropped to 26 and seven, respectively, on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Jones flourished in the second half. The freshman made consecutive baskets at the beginning of the third quarter for her first points of the game, pushing Maryland ahead, 36-33.
Jones, the No. 9-ranked recruit according to 247Sports, finished with nine points, four rebounds and three assists.
“[Jones] just plays the right way,” Frese said. “Her motor just never gives up….[Jones] just wants to be on the court and help her team win.”
Rainey Welson notched her first points of the season with just two minutes left in the third quarter. The sophomore guard connected on a pair of 3-pointers from the corner to push the Terps out to their largest lead of the game, 54-48.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Jordyn Jackson took a pass from Jones, and the freshman-to-freshman connection led to a 3-pointer that cushioned the Terps’ five-point lead.
Jackson’s shot was met by a jumper from Tar Heel Noelle Bofia, assisted by her top-ranked freshman teammate, Kate Harpring. Harpring gave Maryland’s defense problems all game, finishing with a game-high 29 points and six rebounds.
Maryland’s free throws made up the difference, though. The Terps notched 19 shots from the line, accounting for more than a quarter of their total points.
“Free throw shooting is always going to be really important to us,” Frese said after the game. “I love, just, the way we were able to be aggressive.”
Through the last three minutes, the Terps and Tar Heels chased each other up and down the court without a shot to show for it. While Maryland didn’t make a field goal in the final four minutes, it was perfect from the free-throw line down the stretch to seal a tight victory.
Frese said playing a basketball powerhouse like North Carolina in an exhibition game was intentional in preparing for the season ahead.
“We don’t have time to make sure that everyone’s comfortable and confident,” Frese said in a preseason press conference. “We can get those jitters and nerves worked out and do it at a really high level.”
Three things to know
1. Reversing history. Maryland’s win over North Carolina was its first since 2013, when the Terps won 85-59. They had lost their previous three matchups against the Tar Heels, including a second-round loss that ended the Terps’ 2025-26 season.
2. Maryland can win in multiple ways. After a high-scoring win over Virginia Tech, Maryland toppled North Carolina in a defensive battle. Agara held down the paint with 11 rebounds and two blocks. Okananwa led the team with three steals, and the Terps forced 11 turnovers.
3. The underclassmen stepped up in the clutch. Down the stretch, second-year players Bartelme and Mack knocked down the big free throws. Bartelme had the ball in her hands a lot down the stretch and was tasked with breaking the North Carolina full-court press. Sophomore Rainey Wilson closed the third quarter with two straight 3-pointers, and freshman Jordyn Jackson hit a clutch 3-pointer to extend the lead to five points with just over five minutes left in the game.