In the time it takes to read this paragraph, the Florida Gulf Coast women’s basketball team will have launched at least one and possibly more three-pointers.

The Owls, who meet Maryland in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday, lead the nation in three-point attempts and by a large margin.

Keeping FGCU from raining threes all over the arena may be the key to propelling the Terps, the fourth-seed in the Spokane region, into the Sweet 16 next weekend.

“Yeah, their style of play looks pretty fun, just launch from three and go from there,” said Maryland graduate guard Katie Benzan. “And it’s definitely unique. Not many teams play that way. We’re looking forward to the challenge of playing them. They’re a really good team, so it’s going to be a hard battle,”

Indeed, the Owls (30-2), the 12th seed, come into Sunday on an eight-game winning streak, including Friday’s 84-81 win over fifth-seeded Virginia Tech in the first round. They missed 23 three-pointers Friday and aren’t embarrassed at all.

“What we actually call ourselves is “Raining Threes,” said FGCU graduate guard Andrea Cecil. “And it’s something that we take a lot of pride in. It’s a fun way to play basketball. And we focus on getting our three-pointers, and that’s our game and that’s our style.”

Every team shoots threes, to be sure. But no one does it with the frequency of Florida Gulf Coast, who has taken 1,158 treys this year – 236 more than Middle Tennessee, which was second.

By contrast, Maryland (22-8), led by Benzan who shot threes better than anyone else in the nation last year by percentage, has taken 1,159 three-point shots over the past two seasons.

Ironically, the Terps are ranked 18th in the nation in three-point percentage, connecting at a 36 percent rate, placing them just behind Virginia Tech. FGCU, meanwhile, is ranked 76th at just under 33 percent.

However, because the Owls, who shot 15-for-38 from three-point range Friday, launch so many threes – an average of 36 per game – defending them closely along the perimeter can make an opponent susceptible to lay-ups.

“We try to create maximum space on every offensive possession, and I don’t think that’s really even possible if you got multiple kids who can’t shoot or don’t need to be respected from the three,” said FGCU coach Karl Smesko.

“So for us that’s always been our style. Like we want you to have to chase all our shooters around, and then while you’re doing that, hopefully we can score on a cut to the basket or find a driving lane to get to the rim. And if you come over to help, hopefully we make the right decision and get it to an open shooter.”

The Terps, meanwhile, will present their own puzzle for the Owls, who are 16-0 away from Alico Arena in Fort Myers, including an 88-74 win in November over LSU, the third seed in Spokane.

While FGCU has no player on the roster taller than 6-foot-1, Maryland has three starters 6-foot-2 or taller.

The Owls permitted Virginia Tech center Elizabeth Kitley to erupt for an arena record 42 points Friday, However, only one other Hokie scored in double figures.

Still, stopping Maryland’s forwards Angel Reese, Chloe Bibby and Diamond Miller will present its own task for the Owls. The trio combined for 49 points in the Terps’ 102-71 win over Delaware Friday.

“I think we’ve shown this season we kind of know who we are and what our identity is,” said Maryland coach Brenda Frese. “But, I mean obviously — I think they can’t get deflated by the number of threes they take, and obviously we need to make it difficult for them from the three-point line. But for us it’s just continuing to play the right way, within our own offense.

Milton Kent
Milton Kent

Sports Media Analyst

Milton Kent is a veteran of Baltimore and Maryland journalism. Kent began a long association with the Baltimore Sun in 1985, serving as the Evening Sun’s Howard County reporter for 2 ½ years before joining the paper’s features department as an entertainment writer in 1988. In the following year, Kent began covering men’s and women’s college basketball for the Evening Sun, concentrating on the Maryland men’s and women’s teams. He continued covering college basketball when the writing staffs of the Evening and Morning Suns merged in 1991. From there, he covered the Orioles for three seasons before becoming one of the nation’s first fulltime sports media critics for parts of six years. In 2000, he began covering the NBA until 2004, when he launched a high school sports column, which he wrote until he left the Sun in 2008. Kent joined the staff of AOL Fanhouse, an online sports operation in 2009, covering sports media and women’s basketball, until operations ceased in 2011. He then joined the faculty at Morgan State University in the fall of 2011, where he has taught until the present day. In addition to writing for various platforms, including Sports Illustrated.com and TV Guide, Kent has hosted “Sports At Large,” a weekly commentary program airing on WYPR (88.1 FM) since 2002.

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