COLLEGE PARK — Leaving the court after Thursday’s home win over Penn State, Maryland women’s basketball player Saylor Poffenbarger was flagged down by a young girl in the stands.
The 6-foot-2 redshirt senior guard gladly posed for a selfie with the girl, who wore a black Maryland jersey with Poffenbarger’s number, 6, and last name on the back.
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Deep into her second season with the Terps, Poffenbarger is a firmly entrenched team leader whose contributions are noticed nightly by coaches and players as well as jersey-wearing young fans.
The Middletown grad leads No. 14 Maryland in rebounding (6.8 per game) and assists (3.3 per game), is second in steals (1.98 per game), 3-pointers (41) and blocks (17) and is one of five players averaging double figures in scoring (10.4). Poffenbarger turned in her second straight double-double, and 22nd of her career, in Sunday’s stirring 76-75 comeback win over then-No. 8 Ohio State.
Granted, those stats don’t capture all the contributions Poffenbarger — a team captain — provides for a Maryland (21-6) team that has won four straight and looks to make another deep postseason run.
“She’s that glue, that connector for everyone. I mean, she uplifts them, will do anything for the team,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said after Poffenbarger had 10 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in Thursday’s 81-62 win over the Nittany Lions. “Probably too unselfish to a fault. When I see her double-double, that’s something that I expect from her all the time. But she really connects us on and off the court.”
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Poffenbarger prides herself on performing such tasks.
“As far as just being a leader, I’m like a big voice,” she said. “I think that’s been a big change in my game, just [being] a vocal leader.”
While Poffenbarger’s leadership likely isn’t spotted by spectators, it’s valued by teammates like grad student and co-captain Mir McLean, who’s known Poffenbarger since they were high school players in Maryland and teammates for a season at UConn.
“Saylor’s a great person, even off the court. She’s a great player, too. But I think what a lot of people don’t see is how genuine she is and how giving she is, and it shows a lot throughout the game,” McLean said. “She’s always willing to give and always being a great person to kind of lean on as a confidant. So just to have her in your corner is always great for us and just her positivity, it feeds through to the rest of us.”
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Speaking of feeds, Poffenbarger has been a key distributor for Maryland’s offense. When Thursday’s game was still tight in the second quarter, Poffenbarger’s nice lob pass set up Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu’s layup.
Granted, nailing long-range shots remains as crucial to Poffenbarger’s game as it was when she starred for the Knights. She’s already exceeded the total of number of 3s (38) she made last season. Against the Nittany Lions, she hit a go-ahead 3-pointer late in the second quarter to give the Terps a halftime lead, then sank another 3 to help fuel a pivotal 11-0 run in the third.
“I like to shoot 3s, and I work on it a lot,” Poffenbarger said. “I’ve been shooting a lot this year.”
Maryland Women’s Basketball
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Maryland guard Saylor Poffenbarger has been a key distributor for the Terps’ offense and has also improved her 3-point shooting.
She’s been rebounding a lot, too, a facet of the game that’s essential for any team looking to survive, let alone thrive, in the Big 10.
“I’m just trying to be more active on the boards, continuing to do that, continuing to get downhill, do different things when your shot’s not falling, just continuing to find different ways to score and impact the game,” Poffenbarger said.
Poffenbarger has helped the Terps bounce back from a four-game losing streak, including two setbacks in overtime, last month.
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“We’ve had some adversity, but at the same time, we’ve shown a lot of resilience, so I think we have a lot of fight,” Poffenbarger said on Thursday. “It’s been a really fun season. Obviously, when you go through adversity and then you come through it strong, you come together, it makes it even more fun and worth it. So we’re at a really good point.”
The grind and inevitable adversity of playing Division I basketball can take its toll, but Poffenbarger hasn’t been hampered by such challenges.
“Basketball’s all about up and down, and I think my response this year has been different,” she said. “I think the work I did mentally in the offseason kind of helped me stay more consistent in the teammate I am and who I show up as every single day. Being able to be consistent kind of makes bad days a little bit better, and [I’m] just continuing to be joyful for my teammates.”
This is the final season of Poffenbarger’s collegiate career, which began with a brief stint at UConn and included two stellar seasons at Arkansas. She wants to try to play professionally. For now, though, she’s savoring her final stretch with the team that was among the first to recruit her in high school, playing in front of local fans — at least one of them wearing her jersey — and family members.
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“I just try to stay in the moment,” she said. “I get caught up in it. It can be sad because I have a lot of joy here. I have a lot of joy in college. But I just think trying to stay super grounded, trying to stay day-to-day and be the best teammate and player I can be.”
