Maryland women’s basketball team star guard Ashley Owusu announced Tuesday she has entered the transfer portal. Her announcement shocked many around women’s college hoops.
Owusu cited unfortunate events off the court for her main reason to leave College Park, Maryland.
“I have never started anything I haven’t finished, and finishing was the plan when I decided to come to College Park. My goal was to have a great career here and to win a national championship alongside an amazing team. I could picture my jersey hanging up in the rafters at the Xfinity Center. Unfortunately, events that have transpired off the court this year have led me to make the very difficult decision to continue my education and my basketball career elsewhere. I want to thank the University of Maryland, my teammates and Terp Nation for accepting me and supporting me for the past three seasons. I ask that you please respect my privacy and pray for me and my family as I place my name in the transfer portal.”
A native of Woodbridge, Virginia, Owusu starred at Paul VI in high school. She committed to Maryland in 2019 as a five-star recruit and the No. 7 player in the nation.
At Maryland she carried over her court stardom. Her best season was as a sophomore, averaging 17.9 points, 5.9 assists and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 49.3% from the field.
However, this past season was a down year for her standards. She battled through injury and played 27 games. She averaged 14.3 points shooting 42.4% from the field, including 40.6% from three.
In her final game with Maryland, Owusu sat on the bench the final six minutes of the Terrapins’ Sweet 16 loss to Stanford. At the time head coach Brenda Frese attributed her benching to a “stomach bug.”
Notably, Owusu did not acknowledge Frese or any one else from the Maryland coaching staff in her transfer announcement.
Owusu wasn’t the only Terrapins women’s player to announce her intentions to transfer. Taisiya Kozlova also will enter the transfer portal.
Kozlova is a native of Moscow, Russia. As a guard, Kozlova struggled to crack the rotation in her two years at Maryland.
Last season she played sparingly in 21 games. She averaged 1.3 points and 10.2 minutes. She’ll have three years of eligibility remaining thanks to NCAA granting fall and winter sport athletes an extra year of eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic.
