A leak in the roof at Xfinity Center in College Park postponed Saturday afternoon’s women’s basketball game between Maryland and Purdue after a delay of 45 minutes.
With heavy rain sweeping through the Baltimore-Washington area Saturday, water dripped near midcourt as players were introduced and warmed up before the start of a scheduled 4:30 p.m. tipoff. The public address announcer then said that the start of the game would be delayed, and the team announced in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that there would be “a brief delay due to a facilities issue on the court.”
The team’s official X account did not provide another update until announcing at 5:15 p.m. that the game would be postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date. All tickets will be refunded or can be exchanged for another game.
“We wanted to see if we could divert the water off the roof into a different direction, but unfortunately we weren’t able to accomplish that,” Maryland athletic director Damon Evans said. “We were hoping it would stop, but it just didn’t.”
Evans said that the teams considered playing in an auxiliary gym at Xfinity Center, but Purdue didn’t feel comfortable with that option. He also said that the schools would try to make a decision on rescheduling the game in the next 48 hours.
“Hopefully, we can come to an agreement, [and] if not, the conference will step in,” he said.
During the delay, players tried to stay loose with a game of knockout while officials and coaches continued to discuss the situation. It was ultimately determined that it would be unsafe to play.
“Safety for our student-athletes is our No. 1 priority,” coach Brenda Frese said as she addressed the crowd following the postponement. “We’re as disappointed as you guys. We hope that you come back and support this team.”
Maryland (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) next plays at Michigan State on Tuesday night before returning home to host No. 15 Ohio State on Jan. 17.
The Xfinity Center, which hosts Maryland men’s and women’s basketball games as well as other events such as the high school basketball state championships, was completed in the fall of 2002. It houses the university’s athletics administration offices and includes a 7,000-square-foot Academic Support Center, according to the university’s athletics website. An additional 1,500-seat gymnasium serves as home to the Terps’ volleyball and wrestling teams, and Heritage Hall multi-purpose room is equipped to host banquets, news conferences, meetings and serve as a pregame restaurant suite overlooking the competition arena.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
