With just under two minutes remaining against Northwestern on Thursday, Maryland women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese smiled as she summoned forward Olivia Owens, the last player off her bench, to run out the clock with a 16-point lead.

While the midweek matchup was billed as a battle of strengths — with the Wildcats’ second-best scoring defense in the Big Ten combatting the Terps’ third-ranked offense — the game quickly became lopsided.

After a back-and-forth beginning, one thing became increasingly evident: No. 10 Maryland is more than just an elite offense.

The Terps held Northwestern without a field goal during its first 12 attempts — en route to an ice-cold 6-for-30 opening half shooting — and repeatedly exposed the Wildcats’ subpar offense.

Although Northwestern picked up its scoring in the later stages, its first-half troubles proved too much to overcome, and Maryland cruised past the Wildcats, 72-57, for its sixth-consecutive double-digit win.

“We came out and played with tremendous energy and effort,” Frese said. “The first half was probably one of the best halves we’ve had defensively.”

At the start, however, the Terps (21-2, 10-2 Big Ten) took some time to adjust to the Northwestern (14-9, 7-5) zone.

Maryland scored just five points in the opening four minutes, but once the Terps began to penetrate the open space at the heart of the Wildcat defense, the floodgates opened.

Guard Blair Watson made a deep triple from the right side of the arc to give her slumping teammates a spark, and they eventually followed suit. It spurred a nine-point run, and following a corner three two minutes later by guard Taylor Mikesell — who had eight first-quarter points — the Terps’ lead had swelled to 15-3.

But despite Maryland’s improved offensive play, its defense was clearly the star of the opening half.

The Wildcats missed their first 12 field goals, and after guard Lindsey Pulliam converted from deep to make it 17-8, Northwestern didn’t hit again from the floor for nearly six minutes. By the time Pulliam made another shot to end the slump a few minutes into the second quarter, Maryland had extended its lead to 29-17.

“[We tried to] just make it tough for them the whole night,” said forward Stephanie Jones, who finished with a team-leading 16 points and narrowly missed a double-double with nine boards. “And I think me, Bri [Fraser] and Shakira [Austin] did a great job of that.”

Pulliam — who came into Thursday averaging a team-high 16.6 points a contest — still managed 18 points despite the Terps’ best efforts, but it took her 22 shots to reach that threshold.

Northwestern shot just 20 percent before escaping to the locker room at halftime, and with nine first-half points, Pulliam was just narrowly outscored by the rest of her teammates combined, 11-9.

And while the Terps’ defense stymied the Wildcats, guard Sara Vujacic put together her best first half of the season. The junior scored all 10 of her points before the break on a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.

“I was feeling great,” said Vujacic, who scored in double-figures for the first time since notching a season-high 13 points against UMBC on Dec. 2. “[Frese] always says, ‘When you focus on defense, offense comes naturally.’ And that’s what happened today.”

Maryland shot a blistering 6-for-10 from three in the first 20 minutes — they finished 8-for-16 from behind the arc — and ended the half with a 41-20 lead.

Northwestern eventually picked it up on the offense end and shot 53.6 percent after the break, but the Wildcats early-game ineptitude made any attempt of a comeback impossible.

While the Terps were outscored by six points after the break, their first-half defensive dominance was more than enough to secure the win. And Maryland routed Northwestern, 72-57, to set up a crucial battle for first place in the Big Ten against No. 20 Rutgers this weekend.

“Tonight was a great start for us,” Frese said. “Granted, we know it gets a lot harder come Sunday.”