For the second time this season, Lindsey Harding gave evidence as to what method works best to beat the Terrapin women’s basketball team:

To emphasize the word “point” in point guard.

Last night, in her second game of the year against the Terps, Harding augmented her case as a player of the year candidate, scoring a career high 29 points on 12-of-20 shooting.

“We actually had a game plan. It may not seem like it, in terms of being able to contain her,” coach Brenda Frese said. “She just did a tremendous job.”

And the stellar play from the point guard position shows one defensive weakness that has emerged for the Terps, who, after starting the season 18-0, have now been burned by three different point guards in their four losses in a little more than a month.

The concern is that whenever a team’s point guard has a big game, the Terps’ chances of winning drop.

Harding beat the Terps twice, scoring 29 points last night and 28 on Jan. 13; Ivory Latta of North Carolina dropped 32 points Jan. 28 to lead her team to a win over the Terps; and Georgia Tech’s Stephanie Higgs scored 26 to help beat the Terps on Feb. 1.

In the post-game press conference, Frese briefly reflected on the concern that point guards have posed to her team’s defensive game-plan.

“It shows some breakdowns in terms of our perimeter play defense,” Frese said. “Like I’ve said, I think we’ve made strides defensively. Are we all the way there yet? No.”

Last night, Harding exploited the Terps in every which way.

To start off the game, Harding dazzled with an abundance of early scoring. In the first half, she shot 9-for-10 and scored 20 points, including her team’s first 11.

“I think the main thing is just attacking,” Harding said. “That’s why we were successful the first time we played them.”

Later in the game, Harding eliminated the Terps’ chances of a comeback with savvy leadership and by scoring at the perfect times.

“Tonight in the first half in particular we needed her to score and she did a great job,” Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. “She didn’t take as many shots in the second half. She was looking for her teammates and got everybody else involved. She’s the consummate, I think, team leader.”

A perfect example of when Harding switched her game from scoring a lot to just making the right plays came late in the second half.

Terp forward Marissa Coleman stole the ball and scored a layup to bring the Terps within seven with just more than six minutes to go.

The crowd was alive for the first time in a while, and it looked like the Terps could feed off the energy. But Harding followed the Coleman layup by going baseline to baseline and scored to hush the crowd.

“I thought we had a good game-plan on her, but she was hitting everything,” senior guard Shay Doron said. “She’s a great player obviously, but we can’t let her dictate what we do.”

After the game, the focus of the Terps’ press conference was Harding. The Terps talked about how she played a great game and how they need to play better defense, especially at the perimeter.

The conversation indicated that the Terps knew who beat them. It indicated that they got the point, because they were just burned by another one.

Contact reporter Bryan Mann at bmanndbk@gmail.com.