The Maryland women’s basketball team shot 60 percent from the field, dominated inside and had a 25-point halftime lead in its game at Loyola (Md.) on Monday night.
Before the start of the third quarter, Greyhounds coach Joe Logan expressed a sentiment many of the Terps’ early-season opponents have likely shared.
“I don’t think we’re going to see another team that’s as big or as long as those guys,” Logan said to the Campus Insiders sideline reporter.
Logan’s team, though, kept pace with Maryland in the second half. The Greyhounds outscored the Terps in the third period and cut the deficit to 15 at one point, but Maryland had already built a cushion to earn a 79-60 victory, its 11th consecutive win.
“It was a tale of two halves,” coach Brenda Frese said. “Credit Loyola. They came out after halftime with no quit. They fought really strong.”
Maryland used an 11-0 run at the beginning of the first quarter to open a 13-2 lead, and it extended that advantage for the rest of the half. Maryland led, 46-21, at the break.
“[It] was one of our best starts we’ve had to date,” Frese said. “I was pretty excited to be able to see what we were going to do in the second half.”
After intermission, though, the Greyhounds responded. Loyola had a 10-2 run to start the third quarter. It ended when center Brionna Jones sunk a pair of free throws.
“We lost focus,” Frese said.
Center Brionna Jones led all scorers for the second straight game. After her 30-point performance against Saint Peter’s on Thursday, she logged 25 points and 14 rebounds in Baltimore.
Foul trouble kept Jones and other key Terps contributors on the side for parts of the third period. Along with Jones, starting guards Destiny Slocum and Kaila Charles drew their third fouls in the third period.
“We struggled, pretty much, in the second half,” Frese said.
The Greyhounds used hot shooting to capitalize on the absences, outscoring Maryland, 24-18, in the third quarter and joining Washington State and Louisville as the only teams to win a frame against Maryland this season. Maryland matched Loyola with 15 points in the fourth.
The Terps offense, meanwhile, went cold after the break. Maryland attempted 30 field goals in each half, and after making 18 in the first half, the Terps sunk 11 before the final buzzer. They also committed 19 total turnovers.
“We definitely had a lot of unforced turnovers. They sat in the zone [defense],” Frese said. “We made things a lot more complicated than we needed to … Way too many turnovers against a team that’s not even pressuring you.”
Jones had 15 of her 25 points and guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 12 of her 17 in the first half.
Loyola held Maryland to 79 points, matching its second-lowest point total of the season. The Terps scored 78 points against Louisville and 79 against Washington State. But thanks to Maryland’s strong start, Loyola never posed a threat to the team’s leads or unblemished record.
“It’s not a 20-minute game, it’s not a 10-minute game, it’s a 40 minute game,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “We have to make sure we put two halves together.”
