Guard Laurin Mincy drives past a Penn State defender during the first half of the Terps’ win over Penn State at Xfinity Center on Feb. 23, 2014.

Monday night’s contest against Penn State was a sluggish affair for the Terrapins women’s basketball team, which finished with 20 turnovers and shot 50 percent from the free-throw line. But a smothering defense helped mask the squad’s offensive deficiencies. 

The Nittany Lions finished with a season-low 34 points, the lowest score the Terps have allowed in conference play by 13 points. 

Behind that suffocating defense, the No. 5 Terps rolled to a 65-34 rout over Penn State at Xfinity Center. The win is the Terps’ 19th straight and brings them within two games of a perfect run through the conference regular season.

After the game, the conference awarded the Terps (25-2, 16-0 Big Ten) the Big Ten regular-season title trophy, which they clinched over the weekend after Iowa fell to Ohio State on Saturday.

“This is the first step for us,” coach Brenda Frese said. “Obviously something we are proud of, but the first step of many great things left for this team to be able to do.”

Center Brionna Jones led the way for the Terps offensively. The sophomore finished the night 8 of 12 from the field for a game-high 17 points.

The Terps’ stifling defense started early and persisted all night. More than seven minutes into the contest, Penn State (6-21, 3-13) had committed seven turnovers and all six of its field-goal attempts had missed the mark. It wasn’t until the 12:54 mark in the first half that the Nittany Lions ended the field-goal drought on center Candice Agee’s layup.

“It’s been an area for us that we have really focused on,” Frese said of the defense. “A few of the lapses we had in the last game, we wanted to improve on. We have had two great practices leading up to this game, so I’m not surprised given the focus that we’ve had.”

Led by guard Lexie Brown’s five first-half steals, the Terps defense continued to stymie the Nittany Lions, who converted on just 6 of 24 field-goal attempts and committed 15 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

Even with the Terps offense stagnant at times against the Nittany Lions’ zone defense, Penn State’s inability to score prevented them from keeping the game close. The Terps jumped out to a 10-0 lead and took a commanding 35-14 into the locker room after Jones finished off a putback layup to beat the buzzer.

Brown, meanwhile, tied her career high with seven steals to help the Terps force the Nittany Lions into 22 turnovers on the night. 

“Everybody stepped up today to defend,” Brown said. “We were just really playing the passing lanes.”

Even when Penn State got a shot up against the Terps defense, more often than not, it didn’t find the bottom of the net. The Terps, who also compiled a 51-27 advantage on the boards, held the Nittany Lions to 30 percent shooting and didn’t allow a made 3-pointer. 

After the blowout, the Terps’ lone senior, guard Laurin Mincy, sat before a group of reporters with the Big Ten trophy sitting to her right. 

She’s hoping the hardware is just the first of many in her last season with the Terps. 

“Getting the Big Ten trophy at the end of the game was a big motivation for us, but we are not done yet,” Mincy said. “This is only the starting point for us. … We are going to live in it tonight and then we are going to get back at it tomorrow.”