With the Terrapins women’s basketball team hosting No. 17 Michigan State on Friday night, guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough didn’t have much time to think about what she accomplished Tuesday night in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Walker-Kimbrough scored a career-high 41 points Purdue, becoming the second player in program history to score more than 40 in a game. She went 17-for-21 from the field and made all but one of her 17 two-point attempts.
So three days later, the junior did her best imitation of her historic performance.
Walker-Kimbrough, whose career high scoring mark was 26 points before the game against the Boilermakers, finished with 30 points and led the No. 5 Terps to a 85-76 win. Coach Frese’s team was able to hold off the Spartans despite the supreme effort from forward Aerial Powers, who dropped a season-high 31 points on 14-for-27 shooting.
“[Walker-Kimbrough] is just really letting the game come to her,” Frese said. “She’s just doing so much for us. That energy is contagious.”
Aside from Powers, who averages more than 20 points per contest, the Terps shut down the Spartans’ supporting cast. Guard Tori Jankoska and center Jasmine Hines entered the game averaging 16.4 points and 10.2 points, respectively, but combined to make two baskets.
“Two of our starters really didn’t come to play at all at either end of the floor,” Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant said. “You got a good team on the road, one-day prep, everybody’s got to show up.”
The Terps, meanwhile, received the bulk of their scoring from the regular contributors, as center Brionna Jones and guard Brene Moseley finished with 17 points, apiece. As for Walker-Kimbrough, she now holds the Terps’ record with 71 points over a two-game stretch.
Walker-Kimbrough immediately made her presence known on the offensive end by scoring the game’s first points, two of her 11 in the quarter, and helped the Terps (21-2, 10-1 Big) get out to a 22-14 lead over the Spartans (17-4, 8-2) despite the team committing six turnovers over that stretch. It also helped that the Terps, who lead the Big Ten in shooting (50.5 percent), went 9-for-12 from the floor.
By halftime, Walker-Kimbrough had 18, most of which came attacking the basket. After matching her career high with six made foul shots in the Terps’ win over the Boilermakers, she made all seven of her foul attempts and shot 5-for-7 from the field before the break. She ended the game 9-for-9 from the charity strike, marking a career high in both categories.
Inside scoring also came from Jones, who after surpassing 1,000 career points against Indiana on Saturday added 10 first-half points. As a team, The Terps used a 62 percent shooting percentage to establish a 14-point lead at the break.
“We came out ready to play, especially in the first half,” Frese said. “We talked about it at halftime that they were going to come out in the second half and be really aggressive, which they did, and I liked how we were able to respond out of that run.”
That spurt occurred in the third quarter, when the Spartans got the game back within single digits and prompted Frese to use a 30-second timeout. But moments later, it was out to an 18-point lead. The trio of Walker-Kimbrough, Jones and Moseley strung together a quick 9-0 burst to strip Michigan State of any momentum it may have had.
While Moseley’s 15 second-half points helped the Terps keep a comfortable lead throughout much of the final 20 minutes, missed free throws down the stretch allowed Michigan State to get within five with 37 seconds to play. Walker-Kimbrough went to the line moments later with the game tighter than it had been since early in the first frame.
And like she had done so many times in the past two games, Walker-Kimbrough drilled both to all but close out the contest. Her career best scoring numbers continued Friday night, helping the Terps hold off a top-20 opponent to earn their ninth straight conference win.
“Just like last game,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “Just letting the game come to me and just knocking down the open shots.”
