For one of the few times this season, the Terrapins women’s basketball team’s offense couldn’t get into a rhythm.
The Terps entered Thursday night’s game with Purdue as the top field-goal shooting team in the Big Ten and the nation’s third-best scoring attack, but their offense went stagnant early. Guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, the team’s best long-range shooter, missed her opening jumper, and forward Tierney Pfirman’s usually reliable mid-range jumper rimmed out.
“Coach told us that we were settling for too many jump shots,” Walker-Kimbrough said.
While their 39 percent (24-for-61) shooting mark was their worst in Big Ten play and second worst this season, the No. 5 Terps escaped with a 73-59 win over the Boilermakers at Xfinity Center, in large part because of their ability to get to the foul line. The Terps made 11 more free throws than Purdue attempted to notch their 11th conference win of the year.
“When you get to the foul line 21 times and our team doesn’t,” Boilermakers coach Sharon Versyp said, “that’s a big difference.”
Two games after shooting 36 foul shots in a win over No. 17 Michigan State, the Terps (22-3, 11-2 Big Ten) finished 18-for-21 from charity stripe Thursday night. That effort allowed them to maintain a comfortable lead over Purdue (16-8, 7-6) throughout the contest.
Walker-Kimbrough, who went to the line seven times, led the Terps in scoring but wasn’t nearly as effective as she was in the team’s first meeting. In an 87-67 Terps win in West Lafayette, Indiana, Walker-Kimbrough scored 41 points to become the second player in program history to drop more than 40 in a game.
After making 17 of her 21 attempts in that contest, Walker-Kimbrough scored a game-high 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting, making her one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise woeful shooting night.
Nevertheless, the Terps were able to consistently sink their shots from the line.
“Free throws has been an area for us that we wanted to improve,” coach Brenda Frese said. “So 86 percent and the free-throw attempts was big cause that’s typically what Purdue does is get to the free-throw line.”
Purdue attempted just seven free throws and shot 36 percent from the floor. The Boilermakers were also plagued by 18 turnovers in their second loss in 10 days to Frese’s bunch.
The Terps, meanwhile, gave the ball away at least 20 times for the second straight game. Six of those turnovers came in the opening quarter, so they decided to start working the ball inside to increase their odds of getting high-percentage looks.
Center Brionna Jones, who had not attempted a field goal in the first quarter, scored eight of her 12 points in the frame and helped the Terps secure a 35-27 lead at the break.
But even Jones’ stat line didn’t match the standards she’s set throughout the season, as she entered the game shooting 66.9 percent from the field but finished with 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting.
Instead, the Terps relied on dominating other facets of the game to bounce back after Monday night’s loss to No. 7 Ohio State.
“We forced them into 18 [turnovers],” Frese said. “We shot the ball well from the free-throw line and did a nice job establishing our post game.”
