When guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough drilled a 3-pointer about two-and-a-half minutes into Sunday’s game against Northwestern, she gave the Terrapins women’s basketball team a 7-0 advantage at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The basket also gave the Terps more points than the Wildcats would score over the first 10 minutes.
Northwestern took 18 first-quarter shots, but guard Maggie Lyon was the lone Wildcat to see her attempt go through the net. The Terps capitalized on Northwestern’s putrid offensive performance early — they opened up a 20-point lead behind 11-for-15 shooting from the field — and used their opening-period domination to hold on for a 79-70 victory in Evanston, Illinois.
The 25-5 lead entering the second quarter proved crucial for the Terps (23-3, 12-2 Big Ten), who allowed Northwestern (14-12, 3-11) to score 28 points in the third quarter and committed more than 20 turnovers for the third straight game. With 5:33 left in the contest, the Wildcats were down five.
But the first-quarter scoring discrepancy made up for all of the Terps’ miscues Sunday afternoon.
“We started off strong the first quarter, and then the second quarter Northwestern came back in the game,” forward Tierney Pfirman said. “So at the end of the game, we have to learn to play how we started the game in the first quarter.”
Northwestern used a timeout down nine less than four minutes into the contest, but the Terps went on to score the game’s first 14 points, nine of which came from Walker-Kimbrough, who led all scorers with 27 points.
Walker-Kimbrough, who ended the opening period with 11 points, was one of three Terps who outscored the Wildcats in the quarter. Forward Tierney Pfirman made all three of her field goals for seven points, while center Brionna Jones added six points.
Frese said the Terps were able to stifle Northwestern by switching between man and zone defenses and getting back in transition. In turn, the Wildcats turned in the lowest first-quarter point total of any of the Terps’ conference opponents.
Neither squad had much success offensively in the second frame, but the Terps maintained a comfortable lead thanks to Walker-Kimbrough. While Northwestern outscored coach Brenda Frese’s team 13-11 the 5-foot-11 junior scored all of the Terps’ points.
She went 8-for-11 from the floor and eclipsed 20 points before halftime. The performance allowed the team to enter intermission with an 18-point cushion.
While Walker-Kimbrough cooled off after the break, Northwestern surpassed its first-half point total in the third quarter in large part due to the Terps’ turnover woes. A 24-point final frame allowed the Wildcats to exceed the half-century mark over the final 20 minutes.
“We kind of let up on the gas pedal,” Frese said. “Northwestern got a lot more aggressive. I thought they really started to be aggressive attacking the ball, causing turnovers defensively, rebounding wise — they had 17 [offensive] boards. I thought they got really aggressive going to the glass.”
Lyon, who finished with 25 points on her senior night, and former First-Team All-Big Ten honoree Nia Coffey spearheaded the comeback for Northwestern, which forced Frese to call a timeout midway through the fourth quarter after making it a two-possession game.
But Frese refocused her team during the 30-second break, and the Terps responded by getting a pair of layups from Jones, who finished with 14 points. They then hit several foul shots in the final minutes, which kept them ahead until the final buzzer.
The late-game execution helped the Terps stay near the top of the Big Ten standings.
And it allowed them to avoid heartbreak on Valentine’s Day, too.
