Guard Laurin Mincy goes up for a layup during the Terps’ 75-65 win over George Washington at Charles E. Smith Center on Nov. 22, 2014.

With 12:13 remaining in the first half of the Terrapins women’s basketball game against No. 2 Notre Dame last night, center Brionna Jones pulled down a defensive rebound. The sophomore turned to pass the ball to Kristen Confroy, but the guard had already started running down the court, and Jones’ pass bounced into the Terps’ bench.

The careless error came in the midst of a 17-2 Fighting Irish run that helped them jump out to a 15-point lead. And the giveaway was just one of 13 miscues in the first half that highlighted a sloppy opening 20 minutes from the No. 15 Terps, whose 2013-14 season ended with a loss to Notre Dame in the Final Four.

The Fighting Irish never allowed the Terps within 13 points after the opening run, and they coasted to a 92-72 win over the Terps in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

“You’re not going to win games against great competition with those kind of starts,” coach Brenda Frese said.

The Terps sought to rectify their play this time around against Notre Dame, but where they displayed improvement in one area from the previous bout, they struggled in a new one.

After being outrebounded by a Final Four record-setting 29 boards in April, the Terps (6-2) claimed five more boards than the Fighting Irish (8-0) in the first half Wednesday. Three Terps players grabbed at least three offensive rebounds, but poor shooting prevented the team from capitalizing on the extra possessions.

In addition, turnovers like Jones’ plagued the Terps. Frese’s squad matched their turnover total of 13 from the Final Four game in the first half alone Wednesday. The Terps cleaned up the offense in the second half, but by then it was too late.

“Our turnovers, I think, are a big concern,” Frese said. “We have got to be able to have better possessions.”

The Terps opened the game in a 2-3 zone in an attempt to slow down Notre Dame, which entered the contest leading the nation with an average of 95.1 points per game. But the Fighting Irish frequently found their way into the paint against the zone, led by guard Jewell Loyd and forward Taya Reimer.

Reimer made her first six shots from the floor and finished with 21 points while Loyd led the team with 27 points on 8 of 15 shooting.

“To have an All-American like Jewell Loyd, she makes so many great plays,” Frese said.

Notre Dame’s aggressive style created a 34-26 advantage in the paint. And it helped the Fighting Irish earn 34 trips to the free throw line, where they shot 82.4 percent.

At the other end of the floor, the Terps struggled to find holes in Notre Dame’s zone defense. They entered the game with the third-best field goal percentage in the country but missed 14 of their first 16 attempts against the Fighting Irish.

“We kind of struggled getting the ball inside,” guard Lexie Brown said. “We were taking a lot of rushed, forced outside shots.”

After trailing by 20 points at the break, the Terps offense settled into a rhythm in the second half, but the defense failed to slow the hot-shooting Notre Dame squad. With the Terps unable to get consistent stops at the defensive end, they failed to cut the deficit to less than 17 points in the second half.

Brown and guard Laurin Mincy both poured in 20 points to lead the Terps, but the early hole caused by the turnovers proved insurmountable. Their offensive production couldn’t prevent Notre Dame from handing the Terps their first-ever ACC/Big Ten Challenge loss.

“They go for the knock out punch early,” Frese said. “They try to mentally get into your mind early, and they definitely did that to us tonight.”