It was a road trip to forget, but the Terrapin women’s basketball team’s 67-55 loss at Towson Thursday night wasn’t the product of a scheduling quirk.

Although last night’s game marked the first between the two in-state foes since 1996, the Terps haven’t shied away from making the trip away from College Park to do battle with the state’s lesser programs.

“[Coach Brenda Frese]’s always been out of the box,” Towson coach Joe Matthews said. “You don’t find a lot of national championship-caliber programs that will go on the road and play at a mid-major school. … I think that’s great for women’s basketball. I think that’s great for basketball across the country.”

The Terps also made their way up Interstate 95 last season, when the Terps beat Loyola (Md.) 83-52. The Greyhounds made the return trip this year, but the change in venue didn’t change much — the Terps won by 13.

Although the Terps’ series with the Greyhounds is a relatively long one by regional standards, they’ve all largely ended up with the same result on the scoreboard. In the last two meetings, the Terps have trounced Loyola by double digits — once in Comcast Center, and once at Loyola’s Reitz Arena.

The Terps squared off against George Mason in a home-and-home series — wherein two teams alternate host sites each year — earlier this decade, taking one from the Patriots in Fairfax, Va., in 2005 before doing it again at home in 2006.

They met James Madison in 2007 and 2008, when they again swept their local rival by an average margin of victory of 10 points.

And this season, they capped a home-and-home matchup against Old Dominion with an 84-67 win in College Park after escaping Norfolk, Va., last year with a 74-65 victory.

“We give our fans a chance to go play somewhere else,” said Director of Basketball Operations Rhet Wierzba. “Not only that, but we’re playing against a good team on their floor. It’s nice getting a good road game in against a competitive team. There are a lot of competitive teams around the area, so we’re going to go and play there and try to get that road atmosphere and get that out of the way before you get to conference.”

But the benefit is not just one-sided, Frese said.

“I think it’s great,” she said. “Rivalries — you want these kind of battles.”

Among national powers, the scheduling strategy isn’t limited to the Terps. Since the 2005-06 season, Connecticut and Massachusetts neighbor Holy Cross have met regularly in their home-and-home series. And after hosting Middle Tennessee State last year, Tennessee visited the Blue Raiders in Murfreesboro this year for a road date.

Wierzba said the financial considerations in playing away from College Park are negligible, but playing close to home certainly doesn’t hurt the bottom line.

“It might be a little cheaper to come play here than to go and play down at Mississippi State,” Wierzba said. “That might play a minor role, but it’s something even before all the budget crisis came up. We always liked to do it anyway, trying to go out and play on the road.”

shaffer@umdbk.com