Midway through the third quarter, the Maryland women’s basketball team’s offense appeared about as potent as it has all season. The Terps made six consecutive shots — including a pair of 3-pointers — to polish off a 16-2 run that put the game away.

That run, which took a little over four minutes, gave Maryland a 19-point lead and allowed it to coast to a 80-71 win that wasn’t really that close.

In the first half, however, it seemed Maryland was more likely to commit consecutive turnovers than make consecutive shots. At one point towards the end of the first quarter, Maryland had turned the ball over on three of its last four possessions.

“Rutgers came in, and their style of play was evident in the first half,” coach Brenda Frese said. “They really did a tremendous job slowing the game down and taking the possessions away from us.”

Rutgers routinely wound wait until the shot clock was below 10 seconds before shooting, which resulted in several shot clock violations. Frese, whose teams are built upon run outs and fast transition buckets, admitted she wasn’t the biggest fan of the Scarlet Knights’ identity.

“My least favorite style of play,” Frese said. “It’s like going to the dentist and getting drilled.”

Frese said her team failed to play their brand of basketball, instead letting Rutgers dictate the game’s pace.

That, combined with accurate 3-point shooting, kept the Scarlet Knights in the game early. Guard Jazlynd Rollins, who entered Sunday averaging less than a point per game in conference play, was 6-for-6 from the field and scored 16 points in the first half.

“[She] got red-hot in the first half,” Frese said, adding that Rollins, who was scoreless in the second half, wasn’t on Maryland’s scouting report entering the game.

The teams closed the first quarter on a nearly three-minute scoreless drought and didn’t get back on track until well into the second period. They scored just four combined points in about seven minutes starting at the 2:51 mark in the first quarter and extending halfway through the second period.

After that, though, Rutgers and Rollins found their shooting stroke from deep, and Maryland got into a better offensive rhythm. Guard Kaila Charles scored six consecutive points to get her team even and then ahead, 22-18, with a few minutes left in the half.

“It just gives you confidence,” said Charles, who finished with 16 points. “They were giving me the ball when I had good position and I was able to score off it.”

Terps guard Destiny Slocum beat the halftime buzzer with a shot from just inside Maryland M at midcourt, giving her team a 34-30 lead at the break.

The Terps dominated the third quarter, winning it, 26-13, and utilizing offensive production from seven different players. Slocum (11 points, 11 assists) hit another triple shortly after halftime, and guards Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Kristen Confroy also made long balls after struggling from distance in the first half.

“In the first half we settled for a lot of jump shots even though they weren’t open,” said Walker-Kimbrough, who had a team-high 19 points. “Once we started driving [to the basket, Slocum] started hitting, Kristen started hitting and then I thought that broke open for everything else.”

Meanwhile, the Terps locked down on defense, allowing just two points in the first five minutes of the quarter and helping the team get out to a commanding, 21-point lead in the period.

After spending the first eight-plus minutes of the fourth quarter leading by at least 14 points, Maryland’s substitutes let Rutgers close the gap with less than a minute left. Frese called their performance “uncharacteristic,” but the Scarlet Knights still never got closer than eight points.

“We just have to make sure we come out and throw the first punch,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “We can’t try to figure teams out.”