The Towson Tigers came to Xfinity Center for a Sunday afternoon game with the Maryland Terrapins women's basketball team and probably left wishing they had traveled to some other arena. The Terps, who had lost two straight, unleashed some their frustration in an 81-52 thrashing of their in-state foes.
First half - Getting hot after a cold start
Leading up to the first media timeout, the Terps looked a bit hungover from Wednesday's 20 point loss at Notre Dame. Maryland trailed 10-7, Towson had made five of their first seven shots with all five baskets coming in the paint. Four of those scores came from 6'2" forward LaTorri Hines-Allen who made all four of her attempts.
Over the next 15:57 seconds, the Tigers merely matched their scoring output from the opening 4:03. Meanwhile, Maryland put 33 points on the board over the same span. The Terps' first lead at 11-10 came on a put back by Tierney Pfirman with 13:21 to play. Maryland expanded that lead to 20 by the end of the half.
The Terps stretched the lead by ratcheting up the defensive pressure, hitting the boards, and improving their ball movement against Towson's zone. After allowing the hot start by Virginia Tech transfer Hines-Allen and the Tigers, the Terps held Towson to 5-25 shooting over the last 16 minutes of the half. For the half, Maryland shot a healthy 18-35 with 11 assists on those 18 baskets and out rebounded the Tigers 27-13.
Second half - Congratulations Mincy
Just over a minute into the second half, redshirt senior Laurin Mincy made a three point jumper from the right wing. The shot gave her 1,002 points for her career making her the 29th player in Maryland women's basketball history to reach at least 1,000 points. The basket accounted for Mincy's only points of the game.
Although they didn't maintain the same defensive intensity and perhaps settled for a few too many jump shots, the Terps methodically expanded the lead through the second half of a game in which the outcome had become all but academic by the end of the first half.
The margin allowed Maryland's head coach Brenda Frese to give extended playing time to her non-starters. Point guard Lexie Brown played only seven minutes in the second half while Chloe Pavlech and Kristen Confroy played 13 and 10 minutes respectively.
Four Terps scored in double figures led by 17 from sophomore center Brionna Jones who also led Maryland with eight rebounds. The Terps got solid contributions off the bench from Pfirman who scored 12 points with four rebounds and two blocked shots and from Confroy who added 10 points on two of five from behind the arc.
Maryland returns to the floor Friday, December 12th. They will host the American University Eagles in another local match-up.