Shocked in San Juan Washington State claws Maryland 70-64

Playing their second game in as many days,the Maryland Terrapins women's basketball team faced the 4-2 Washington State Cougars. The Cougars lost to Michigan 76-64 Friday afternoon while the Terps survived James Madison 80-64. The Cougars moved to 1-1 against Big Ten competition defeating the Terps 70-64.

First half - Slow start. sloppy play, and field hockey worthy whistles

The Terps won the opening tip but the Cougars scored the opening basket. After trailing 4-2 Maryland went on 10-0 run sparked by three pointers by Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Lexie Brown. Both teams had difficulty scoring in a tightly officiated game, the Terps had five fouls before the game was eight minutes old and put the Cougars into the bonus before the under eight minute timeout and Washington State returned the favor and both squads missed the front ends of their first one and ones.

Maryland continued to be plagued by turnovers could not connect consistently on their jump shots after long possessions against the WSU defense and allowed the Cougars to claw their way back to a 15-14 lead when they made two free throws coming out of the third media timeout. After a pair of missed baskets, Brionna Jones made two free throws to put the Terps up by one.

The Cougars answered with six straight straight to take a 20-16 lead. Brionna Jones made a basket to stop the run but WSU answered with a pair of free throws and Chloe Pavlech missed the front end of a one and one that allowed Washington State to maintain a four point lead at 22-18 as the teams went to their benches for the under four minute timeout.

A three point jumper opened the Cougars' lead to five but a Jones steal led to a Mincy layup and Jones, who scored 12 in the half for Maryland, made two free throws to trim the Terps' deficit to one. Once again, however, WSU had an answer in the form of two straight Lia Galdiera jumpers, one coming from behind the arc to extend the lead to six.

Lexie Brown hit a three for Maryland and the Cougars picked up an additional free throw to close a difficult half with the Terps trailing 31-27. Maryland was whistled for 13 fouls in an arrhythmic first half that saw the Cougars called for nine. The teams combined for 23 turnovers with the Terrapins giving the ball away 13 times.

Second half -

The teams traded the first four baskets of the second half before more sloppy play by Maryland let the Cougars widen their lead. Washington State led by as many as 12 in the second half. The Terps had no answer for Lia Galdiera and as the Terps prevented themselves from making any run, the Cougars grew more confident.

Coach Frese tried a number of combinations including playing Chloe Pavlech and Kristen Confroy together for a stretch in the back court but none of it worked. Despite receiving a career high 23 points from Brionna Jones and closing within four points very late in the game, Maryland never really threatened Washington State's lead. With the 70-64 win, the Cougars knocked off a top ten team for only the third time in program history.

Maryland falls to 6-1 on the season and now must travel to Ft. Wayne, Indiana Wednesday night. There, the Terps will face second ranked Notre Dame as part of the B1G - ACC Challenge.