No. 8 Maryland women's basketball dominated inside against Nebraska

After the first quarter of Maryland's 89-50 win against Nebraska, the Terps were up 20-10. The game wasn't as close as the score indicated, but an important pattern emerged that would continue for the rest of the game. 16 of Maryland's 20 points came in the paint.

Maryland kept the pedal on the floor and led by 25 at the half, 46-21. The Terps (13-2, 2-1) benefited from the repeated high percentage looks, shooting a blistering 52.5 percent in the game's first 20 minutes. Over half of the Terrapins' points came in the paint. The lead grew to 37 by the end of the third quarter and head coach Brenda Frese emptied her bench.

Malina Howard scored a game-high 15 points on 7-7 shooting. Brionna Jones chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds, and Brene Moseley got to the rim repeatedly and dropped 14 on the Cornhuskers. "We had a good tempo the whole game," Moseley said.

To give you an idea of how dominant Maryland was in the paint, consider this. Nebraska scored 50 points as a team while Maryland scored 46 points in the paint. The Terps almost scored as many points in the paint as the Cornhuskers scored AS A TEAM.

"I thought it was one of our most complete games," said Frese after the game. "Malina and Brionna set the tone from the tip. That was one of the best games I've ever seen from Malina, just the confidence that she's playing with...When we can have that inside-outside approach, shooting the basketball from the perimeter, it's really hard to guard us."

The Terrapins did a very nice job of making the extra pass against Nebraska. They almost matched their season-high in assists with 25. If Maryland continues to execute well on both ends of the floor, and continues to protect the ball like they did tonight, there's no reason to think that they won't head to Columbus on February 8th with the opportunity to reclaim the top spot in the Big Ten standings.