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On Saturday at the Xfinity Center, the No. 5 Maryland women’s basketball team proved once again that when it starts clicking on both ends of the floor, there’s virtually nothing that the opponent can do about it. In the second half against Indiana, the Terps took a 7-point lead and stretched it beyond 30 in seemingly the blink of an eye before cruising to an 86-63 win.
Four Terps reached double figures. Brene Moseley and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough led the way with 16 points each, with the former doing so on only 7 field goal attempts. Tierney Pfirman chipped in 10, while Brionna Jones had another double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The Hoosiers swished a three-pointer on their opening possession and led 5-4 early on, but Maryland subsequently went on a 15-1 run. The Terps led 23-10 at the end of the opening period, and looked primed for a boat-race win.
However, save for Brene Moseley, most of the team cooled off in the second quarter. Indiana narrowly outscored the Terps in the frame to make it 38-27 at the half. Walker-Kimbrough, Pfirman and Jones were all held scoreless, but Moseley carried the load. She had 11 points in the quarter, highlighted by a ridiculous eurostep around Indiana guard Tyra Buss, made layup and three-point play.
Coming out of the break, the Hoosiers started hot and cut the Maryland lead to 7. But just when it looked like the game was slipping away from them, the Terps went on a 14-0 run to reestablish their dominance. The team kept the foot on the gas throughout the period, and in what seemed like a matter of milliseconds, a 41-34 lead had quickly turned into 70-39.
The fourth quarter was largely a non-event, as Maryland wrapped up its 7th straight win. The team improved to 19-2 overall and 8-1 in conference play, with its next test coming Tuesday evening against a strong Purdue team.
3 things to know
1. Brionna Jones reached the 1,000-point milestone. She came into the game with 994 career points, but didn’t score at all in the first half. In the third quarter, however, the points started pouring in, and she surpassed the mark on an and-1 in the middle of the Terps’ dominant run. When her accomplishment was announced over the PA system, she received the strongest ovation of the afternoon from the Xfinity Center crowd. Jones is the 31st player in Terps history to reach 1,000 points; Walker-Kimbrough became the 30th earlier this season.
2. The Terps had a different catalyst every quarter. Walker-Kimbrough scored 7 of the team’s first 11 points, while Tierney Pfirman entered late in the opening period and almost immediately drained three mid-range jumpers. Brene Moseley scored her first points on a buzzer-beater by the hoop in the first quarter and had 13 by halftime. Jones didn’t score at all in the first half, but racked up 10 in the third quarter.
3. Indiana couldn’t find its shooting touch. The Hoosiers were 23-of-66 (34.8 percent) from the field and just 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) from three-point range. Sophomores Amanda Cahill and Tyra Buss had 14 and 13, respectively, but neither set the world on fire, and that’s what it would have taken against this incendiary Maryland team.