Lady Lions drop 11th in a row
The Associated Press
UNIVERSITY PARK — Stephanie Jones scored 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds and No. 10 Maryland clamped down defensively in the second half to roll to a 106-69 win over Penn State on Sunday.
The Terrapins, who only led 46-45 at halftime, won their 11th straight while the Nittany Lions lost their 11th straight.
Diamond Miller and Shakira Austin, who had eight rebounds, added 16 points apiece for Maryland (22-4, 13-2 Big Ten Conference), Ashley Owusu had 14 points with eight assists and Kalia Charles and Taylor Mikesell picked up 11 points each.
Kamaria McDaniel led Penn State (7-19, 1-14) with 22 points, her 11th 20-point game of the season, Siyeh Frazier added 16 and Alisia Smith 10.
Coming off an emotional win over No. 17 Iowa in a showdown for first place, the Terrapins didn’t play a lot of defense in the first half. They allowed the Nittany Lions to shoot 61% and McDaniel to score 15 points, including going 7 of 8 from the foul line.
“I thought our team played, obviously, phenomenal first half on offense. Defensively, obviously, gave up 60 points in that second half and kind of took a punch and we didn’t respond. We’ve got to learn how to fight harder and be tougher,” PSU coach Carolyn Kieger said.
The second half was a different story with Maryland scoring the first six points and last six points of the third quarter, outscoring PSU 32-12 to take a 78-56 lead. The Terrapins were 14 of 20, the Nittany Lions 3 of 14 and had five turnovers while getting outrebounded by 10.
The trend continued in the fourth quarter as Maryland turned the late surge in the third quarter into a 16-0 run, seven points coming from Austin.
Bridging halftime, Maryland made 10 straight shots while Penn State missed 10 straight during one stretch.
“They started running on us. First half, they only had four points in transition and of the 60 points in the second half, 40 of them were in transition. I’m sure they got reamed pretty good in the locker room for not running on us in the first half,” Kieger said. “I think that was the difference. They pushed pace and we didn’t send two back like we were supposed to and it got out of hand.”
Game notes: Penn State has lost all eight matchups since Maryland joined the Big Ten. … Penn State goes to No. 17 Iowa on Saturday.
MARYLAND (22-4): Austin 6-9 4-7 16, Jones 9-11 3-4 21, Charles 4-9 3-4 11, Mikesell 4-7 0-0 11, Watson 3-9 0-0 6, Masonius 3-4 1-1 7, Miller 5-9 5-6 16, Owusu 6-10 2-2 14, Vujacic 1-3 1-2 4, Team 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 41-71 19-26 106
PENN STATE (7-19): Ebo 0-2 0-0 0, Smith 5-7 0-0 10, Frazier 6-18 4-5 16, Marisa 3-9 0-0 7, McDaniel 6-11 10-13 22, Camden 2-4 0-0 6, Bembry 0-1 0-0 0, Hagans 3-6 1-1 8, James 0-0 0-0 0, Semion 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 25-60 15-19 69
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Maryland…..26 20 32 28 — 106
Penn St……..22 23 11 13 — 69
3-Point Goals–Maryland 5-14 (Mikesell 3-4, Watson 0-5, Miller 1-2, Vujacic 1-3), Penn St. 4-15 (Frazier 0-3, Marisa 1-4, McDaniel 0-1, Camden 2-4, Hagans 1-3). Assists–Maryland 20 (Owusu 8), Penn St. 13 (McDaniel 6). Fouled Out–Penn St. Smith. Rebounds–Maryland 45 (Jones 5-11), Penn St. 26 (Ebo 2-5). Total Fouls–Maryland 17, Penn St. 17. Technical Fouls–None. A–2,835.
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