Women’s Basketball

Maryland guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough dribbled into the lane as the shot clock was winding down and her team held an 8-0 lead. Despite the Northwestern defender waiting for her in the paint, Walker-Kimbrough fed a precise pass to center Brionna Jones for an uncontested layup just before the shot clock expired.

The play symbolized the entire first quarter, a period in which the No. 5 Terrapins (23-3, 12-2 Big Ten) ran roughshod over the Wildcats (14-12, 3-11) 25-5 on their way to a 79-70 win Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

“We just couldn’t score, more than anything else,” coach Joe McKeown said of the first 10 minutes.

Maryland shot 11-of-15 from the field in the opening quarter, while an ice-cold NU was just 1-of-18. The Terrapins scored the game’s first 14 points before senior guard Maggie Lyon hit a 3-pointer to put the Cats on the board.

Maryland’s offense was varied, as the Terrapins hit shots from inside and outside, open and contested. NU, meanwhile, could not buy a bucket, missing its first 10 shots.

“We kept switching our defenses between man and zone, so I think it was difficult for them,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “We got back in transition.”

Maryland also dominated the period in other ways. The Terrapins blocked three of NU’s first five shot attempts and forced four turnovers less than two minutes later in the quarter.

After the slow start, the Cats began to chip away at the deficit almost immediately, holding Maryland to just two points in the first six minutes of the second quarter. NU outscored the Terrapins 65-54 over the last three periods and drew within as few as five late in the fourth quarter, but could not fully overcome the deficit.

“We bounced back really hard,” McKeown said. “I told (my team), ‘We’re going to make shots in the second half,’ and we did. There was a point I thought we were going to win the game.”

Several of NU’s recent games have come down to the fourth quarter, and Sunday was no exception. The game in some ways, however, mirrored the first meeting between the two teams.

Maryland led 26-13 after the first period of that game. Although the Cats drew within 10 early in the third quarter, the Terrapins held on for an 80-62 win.

Like the first meeting, NU would ultimately not make a comeback. On Senior Day, Lyon was still impressed with the Cats’ response.

“It’s tough. It’s not ideal. Obviously, you don’t want to get off to a start like that,” Lyon said. “But I’m really proud of my team for how we fought back. You hope to not be in that situation when you start the game, but I thought we had great poise and fight to not give up.”

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Twitter: @ckpaxton