Women’s Basketball

Coach Joe McKeown described Northwestern’s loss to Minnesota one week ago as a “15-round fight.” On Sunday, the Wildcats took a big punch in the first round, and although they fought back, the blow ended up being too strong to overcome.

No. 5 Maryland (23-3, 12-2 Big Ten) outscored NU (14-12, 3-11) 25-5 in the first quarter on the way to a 79-70 victory in which it led the entire game. The Terrapins scored the first 14 points of the game and held on for their lives as the Cats tried desperately to come back.

“We’ve been through a gauntlet the past couple weeks, a lot of things haven’t gone our way,” McKeown said. “What everybody saw today was how much fight this team has, how hard we play. To come back against a team of that caliber and play as hard as we played in the second half … I’m really proud of my team.”

In NU’s last home loss, Minnesota guard Rachel Banham put up 60 points against the Cats’ defense, tying the NCAA scoring record. Against Maryland, NU once again had no answer for an elite guard. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, Maryland’s leading scorer with 19.4 points per game, scored 22 of her 27 points in the first half, adding eight rebounds.

McKeown credited Walker-Kimbrough’s versatility as the reason she was able to do so much scoring early on, but also praised junior guard Christen Inman’s defensive effort in holding her to 5 second-half points.

“(Walker-Kimbrough) made 3s, which … you close out on her, and then she ends up going by you to finish at the rim,” said McKeown. “Just a tough matchup. I thought Inman did a much better job in the second half.”

Maryland shot 56 percent for the game, knocking down 7-of-11 attempts from 3-point range. Center Brionna Jones poured in 14 points for the Terrapins, who looked like an offensive juggernaut for much of Sunday’s game.

Maryland’s guards consistently penetrated the Cats’ defense, either scoring or kicking the ball out to open shooters. Guard Tierney Pfirman added 15 points of her own, almost all of which came on open jump-shots.

Senior guard Maggie Lyon led the Cats with 25 points on Senior Day, and junior forward Nia Coffey added a double-double, but it wasn’t enough for NU to escape the substantial hole it dug itself in during the opening quarter.

In that quarter, just about nothing went right for the Cats. They made just 1 field goal on 18 attempts, despite taking numerous uncontested shots. Meanwhile, Maryland shot 11-for-15 in the period, jumping out to a 20-point lead.

Yet NU rallied and nearly pulled off a massive comeback. Lyon scored 17 of her 25 points in the second half as she tried to lead the Cats all the way back.

“Things start off in games sometimes not the way you want, but it’s all about how you respond to it,” Lyon said.

Down 24 early in the third, Lyon led a 15-0 run that pulled NU within 9 points. The Cats could ultimately only cut the deficit to 5 as Maryland put the game away down the stretch. NU was forced to play without Coffey, who fouled out with more than 6 minutes left in the game.

“We knew Northwestern’s a great team, they came back and we allowed the game to get interesting,” said Maryland coach Brenda Frese. “I’m proud of our execution late … I thought we fought through some adversity down the stretch to be able to put it away.”

The Cats fell to 3-11 in conference play in the loss and will look to bounce back against Penn State on Wednesday.

This story was updated with postgame quotes.

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Twitter: @WillRagatz