Just four days removed from its first defeat of the season—a 12-point road loss to Miami Thursday night—the Terrapins women’s basketball team’s return to the court tonight was anything but pretty.
Clearly still feeling the effects of the only blemish on a once-perfect season, The Terps produced their second-lowest scoring output of the season, shot a near seasons-worst 43 percent from the field and committed 17 turnovers.
But while it was far from their best performance of the season, it proved good enough. The No. 8 Terps avoided another letdown tonight in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day showdown in Comcast Center, sneaking by ACC-rival Virginia, 68-61.
“Anytime you lose you don’t want to feel that again anytime soon. We wanted to get back out and play, especially a game against UVA that is a rivalry,” coach Brenda Frese said. “They were very, very aggressive and I thought it took us awhile to get into the rhythm of the game. But in the second half I think that we were able to wear them down.”
The Terps (17-1, 4-1 ACC) got off to a slow start in the contest, falling behind the Cavaliers (14-5, 2-3) by as much as eight points early in the first half. It wasn’t until the seven-minute mark than the Terps began to turn it around.
Sparked by a 3-pointer from guard Laurin Mincy, the Terps closed the first half on an 18-4 run, taking a 36-32 lead into the break.
“I figured I needed to step up since [Alyssa] wasn’t scoring like she usually does. We all did a good job of stepping up,” Mincy said. “Coach told us to keep pushing in transition and that they would slow down eventually.”
Turnovers and poor shooting from the Terps in the second half kept the game close, but in the end, Virginia didn’t have enough firepower to secure an upset. Even as they compiled 12 steals and held the Terps ti just 37 percent shooting from the field, the Cavaliers still couldn’t close the gap in a seven-point Terps’ victory.
“Those were two things we specifically talked about after the game – turnovers and defense,” Frese said. “We needed to defend and get stops and obviously be able to get some looks on the offensive end.”
Mincy led all scorers with 20 points, including two three-pointers. The only other Terp in double-figures was center Lynetta Kizer, who finsihed with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Alyssa Thomas had one of her worst games of the season, scoring just six points on 2-for-10 shooting.
“We had a lot of isolation with her. We love the ball in her hands,” Frese said. “When she can shoot the three and attack off the bounce she is hard to guard. We have challenged Laurin with her consistency. She brought it tonight, she brought it on both ends of the floor.”
The Terps will resume ACC play on Thursday, when they host Wake Forest in Comcast Center.
Josh Vitale is The Diamondback’s Terrapins women’s basketball beat reporter. He can be reached at vitale@umdbk.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoshVitale.