Maryland women's basketball defeats Boston College, 72-65 | Boston college women s basketball roster | Boston college basketball

The Maryland women's basketball team normally won't encounter opponents that can match its height inside, but Thursday's game against Boston College was an exception. So instead of relying on brawn, the Terrapins used cunning and quickness for a 72-65 victory before 4,773 at Comcast Center

Diandra Tchatchouang scored a game-high 18 points for Maryland, which extended its school-record home-court winning streak to 48 games and moved to 10-0 against Boston College. The freshman forward made 9 of 16 field goals and added eight rebounds and four assists to help the Terrapins win for the eighth time in 10 games.

Maryland (14-3, 2-1 ACC) also got 15 points from Lori Bjork, who made 4 of 6 three-point field goals and has 10 three-pointers in two games. Tianna Hawkins had 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting and 11 rebounds, and Lynetta Kizer chipped in with 12 points for Maryland, which won its second straight in the ACC after losing badly to North Carolina State in its conference opener.

"I'm just really proud to be able to see the offense starting to click," Coach Brenda Frese said. "We're really finding each other. We're really getting comfortable making plays on the offensive end and really fun to watch when we're clicking on all cylinders like we were tonight."

The Terrapins' fast tempo, especially in the second half, led to a 40-20 advantage in points inside, and they outscored Boston College in fast-break points, 14-4. Maryland shot 57 percent and limited the Eagles to 39 percent shooting, including holding 6-foot-6 center Carolyn Swords to six points on 3-of-6 shooting. Swords entered the game first in the ACC in field goal percentage (.662) and seventh in scoring (15.5 ppg).

"If you would have told me we were going to hold Carolyn Swords to six points tonight going into this game, I probably wouldn't have believed that," Frese said. "I think it's obviously a credit to our team, where we're headed. Defensively, I thought we did a tremendous job being able to defend tonight as well as being able to dominate the glass, especially in the second half."

Maryland held a 38-27 advantage in rebounding and limited Swords to seven rebounds. The junior leads the ACC in rebounding at 10.9 per game. The Terrapins also held Stefanie Murphy, at 6-4 Boston College's other daunting presence inside, to six points on 3-of-13 shooting.

Ahead by two to start the second half but falling behind quickly, Maryland took the lead for good, 45-44, on Bjork's fourth three-pointer of the game with 17 minutes 51 seconds to play. That basket triggered an 11-2 run from which the Eagles (10-7, 1-1) never recovered.

Tchatchouang followed Bjork's field goal with a soft jumper off the glass, and Kizer bumped the lead to 49-44 by converting a nifty pass from Anjale Barrett. Boston College got a foul-line jumper from Murphy to cut it to three, but that would be the closest the Eagles would get the rest of the game.

Barrett swished a short jump shot, and then Kizer finished a fast break off another quick pass from Dara Taylor (six points, eight assists, seven rebounds) for a 53-46 margin. A three-pointer by Jasmine Gill drew Boston College to four points, but Maryland countered with a 9-3 run culminating in consecutive fast-break layups for a 62-52 lead with 9:15 to play that all but sealed the win.

"To see the starting lineup with three freshman, we've got to be one of the youngest teams out there in the country," Frese said of her team that includes nine underclassmen. "But we also talked about nobody is going to feel sorry for us, and we've got to come out and play every possession like it's our last. I think the neat thing right now is what competitors we have in the locker room and seeing these players, just their confidence grow every single game."

source: washingtonpost
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