Lady Lions fall to No. 5 Maryland Terrapins

posted February 6, 2015 in CommRadio, Sports by Tim Alvarez

A hot start for the Lady Lions (5-18, 2-10 B1G) was not enough as they fell to the No. 5 ranked Maryland Terrapins (20-2, 11-0 B1G) 77-62. Penn State held a seven-point lead before Maryland went to a full court press, zone defense in the half court and took control of the game.

“I think they made the switch from man to zone and it stymied our offense for a little bit,” said Penn State coach Coquese Washington. “The press got to us a little bit but I think their switch to zone started the stretch where we didn't score many points.”

The Terrapins ended the half on a 31-7 run playing stifling defense and pushing the ball on offense. Maryland held Penn State without a made field goal for almost eight minutes during the run.

Penn State started out the first half fast but could not halt the onslaught that was the Terrapin offense. Maryland forced 12 Lady Lion turnovers and shot 52 percent from the field. The Terrapins held Penn State to 32 percent shooting in the first half. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had 15 points in the half shooting 70 percent from the field. The sophomore guard finished with 21 points and five rebounds. Lexie Brown had six points eight assists and four steals for Maryland as well. The sophomore finished with eight points, a career high 10 assists and five steals while only turning the ball over three times.

“I thought (Brown) did a tremendous job understanding who needed the ball and just attacking and making easy plays,” said Maryland head coach Brenda Frese, “ I thought defensively she gave us a lot in terms of giving tips to steals and just being really aggressive.”

Candice Agee grabbed four rebounds and scored six points for the Lady Lions in the first half.

The pace slowed in the second half and Penn State actually outscored Maryland 38-36. Sierra Moore had a tough game from the field finishing with 15 points but shooting just 6-18 from the field. Moore also grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists, which led the team. Lindsey Spann was the leading scorer for the Lady Lions, scoring 18 points on 7 of 15 shooting. Spann turned the ball over four times in the game, visibly frustrated by the Terrapin defense.

Brionna Jones was big for the Terrapins in the paint. She was able to grab 11 rebounds for the game. Maryland out-rebounded a bigger Penn State team 39 to 35. The Terrapins also had a better game passing, finishing the game with 22 assists to Penn State’s 12. Maryland constantly broke down the Penn State zone and found the open player.

Penn State sophomore Alex Harris had the flu and did not play in the game. KeKe Sevillian hurt her ankle with five minutes left of the game. She did not return.

The Lady Lions travel to play Purdue for their next game Sunday February 8th.

Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Centre Daily Times, Christopher Weddle)

Tim Alvarez is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. You can email him at tva5063@psu.edu.