Thursday’s basketball: Maryland women defeat Michigan
College Park, Md. — For the better part of three quarters, Michigan was every bit as good as No. 3 Maryland.
Then, after gaining momentum from a buzzer-beating shot, the Terrapins showed why they’re the only unbeaten team in Big Ten play.
Brionna Jones had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Maryland (18-1, 6-0) pulled away in the fourth quarter to secure an 83-70 victory Thursday night.
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 17 and freshman Kaila Charles added 16 for the Terrapins, who have won six straight. The two-time defending Big Ten champions outscored Michigan 19-9 in the final quarter.
“Our depth was able to wear them down,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “The fourth quarter came down to defense and rebounding, and I thought we did a really solid job to be able to put this game away.”
That’s the way Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico saw it, too.
“I think Maryland’s depth and ability to pressure us and force turnovers really helped them down the stretch,” she said.
Jones also had a lot to do with it. The 6-foot-4 senior made 12 of 16 shots en route to her ninth straight double-double and 13th of the season.
Katelynn Flaherty led Michigan (15-5, 4-2) with 30 points in 36 minutes. She moved into third place on the school career list with 1,666.
“It’s an honor to score that much and be on the list,” Flaherty said. “But I am very proud of our team and how much we’ve built and how far we’ve come.”
Flaherty was shut down in the fourth quarter, scoring only three points with three turnovers.
“It’s just tough as the game goes on,” she said. “As coach said, we kind of wore down. So I attribute it to that.”
The game was tied at 61 late in the third quarter before Maryland backup guard Kiah Gillespie drilled an off-balance 3-pointer as time expired.
The sophomore was swarmed by her teammates, and the Terrapins carried that feel-good moment into the fourth quarter.
Gillespie made a layup and Jones scored inside to make it 68-61. Minutes later, successive follow-shots by Jones and Kaila Charles put the Terps up by nine with 5 minutes left.
That was enough to put away the gritty Wolverines, who led by eight points in the first quarter and 61-60 late in the third.
Jones scored 10 points in the second quarter, and the Terrapins built an 11-point lead before settling for a 39-35 advantage at halftime.
“We really kind of challenged ourselves at halftime,” Frese said. “We were even on the boards, and wanted to pick it up defensively.”
Maryland outrebounded Michigan 23-13 after the break and gave up only four baskets in the fourth quarter.
More state women
(At) Grand Valley State 66, Wayne State 37: Kayla Dawson scored 17, Bailey Cairnduff 14 and Piper Tucker 12 for Grand Valley (12-4, 7-3 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference).
Daejia Hill scored seven for Wayne State (6-11, 3-7).
State men
(At) Grand Valley State 63, Wayne State 56: Luke Ryskamp scored 21 and Myles Miller 13 for Grand Valley (11-6, 7-3 GLIAC). Miachael Lewis and Jalen Adams each scored 11 for Wayne State (9-5, 6-4).
Big Ten
No. 25 Maryland 84, (at) Iowa 76: Melo Trimble scored 20 and Maryland rallied after blowing a 15-point lead for its fourth straight victory.
Trimble hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final three minutes to key the Terrapins (17-2, 5-1 Big Ten), who have also won three in a row on the road.
Maryland was threatening to blow out the Hawkeyes (11-9, 3-4) before Iowa went on a 10-0 run midway through the second half. The Hawkeyes went ahead 72-69, but an 8-0 spurt fueled by Trimble’s 3s gave Maryland a lead it did not relinquish.
Anthony Cowan had 15 points and six assists for the Terrapins, who shot 56.6 percent from the floor.
Top 25
(At) No. 3 UCLA 102, Arizona State 80: Isaac Hamilton scored 33 points, hitting a career-high nine 3-pointers, and UCLA improved to 11-0 at home. The Bruins (19-1, 6-1 Pac-12) made 16 3-pointers and shot 60 percent from the field.
They led by 25 points in the first half and were up by 16 early in the second before the Sun Devils (9-10, 2-4) got within single digits in the matchup of the league’s top two scoring and 3-point shooting teams.
Torian Graham scored 26 points and Tra Holder tied his career-high with 22 for Arizona State, which has lost seven straight road games to UCLA. The Sun Devils hit 11 3-pointers, including six by Graham.
Graham scored 10 of Arizona State’s first 22 points in the second half to close to 68-61.
The Bruins’ offense kicked in and they ran off 14 straight points to go up 82-61. Aaron Holiday scored eight points, including two 3-pointers, in the spurt.
The Sun Devils dropped their third straight and fourth in five games.
No. 4 Gonzaga 88, (at) Santa Clara 57: Przemek Karnowski scored 19 points on just seven shots from the field and Gonzaga remained the only undefeated team in Division I. Karnowski made six shots against the undersized Broncos and added seven more points from the line to help the Bulldogs (18-0, 6-0 West Coast Conference) extend the best start in school history with another lopsided win.
Zach Collins had 16 points and Nigel Williams-Goss added 11 points and 10 rebounds in Gonzaga’s 11th straight double-digit win.
Jared Brownridge scored 23 points to lead the Broncos (10-10, 4-3) but got little help from his teammates as Santa Clara dropped its 13th straight to Gonzaga and 37th in the past 39 meetings.
(At) No. 11 Oregon 86, California 63: Jordan Bell scored a career-high 26 points, Casey Benson had 15 on five 3-pointers and the Ducks (17-2, 6-0 Pac-12) matched a 104-year-old school record with their 15th consecutive win, but they lost preseason All-America Dillon Brooks to a lower leg injury late in the first half.
Brooks, who had offseason surgery on his left foot, limped off the court as Oregon was building a 44-30 halftime lead. Oregon officials tweeted that Brooks had injured his lower left leg after he did not appear with his teammates for the second half.
Jabari Bird had 21 points to lead the Golden Bears (13-6, 4-3), who had won three straight and eight of their last 10 meetings with the Ducks.
(At) No. 12 Louisville 92, Clemson 60: Deng Adel scored 18 points to match a career high and Donovan Mitchell scored 18 in the first half as Louisville closed on a 10-0 run.
Playing their first game without injured point guard Quentin Snider (strained hip), the Cardinals (16-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) initially struggled to find a rhythm with numerous combinations. Mitchell scored their first six points to settle them down before adding eight during the pivotal spurt with consecutive 3-pointers, the last of which beat the buzzer and earned a 41-31 halftime lead.
Marcquise Reed had 13 points and Donte Grantham added 11 for the Tigers (11-7, 1-5), who lost their fifth straight.
No. 14 Arizona 73, (at) Southern Cal 66: Lauri Markkanen scored 23 points, including a rainbow 3-pointer with 33 seconds left, and Arizona held on late.
The Wildcats (17-2, 6-0 Pac-12) won their 12th consecutive game but had to hold on to the end as USC rallied from a 23-point deficit over the final 15 minutes.
Rawle Alkins added 14 points, Kadeem Allen 11, and Dusan Ristic grabbed 12 rebounds for Arizona, which struggled against a zone defense and shot 40 percent overall but made 10 of 26 3-point attempts.
Elijah Stewart scored 20 points and Jordan McLaughlin added 14 points and eight assists for Southern California (16-4, 3-4).