Dec 3, 2003

Box Score| Quotes

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland women's basketball team gave No. 8 Penn State a bit of a scare as the Terps trailed by just two points at the half and seven points with 8:41 left to play. But the Lady Lions pulled away in the final minutes and handed the Terps their first loss of the season, 82-65, on Wednesday night at Comcast Center.

The Lions never trailed in the game, but they could not let their guard down as the Terps fought and were never behind by more than 10 in the first half. After being fouled on a layup, freshman Shay Doron (Great Neck, N.Y./Christ the King) completed a three-point play with 10:29 left in the half, bringing Maryland to within one point, 16-15. Penn State pushed its lead back up to 10 points twice before the end of the half. The Terps, however, went on an 8-0 run, keyed by four points from senior Crystal Washington (Clinton, Md./Bishop McNamara), coming within two points at the break, 35-33.

Penn State opened the second half on a 16-2 run, taking a 51-35 advantage. Junior Tanisha Wright scored eight points during that span to spark the PSU run. But the Terps answered with an 11-2 run of their own, nine of those points coming on three 3-pointers from junior Alli Spence (Lafayette, Colo./Chatfield), cutting the lead to single digits, 53-46. Up by just seven points with 8:41 left to play, the Lady Lions slowly began to pull away. A sophomore Chrissy Fisher (Rumson, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven) layup but the Maryland deficit to nine points, but an 11-4 PSU run to end the game sealed the win for the Lions.

Spence scored a career-high 22 points, going 5-for-10 from three-point land. She also added a team-high five assists. Doron added 19 points, while Fisher ended the game with 10 all of which came in the second half.

Two-time All-American Kelly Mazzante led all scorers with 33 points.

The Terps hit the road for the first time all season, traveling to St. Bonaventure on Friday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.