HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.  – Sophomore Lexie Brown scored a season-high 27 points to lead the third-ranked and top-seeded Maryland women's basketball team (28-2, 18-0 B1G) to a 70-60 win over Michigan State Friday in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals at the Sears Centre.

Brown went 9-for-16 from the field and 8-for-9 from the foul line with seven steals on the day. Sophomores Brionna Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough each added nine points to help the Terrapins to their first Big Ten Tournament win.

Maryland got off to strong start to open up a 7-0 lead. The Terrapins' defense held the Spartans to just 1-for-12 shooting over the first 10 minutes of the game.

“I thought our strong start was really, really impressive,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “Probably one of our best 40‑minute games defensively.  And then I thought offensively trying to wear them out, our depth was a huge factor when you talk about playing 10 players in the first half, being able to go 11 players through this rotation. And obviously our floor general, I thought Lexie played one of her best games.  When March hits, this team gets excited in terms of raising their level of play.”

Aerial Powers had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Tori Jankoska added 19 points for the Spartans (16-15, 7-11).

Maryland led 33-24 at halftime, with Brown scoring 15 points. Michigan State shot just 8 of 29 (28.6 percent) behind 14 points by Powers.

The Terrapins took command in the second half with a 16-4 run, with a full-court press forcing three turnovers en route to a 60-41 lead with 8:23 to play.

The Spartans got no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Maryland shot 25-for-51 from the field (49 percent). Michigan State was 18-for-56 (32.1 percent).

Maryland finished the season 18-0 in conference play and is the first team to do so since Purdue went 16-0 in 1998-99. Ohio State went 18-0 in the 1984-85 season. This is the first team in Maryland men's or women's basketball history to go undefeated in conference play. The Terrapins won the Big Ten title outright in their first year in the league last week for the fourth conference title in Frese's 14 years.

Four Terrapins earned All-Big Ten honors earlier this week. Brown and Walker-Kimbrough were named to the All-Big Ten First Team by both the coaches and the media, while Laurin Mincy and Jones made the All-Big Ten Second Team as voted by the media. Jones was named to the coaches' First Team. Brown was also named to the five-player All-Big Ten Defensive Team. Malina Howard earned a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.

Brown was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Women's College Player of the Year this week. Frese is one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year.

The Terps advanced to Saturday's Big Ten Tournament Semifinals. They will play either the 4-seed Northwestern or the 5-seed Rutgers at 7 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 -Terps-