EVANSTON, IL -- No. 8 Maryland held Northwestern scoreless for the first 9:33 of the second quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 18-2 in that quarter, and the Terps went on to run away with a 79-54 road victory. The Terps have now won seven of their last eight games, with all but one of those victories coming by double-digits. Maryland is 9-2 on the road this season.
With the win, Maryland (20-5, 11-3 Big Ten) has won 20 games or more games in a season for 19 consecutive seasons under the leadership of Brenda Frese, dating to the 2004-05 season.
Diamond Miller led the way for the Terps offensively, scoring 18 behind an 8-of-10 performance at the line, to give her exactly 1,500 career points. Miller also grabbed nine boards and dished out seven assists.
Abby Meyers added 12, including two three-pointers.
Chicago native Bri McDaniel had a strong homecoming game as she scored a career-high 14 points, making 4-of-5 three-pointers. It was McDaniel's first game in double-figures since her first college game at George Mason back in November and she did it with dozens of friends and family in attendance.
Maryland's defense was remarkable all night long. The Terps held Northwestern without a field goal for the entire second quarter and for more than 12 minutes in the game. The Wildcats shot just 2-of-17 from three-point range, 12 percent. They made just 35 percent from the floor.
Northwestern was led by Paige Mott (15 points) as the Wildcats are now 8-16, 1-12.
Brenda's Takes
"We obviously wanted to come out and be ready from the tip. I think a lot of that start had to do with Northwestern being really aggressive from the beginning. We were disappointed in our first quarter, but I thought it was a terrific response after that. For the next three quarters, we played extremely hard and we were more in tune with what we need to do. I thought Diamond took over at that point and really did what an All-American should do, which is making that statement at both ends of the floor."
"It was a lot of fun for Bri to come back home and have the night that she had. That's what she's capable of doing every single night. She's a special player as you can see and it was a lot of fun to bring her back."
From The Girls
"When we go into the Big Ten Tournament, we're going to have no breaks. We could play three games in three days; that's what we want to do," Miller said. "So, we can't have a game where we don't play good or a quarter where we don't play good because we could lose and go home. We're just trying to have consistency game-in and game-out. We're trying to play 40 minutes every time we step on the court."
"It felt good to come back home and play," McDaniel said. "It's kind of hard being away from my family because we're so family-oriented, so just being home, being able to see every last family member that I had here and being able to play for them was amazing."
Breaking Down The Action
- Northwestern got off to a hot start, taking a 20-16 lead after one quarter.
- The Wildcats missed 15 consecutive field goal attempts, including the entire second quarter and into the early third quarter. Northwestern didn't make a basket for a span of 12:14.
- Miller scored nine points in the second quarter as the Terps raced away from the Wildcats, bringing a 34-22 lead into halftime.
- The Terps turned five Northwestern third-quarter turnovers into seven points as they stretched their advantage to 55-40 with 10 minutes to play.
- The fourth quarter was the Terps' highest-scoring frame, finishing with 24 points to completely run away with the game.
Historic Second Quarter
- Northwestern was held without a field goal for the entire second quarter. The Wildcats' only points in the frame came on a pair of free throws with 27.4 seconds remaining in the half.
- Northwestern missed all 13 field goal attempts in the quarter as Maryland equalled its school record for fewest field goals allowed in a quarter – zero – which was set on Dec. 20, 2015 against Maryland Eastern Shore.
- In that game against UMES, Maryland held the Hawks to just one point, the fewest ever allowed in a quarter in school history, since quarters started in 2015-16.
1,000 Point Update
- Miller continues to stand 17th all-time in career scoring with 1,500. Next up on the list at No. 16 is Deedee Warley, who had 1,512 from 1999-02.
- Meyers now has 1,299 points in her career with 947 in her three seasons of action at Princeton before joining the Terps this season.
- Lavender Briggs, who surpassed the 1,000-point mark in Maryland's game against Notre Dame, now has 1,126. She netted 961 at Florida.
- Brinae Alexander, who crossed the 1,000-point threshold against Rutgers, now has 1,045 career points, with 841 coming at Vanderbilt
- Elisa Pinzan, who scored her 1,000th career point at Iowa, now has 1,009. She had 916 points at South Florida.
Double-Figures Update
- With 18 points, Miller reached double-figures for the 23rd time in 24 games played this season. She's recorded 10 points or more 78 times in her career of 107 games.
- McDaniel (14 points) had her second game in double-figures with XX. She scored 13 at George Mason in her first college game on Nov. 7, 2022.
- Briggs netted 10 points for her sixth game this season and 58th in her career with double-figures.
- Meyers hit double-digit scoring for the 20th time this season and 72nd in her career, notching 12 points.
B1G Time
- The Terps are now 194-53 (.785) all-time against their Big Ten opponents.
- Since joining the Big Ten in 2014-15, the Terrapins are 152-23 (.869) vs. their conference opponents, including their 19-3 record in the Big Ten Tournament.
- In the 21 years under Frese, the Terps are 164-27 (.859) against their Big Ten opponents.
- Frese is 177-32 (.847) all-time vs. Big Ten opponents, which includes her time at Minnesota and at Ball State.
- Since joining the league in 2014, Maryland is 71-6 (.922) against Big Ten teams at home.
- The Terrapins are also 134-9 (.937) when they score 70 points or more in Big Ten games since 2014-15.
- Since their first year in the Big Ten, the Terps are 118-4 (.967) when holding their league opponents to 70 points or less.
Series History
- Sunday's matchup was the 14th all-time between Maryland and Northwestern. The Terps now lead the series, 13-1.
- The Terps have now won five straight against the Wildcats.
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