FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Despite an even second half, the Maryland women’s basketball team (6-2) fell short vs. No. 1 Notre Dame (8-0), 92-72, Wednesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at the Allen Country War Memorial Coliseum.
Sophomore Lexie Brown and redshirt senior Laurin Mincy had 20 points each for Maryland and freshman Kristen Confroy added 14 off the bench. The Terrapins had 13 turnovers in the first half and trailed, 47-27 at the break. In the second half, they had just three turnovers and the score was tied at 45 for each team.
“You’re not going to win games against great competition with those kinds of starts,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “I think we did a much better job in the second half to give ourselves a chance.”
Jewell Loyd led Notre Dame with 27 points.
Loyd scored eight points, two of the baskets coming on fast breaks, during a 10-0 run as the Terrapins missed 12 straight shots and the Irish opened a 21-6 lead. Maryland made just 29 percent of its shots in the first half while the Irish shot 59 percent.
Loyd added seven points during a 14-0 run in the second half that extended the lead to 70-37. She started the run with a pair of free throws, and then Michaela Mabrey hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
Kathryn Westbeld then converted three free throws and Loyd capped the spurt with an acrobatic layup while being fouled by Confroy and made the free throw to complete a three-point play.
Mincy currently has 999 career points and needs just one to become the 29th Terrapin in history to hit 1,000 career points.
Maryland is ranked No. 10 in the USA Today Division I Coaches poll and No. 15 in the latest Associated Press poll.
The Terrapins will return home to host Towson (2-5) Sunday at 2 p.m. in the XFINITY Center. The Terps-Tigers game will be shown online through BTN Plus.
For tickets to the any of Terps’ games or for a season ticket package, log on to the Terrapin Ticket Office online at umterps.com or call 1-800-IM-A-TERP.
Live Stats will be available for the Terps' game vs. Towson. Live updates will also be posted to the Maryland Women's Basketball Twitter feed.
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