Terps rally past Hawkeyes

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Iowa Hawkeyes started fast on Sunday against the Maryland Terrapins, scoring the game's first eight points, while making five 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes.

The problem was, No. 17 Iowa couldn't keep it up.

Guard Lexie Brown scored a game-high 26 points and center Brionna Jones added 17 of her 19 points in the second half as fifth-ranked Maryland rallied for a 93-88 victory over the Hawkeyes in a battle for first place in the Big Ten Conference.

Maryland (19-2) won its 13th straight game and improved to 10-0 in the Big Ten. The Terrapins ended the Hawkeyes' six-game winning streak and Iowa (17-4) fell to 8-2 in the conference.

Maryland stepped up its tough defense and made it harder for Iowa to find good shots after their opening surge, and eventually took control of the boards at both ends.

'We didn't box out well and gave up way too many free throws,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. 'We scored eight threes, so it's not like they took that completely away from us.”

Maryland came into the game ranked second in the Big Ten on defense, and the Terrapins did a better job of contesting Iowa's shots after the slow start, which bothered the Hawkeyes on offense.

Guard Ally Disterhoft led Iowa with 22 points. Guards Melissa Dixon (18), Samantha Logic (17) and center Bethany Doolittle (16) also scored in double figures, but the Terrapins controlled Iowa just enough to rally after trailing most of the first half.

'They were really aggressive on defense,” Dixon said. 'We knew that going in. They were a very athletic team and we knew that it was going to be a battle today.”

The Terrapins hurt the Hawkeyes with strong inside play on offense and defense. Maryland held a 41-29 edge in rebounding and a 28-6 advantage in second-chance points.

Iowa shot the ball well, making 53 percent from the field and even hitting eight of 15 3-point shots, a big reason for the team's good start. The Hawkeyes held a 45-44 halftime lead before Maryland slowly took over in the second half - even though Iowa shot 58 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes.

The second-half turnaround started with Jones, a 6-foot-3 sophomore center who scored just two points in the first half but she scored Maryland's first 12 points of the second half. She added 15 rebounds for her fifth double-double in the last six games.

The game swung back and forth in the final 20 minutes until Maryland scored six in a row in just under a minute for a 78-72 lead.

This victory also meant a bit more to Maryland Coach Brenda Frese, a native of Cedar Rapids.

'I grew up a Hawkeye fan,” she said. 'I went to their camps when I was a kid. I worked their camps as a counselor.

'I have special pride in the fact that I'm from there.”

Bluder said they knew about Frese's background, and the Hawkeyes wanted to do something for her, but couldn't quite pull it off.

'She's an Iowa girl,” Bluder said. 'We are proud of her success but we wish we could have given her that first loss in the Big Ten.”