A 17-4 run by the No. 4 Maryland Terrapins, which spanned five-and-a-half minutes in the second half, put a dagger in the hearts of the women’s basketball team faithful Sunday afternoon at Reynolds Coliseum.
The run opened up an insurmountable 50-34 lead that N.C. State (16-10, 6-7 ACC) could only slightly lessen to make more respectable a 65-57 loss to Maryland (24-3, 11-2).
“We were disappointed that we lost some of our match-ups, so we called a timeout to get refocused,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “When we’re focused we can go on runs like we did.”
State started the second half down 27-20, but eight points in just over two minutes by senior guard Billie McDowell brought the Pack to within three at 33-30, which forced the timeout by Maryland. The three-point deficit would be the closest the Wolfpack would be for the rest of the contest.
“We knew that Billie McDowell was a tremendous shooter, a senior that was going to play with a lot of confidence, and we let her get into a rhythm and a flow,” Frese said.McDowell finished with 13 points, but continued her cold streak from the three-point line. She shot just two-for-eight behind the arc, making her just six-for-37 in her last six games.
“I was open for pretty much all my shots. I’m not going to blame it on that. It’s just a matter of hitting them,” McDowell said. “I’ve been working on it every day. In my free time, I shoot, so I’m just going to keep working and hopefully they’ll fall.”
Playing with an altered lineup of five seniors on senior day, State quickly fell behind 9-2 and was slow to recover until a Monica Pope three brought the Pack back to within two points with about four minutes remaining in the first half. Maryland guard Kristi Tolliver, however, scored the last two baskets of the half, as she answered Pope’s three with two of her own.
“Tolliver is dangerous. She needs no room to take a shot. [She] just [has to] release it — and from NBA range,” Yow said. “That’s her game, and she just has that green light and is one of the best shooters around. We just got a little too far away from her, and she pulled the trigger.”
State ended the half with its lowest first-half point total of the season at 20, thanks in large part to 22-percent shooting.
“I would’ve given anything if we could’ve been in the zone today — that’s what it would’ve taken,” Yow said. “We’ve got people who can shoot the ball; this is a good shooting team. It just didn’t fall for us all day like we wish it had. Had it fallen for us, it would’ve really put us in the game.”
In the second half, Terrapins forward Laura Harper scored 13 points, giving her a season-high 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting for the game. Harper also grabbed six rebounds.
“It’s her 20 points — that’s a person we wish we could’ve held a little more. But six rebounds, we’re not going to be able to hold her to much less than that,” Yow said.”But the spot that we got hurt a lot was Coleman. That’s where I feel we sort of lost the battle.”
Marissa Coleman finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season.
“She’s like Monique Currie at Duke,” Yow said. “I’ve seen three players in high school that could shoot the ball and were so strong that it was just like a man playing on the team. That’s just the way it was, so she’s a handful.”
The game would be the last home game for seniors Tiffany Stansbury, Tiffany McCollins, Rachel Stockdale, Pope and McDowell.
The Wolfpack have one regular season tune-up left Friday at Boston College before the ACC Tournament. The Pack lost 75-66 at home when it played the Eagles on Jan. 30.
“I’m excited. It makes this Boston College game coming up a big game,” Yow said. “Hopefully we can just play much better than we did when Boston College was here.”