Dec. 31, 2017
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. --The Penn State women's basketball team led by two points with 3:09 to play against No. 15/14 Maryland Sunday (Dec. 31) afternoon inside the Bryce Jordan Center, but the Terrapins scored the final six points of the game to come away with a 69-65 decision.
The Lady Lions (9-6, 0-2 B1G) were the first team this season to take a lead into the fourth quarter against the Terrapins (13-2, 2-0 B1G), owning a 55-54 edge after the first three quarter, and the fourth quarter featured five ties and five lead changes.
The final lead change came with 59 seconds to play on the first of two Stephanie Jones free throws. On the ensuing Penn State possession, Teniya Page (Chicago, Ill.) missed a jumper and Maryland ran the clock all the way down to 12 seconds, when Jones again came up big with a layup just before the shot clock expired to account for the final score.
Sophomore Jaida Travascio-Green (Lisle, Ill.) hit big shot after big shot in the game on her way to the second 20-point game of her career. Travascio-Green ended with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range, for a Big Ten-best effort in the scoring column.
It marked the 12th career game with 3-plus makes from 3-point range and the fifth career game with five-or-more makes from distance for the sophomore.
Redshirt-sophomore Amari Carter (Washington, D.C.) posted her third-straight game in double-figures -- and 12th in 15 games this season -- with 15 points, while Page ended the night with nine points and four assists.
Four Terrapins reached double-figures, as Blair Watson (15 points), Ieshia Small (14), Brianna Fraser (12) and Kristen Confroy (10) all posted double-figure scoring efforts. Kaila Charles led all players with 11 rebounds for Maryland.
Difference Makers
Penn State
- G Jaida Travascio-Green -- Led all scorers with 21 points, including five 3-pointers.
- G Amari Carter -- Scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
- F De'Janae Boykin -- Pulled down a team-best nine boards
- G Kamaria McDaniel -- Grabbed one rebounds and forced two offensive fouls
- G Teniya Page -- Scored nine points, had six rebounds and dished out our assists
- Shooting from the Floor -- As a team, the Lady Lions shot 40 percent from the floor, connecting on 25-of-63 shots.
Maryland
- G Blair Watson -- Notched a team-high 15 points, going 5-for-8 from beyond the arc.
- G Ieshia Small -- Netted 14 points with four free throws.
- G Kaila Charles -- Grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and added four assists.
- F Stephanie Jones -- Scored the final four points of the game for Maryland to secure the victory.
- Big Boards -- The Terrapins out-rebounded Penn State 50-38 with 20 offensive boards on the night and 14 second chance points.
- Last Minute Makes -- With under a minute to play, Maryland made the most of their possessions, grabbing two offensive rebounds before a foul gave them two free throws to take the lead and then iced the game with a layup as time expired on the shot clock to take a four-point lead with 12 seconds remaining.
First Quarter
After dropping a 3-pointer off the tip, the Terrapins opened up the contest on an 8-1 run, forcing Penn State to call a quick timeout just 90 seconds into the contest. The timeout was not in vain, as the Lady Lions went on a 9-0 run, including seven points from Page, out of the break to knot the score at 13 with 3:48 to play in the first. The two squads exchanged baskets in the remaining minutes with Maryland making the final bucket to take a slight 21-18 lead into the second quarter.
Maryland 21, at Penn State 18
Second Quarter
UMD continued to build on its slight lead to open up the second 10 minutes of action, going up by as many as eight before the Blue and White cut the lead to two on a Kamaria McDaniel (Inkster, Mich.) 3-pointer with 4:16 remaining in the half. Down by two with 2:15 left in the second quarter, the Lady Lions used back-to-back makes, including a trey from Travascio-Green, to take a three-point lead with just over a minute to play. Two free throws from Maryland would cut the Penn State lead to one as it headed into the locker room with the 41-40 lead over the No. 15/14 Terrapins.
at Penn State 41, Maryland 40
Third Quarter
Maryland scored the first points for the third-straight quarter, but it was Penn State that would find the first run, using six-straight points to take a five-point lead, 47-42, with 7:12 to play. The lead swung back into the hands of the Terrapins as they used a 7-0 run with just under five to play in the third to retake the lead. Travascio-Green dropped two 3-pointers for the Blue and White before Carter knocked down two free throws to push Penn State back ahead, 55-54. In the closing minutes of the quarter, neither team was able to secure a basket as the Lady Lions held on to the one-point lead going into the final 10 minutes of play at the Bryce Jordan Center.
at Penn State 55, Maryland 54
Fourth Quarter
Neither team could find the edge over the other as the contest saw three lead changes and two ties in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. After a missed free throw, Small responded and made her second to put the Terrapins up by one with 3:59 remaining. Penn State quickly took the one-point swing on two makes from the charity stripe from Siyeh Frazier (Detroit, Mich.) to go up 63-62. The contest saw one final tie on a layup from Small before Jones netted the final four final points of the game to allow Maryland to take the narrow 69-65 victory.
Maryland 69, at Penn State 65
Up Next
Penn State hosts Indiana on Wednesday, Jan. 3 in a 7 p.m. contest inside the Bryce Jordan Center. The Lady Lions and Hoosiers will be carried on BTN Plus, as well as over the airwaves of the Penn State Radio Network.