UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State women’s basketball falls to no. 20/17 Maryland by way of an 81-62 final score on the road in College Park, Md. on Thursday night. The Lady Lions drop to 8-17, 1-13 Big Ten while the Terrapins improve to 20-6, 8-6 Big Ten. Despite another 30-point performance from McMiller and a first quarter lead, Penn State was unable to outlast Maryland on the road.
Sophomore guard Kiyomi McMiller led the offensive charge for Penn State with 30 points including nine from beyond the arc. This marked her third consecutive 30-plus-point performance. Redshirt junior center Gracie Merkle produced another effective night from the floor, shooting at a six-of-eight clip to total 13 points. She also led the team on the glass, grabbing seven rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
Maryland got off to an 8-0 start before the Lady Lions could add points to the board. Merkle broke the silence with a layup at the rim. After a series of missed opportunities for both squads Clèante added two to the PSU tally with a driving score. The Terps utilized an offensive rebound to add to their total before a corner three from Nyla McFadden cut the margin to one. Maryland strung together four-straight points to take a 14-9 lead, but five-straight on the other end for the Lady Lions out of the hands of McMiller leveled the score at 14-14. The Terps added two more points, but a three-point play for Merkle gave PSU its first lead of the contest. Neither team added anymore points for the remainder of the stanza, finalizing a 17-16 Penn State lead at the break.
Second Quarter
Maryland got on the board first, but Clèante had the response for PSU. UMD converted a pair of points on the fastbreak following a Penn State turnover to take a 20-19 lead. The Terps added another two before McMiller drained a shot from way beyond the arc to knot the score. UMD put up two points in the paint and McMiller answered on the other end with a mid-range jumper. Two free throws for the Terps in addition to a layup gave the home team a four-point advantage. McFadden hit a shot from mid-range to decrease the deficit to two points at the media timeout. The teams traded points following the break in action until eight-straight for the Lady Lions led by Merkle gave PSU a 34-30 lead at the 2:34 mark. The Terps broke their two-minute scoring drought with eight unanswered points to recapture a 38-34 edge at the halftime break.
Third Quarter
McMiller carried her momentum into the second half, putting up the first pair of points. PSU grabbed the lead back using a three-pointer from Vitória Santana that UMD replicated on its end in back-to-back fashion to create a five-point edge. The Terps compiled 16-straight points to build a 54-39 lead at the 4:39 mark. McMiller broke the Penn State dry spell with a mid-range jumper and Viktoria Ranisavljevic made both of her free throws to cut the margin to nine. Maryland added a jumper before Merkle took two trips to the charity stripe where she was unable to convert any points. McMiller hit a shot from three-point range that was quieted by a three-pointer for the Terps. Merkle found a layup under the rim to cut the margin to eight at the end of the third stanza with Maryland ahead 58-50.
Fourth Quarter
UMD added the first six points of the final quarter to create a 14-point gap. Santana drained her second three of the day to chip at the deficit. The Terps used a second-chance opportunity to add to their point total before a loud shot from beyond the arc for the home team widened the margin to 16 points at the 6:08 mark. A trip to the free throw line added another two points to the UMD edge before McMiller notched a driving layup on the other end. A technical foul issued to Maryland on an inbound play gave McMiller an opportunity at the line where she drained both. The Lady Lions made use of their possession following the free throws, converting a layup out of the hands of McMiller. UMD responded with eight-straight points to build an 81-59 lead at the 1:41 mark. McMiller converted a three-point play to add to PSU’s total. Maryland held the ball to end the contest with an 81-62 final score.
POSTGAME NOTES
Penn State at Maryland
February 12, 2026
XFINITY Center (College Park, Md.)
- McMiller produced her 24th double figure scoring outing of the season and 39th of her career, and her 13th 20-plus-point outing of the season and 24th of her career. This also marked her fourth 30-point performance of the season and third in a row.
- Over the last four games, McMiller has averaged 30.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.25 assists per contest.
- McMiller surpassed the 900-career point threshold in her performance.
- Merkle posted her 21st performance of the campaign with 10-plus-points and 65th of her career.
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