By Brittney Bridges
The Maryland Terrapins (9-2, 0-0 Big Ten) beat the George Washington Colonials (3-7, 0-0 Atlantic 10) on Friday night by a final score of 80-54. Despite sloppy starts by both teams, Maryland easily pulled out the win.
In the first quarter, senior Kristen Confroy became tied for fifth on Maryland’s all-time leading three-point scoring list with 167 made threes. She finished with five points.
From the opening minutes of the first quarter, it was obvious that the Terps were too much for the Colonials. George Washington went 1 for 7 from behind the arc in the first half.
When asked about her team’s efforts, head coach of George Washington Jennifer Rizzotti spoke of Maryland’s ability to affect all aspects of the floor with their length and strength.
“I’m happy with the fight that our kids showed,” Rizzotti said. “They [Maryland] have such good size and athleticism.”
Sophomore Blair Watson started off the first half on a hot streak as the Colonials could never seem to locate her on the court. Watson scored eight of Maryland’s 10 game-opening points. She shot 50 percent from three in the first half.
“Blair was just sensational, I thought we did a tremendous job as a team finding her,” Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said. “I think we played a pretty complete game minus our own turnovers.”
Though Maryland caused George Washington to turn the ball over a season-high 20 times, the Terps had some faults of their own including missing 10 layups throughout the game. The Terps still managed to walk away with the 26-point win.
Maryland had three players in double digit scoring at the end of the game. The Terps also managed to outscore George Washington in every quarter. The Colonials made progress towards the end of regulation by rotating the ball and pressuring the guards on press breaks. They also began to find their stroke from behind the three point line as they drained three three-pointers in a row with two minutes left in the game. Despite the brief run they were usually still down by 20 or more.
Maryland dominated the paint courtesy of Stephanie Jones and Brianna Fraser. The Terps were able to get 44 points down low compared to George Washington’s 16. In the end, Blair Watson led the way with 19 points, followed by Kaila Charles who finished with 15 and Brianna Fraser who had 10. The Terps shot 43.3 percent from the field and caused the Colonials to shoot just 35.2 percent.
“The posts and everybody screening for me and getting me wide open shots, really helped get my offense going,” Watson said. “I have to give credit to them because without their screens, I’m not getting open and I’m not getting shots.”
George Washington is now on a four game losing streak after facing Syracuse, USF and Mercer. Maryland is right back at it Monday night when they take on the Loyola University Maryland Greyhounds at 6p.m.
