Maryland women's basketball escapes Virginia in nail-biting win

By Brittney Bridges

The Maryland Terrapins women’s basketball team traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia Wednesday night and beat the Virginia Cavaliers 60-59, giving the Terps their sixth win of the season. Maryland is currently on a four game winning streak following wins against Howard, Kennesaw State and Miami.

The Virginia Cavaliers (3-5, 0-0 ACC) took their fifth loss of the season in a game that the Terps appeared to dominant at the end of the first half. Maryland led 34-25 as the second quarter came to an end, but Virginia quickly caught up once the second half began.

Maryland’s Kaila Charles and Stephanie Jones both led the way with 13 points, while senior guard Kristen Confroy followed with 12. Iesha Small and Blair Watson also contributed with 10 and six points, respectively. Despite Maryland shooting at an underwhelming 36.5 percent from the field, their free throw shooting is what carried them throughout most of the game. They shot 56.3 percent from the free throw line.

Virginia shot 46.3 percent from the field with Dominique Poussaint leading the way with 18 points. The Cavaliers slowly cut down the lead by the end of the third quarter as the score shrunk to a two-point Maryland lead. There were seven lead changes throughout the fourth quarter.

With 40 seconds left in the game, Kaila Charles was able to make a layup putting the Terps up 59-58. Virginia then turned the ball over, causing them to foul Charles immediately. She made the first free throw and missed the second with 18 seconds left.

Virginia had one last chance to tie when senior forward Lauren Moses drew a foul on a play with 13 seconds left. Moses missed the first foul shot and made the second, but Maryland ran the clock out to take the win.

Maryland women’s basketball came *THIS* close to losing to unranked Virginia. pic.twitter.com/zp7fhedPO4

— Max Marcilla (@MMarcilla98) November 30, 2017