No. 5 Duke Women Beat No. 7 Terps
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Chelsea Gray scored a career-high 28 points to lead No. 5 Duke past seventh-ranked Maryland 71-56 on Monday night.
Tricia Liston had 17 points off the bench while Gray reeled off seven in a row midway through the second half after the Blue Devils (22-1, 12-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed for the only time.
Alyssa Thomas had 14 points and 12 rebounds. But the Terrapins (19-4, 10-2) could overcome neither 24 turnovers nor a miserable night for the ACC's leading scorer, Tianna Hawkins, and had their league-best nine-game winning streak snapped.
Chloe Pavelich's 3 with about 10:45 left gave Maryland its only lead at 44-42.
Three possessions later, Gray took charge -- and kept Duke alone atop the league standings.
She put Duke back on top with a 3, followed that with two free throws and capped her personal 7-0 run with a layup from Alexis Jones that made it 49-44 with 7 1/2 minutes to go.
After Elizabeth Williams followed with a layup, Gray added two more free throws to put the Blue Devils 55-46 with 5:52 left.
Maryland briefly cut it to five before Williams and Gray hit layups. And coach Brenda Frese was given two technical fouls and tossed during a media timeout with 3:51 left, Gray hit the four free throws that followed to give Duke its largest lead to that point, 63-50.
Williams added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Duke, which won its 36th straight ACC game at Cameron Indoor Stadium and hasn't been beaten by a conference rival at home since Maryland did it five years ago.
Katie Rutan had 14 points and hit four 3-pointers for Maryland, which rallied from 10 points down and tied it at 33 on Rutan's 3 barely 2 minutes into the second half.
It was remarkable that Maryland was even in the game because Hawkins' stat line was so empty. She finished with six points on 3-of-11 shooting and seven rebounds -- well below her averages of 19.6 points and 9.9 boards -- in her first game in single-digit scoring since St. Joseph's held her to two points in November.
Turnovers also were once again a problem for the Terrapins, who entered averaging 17 1/2 and finished two shy of their season worst of 26 set against Connecticut.
Duke never trailed and twice led by 10 during an at-times sloppy first half in which the Blue Devils managed just two field goals in roughly 11 minutes.
Liston twice pushed Duke's lead to double figures, the second time coming on her jumper with just under 5 minutes left in the half that made it 28-18. The Terps clawed back and cut it to 30-28 on Malina Howard's running jumper in the final minute, and it remained tight until Gray almost single-handedly broke the game open.
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