No. 5 Maryland Women Roll Past Loyola, Md. 88-45
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Maryland didn't have to travel far to pick up its first road victory of the season.
Tianna Hawkins scored 26 of her 33 points in the first half and No. 5 Maryland cruised to an 88-45 victory over crosstown rival Loyola on Sunday night.
Hawkins also had 13 rebounds and finished with a double-double for the second consecutive game. Alicia DeVaughn scored 16 points and Tierney Pfirman added 13 for the Terrapins (2-0), who have four starters back from last year's team that won the ACC title and advanced to the Elite Eight for the fourth time under coach Brenda Frese.
"I thought our energy was really good and Loyola was really scrappy," Frese said. "They made us work. They're going to go far with that kind of energy. I thought our size gave them problems. "
Katie Sheahin, last season's Player of the Year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, led Loyola (0-1) with 19 points and made all eight of her free throws attempts.
"Their bigs are big and we got knocked around," Sheahin said. "I definitely think we were getting into the flow of it. I think we are on a good track. And, I don't think the score showed how well we played."
The Terrapins dominated the paint and outrebounded the Greyhounds, 55-18. Maryland also made nearly 52 percent (30-for-58) of its shots.
After a layup by Diana Logan cut Maryland's lead to 21-18 with seven minutes remaining in the first half, Hawkins scored eight points in a decisive 14-0 run over the next four minutes. A pair of free throws by Pfirman later increased Maryland's lead to 41-18 at the break.
"I was just getting out in transition and my teammates were finding me for the easy basket," Hawkins said. "That was pretty much what happened."
The Terrapins continued to pull away in the second half and consecutive three-pointers by Katie Rutan, an Xavier transfer who sat out last season, provided a 57-33 lead with 14:16 left in the game. Loyola could not get any closer than 20 points the rest of the way.
Maryland now lead the series 19-3 and have not lost to the Greyhounds since 1998. It was the first Loyola has lost by 30 points since a 84-46 setback to the Terrapins last season.
"I thought we competed for about 22 or 23 minutes total," Loyola coach Joe Logan said. "We knew we were going to give up (size) inside, and we were going to try and foul them sometimes and not give them easy looks. They got out in transition more than we did. But I was pleased how we competed."
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
