In game of streaks, Florida State has enough vs. women's basketball

Coach Brenda Frese finally got the strong start she had been searching for when the Terrapin women's basketball team tipped off at No. 15 Florida State yesterday.

Apparently still riding the momentum from their win over No. 7 Duke on Thursday, the Terps jumped out to a fast 9-1 lead.

But in a game that was every bit as physical as it was sloppy, the No. 16 Terps were unable to maintain their dominance. After the early lead deteriorated midway through the first half, the Seminoles never looked back, toppling the Terps, 72-66.

"We kind of went into cruise control a little bit," Frese said. "We had some really costly, unforced turnovers. We wore down physically, and then we wore down mentally, which I was disappointed about because that hadn't happened in a long time."

There was no tide-turning moment in the victory for the Seminoles (22-5, 10-2 ACC), who simply chipped away at the Terps' advantage with a 21-7 run midway through the first half to take the lead for good.

Despite the efforts of forward Alyssa Thomas (26 points, 6 rebounds) and center Lynetta Kizer (17 points, 10 rebounds), the Terps could not find a way to climb back into the lead.

The Seminoles, on the other hand, did their best to allow the Terps (21-6, 7-5) back into the game. Florida State led by as many as 13 points late in the second half but turned the ball over several times and surrendered a seemingly endless number of second chances to give its visitors' anemic offense hope.

But the Terps ultimately never found a way to reach out and take the pivotal conference matchup. They cut the lead to just three points midway through the second half and kept the game within two possessions for nearly all of the closing minutes.

Getting over the hump, though, was another matter entirely.

"Any time you're on the road and you're fighting to come back in the game, you need to make some breaks," Frese said. "[Florida State} seemed to be all over loose balls."

Even as the Terps found success in their transition game against a similarly athletic Seminole squad, Florida State frustrated the Terps' half-court offense all game. At times, it seemed as if the Seminoles were daring the Terps to shoot from outside, where they had shot a dismal 26.8 percent entering the game.

And although that strategy appeared to be backfiring when Terp guard Anjale Barrett drilled two 3-pointers in the team's first-half run, it worked wonders down the stretch. The Terps hit just one of their final 11 attempts from beyond the arc, hampering their ability to snatch the win away from the Seminoles.

Their recurring perimeter struggles, a season-long worry for Frese, also limited the team's ability to come from behind. As time ticked away in the game, the Terps opted to go inside rather than look for 3-pointers.

"We were trying to get it into our scorers. Obviously, we struggled shooting the ball from the perimeter," Frese said. "We didn't think that was going to get us anywhere."

The Terps' shooting woes weren't limited to the perimeter. The team was 11-for-24 from the free-throw line, surrendering points they desperately needed, particularly down the stretch.

Florida State, meanwhile, shot 71 percent from the charity stripe, including nine of its final 10 in the last two minutes of play to smother any hopes of a Terp comeback.

"If we shoot 75 percent from the free-throw line, we win the game," Frese said. "That's been the goal all season. We had some critical misses."

The Terps even struggled in converting simple layups. Such widespread inconsistency again proved a recipe for yesterday's result: a disappointing end to a winnable game.

"It was a really hard-fought game by both teams ... extremely competitive," Frese said. "Things that we could control we didn't do a very good job of — like stepping up to the free-throw line and finishing lay-ups, two areas that we can improve."

cwalsh@umdbk.com