Kizer scores career high as women's basketball tops Saint Joseph's

In her season debut Saturday night in Baltimore, Lynetta Kizer was still shaking off the rust. In her Comcast Center debut last night, it was back to business as usual.

In her second game since returning from a three-game suspension for a violation of team rules, the Terrapins women's basketball center scored a career-high 25 points and added eight rebounds, providing key depth off the bench in a physical, 94-71 win over visiting Saint Joseph's.

"It definitely feels good to be back," Kizer said. "The girls worked so hard for the first couple of games, so any way I can go out and just play my hardest, that's what I'm going to do for them."

Though she began the night again outside the starting five, Kizer made her presence known as soon as she took the court. She surpassed her 12-point, three-rebound statline from UMBC in the first half alone last night, scoring 14 points and grabbing four boards in just 14 minutes of play before the break.

But as stellar as Kizer's first half was, the Hawks (2-3) continued to hang around. The Terps (5-0) weren't able to take a double-digit lead until the six-minute mark of the half, at times struggling against an aggressive Saint Joseph's defense that committed 23 fouls in the game.

"Saint Joe's did a tremendous job of coming at us," coach Brenda Frese said. "When we'd get a lead, they'd make a big shot. They had a lot of fight to them. Great for us to be challenged like that throughout the entire game."

Kizer continued her career game after the break, joining forces with frontcourt mate Tianna Hawkins, to score 22 of the team's 45 second-half points. Overall, the Terps outscored the Hawks by 40 in the paint and outrebounded them by 33, paving the way for their season-high scoring output.

"I loved the dominance on the glass we were able to display tonight," Frese said. "We were able to get the ball inside and really make things difficult for them."

The victory didn't come without a potentially significant loss, though. With just less than five minutes remaining in the first half, Terps guard Anjale Barrett collided with a Hawks player after a basket. After lying on the floor for more than a minute, Barrett walked gingerly to the locker room with the help of the team's trainer.

Barrett spent nearly the entirety of the second half riding a stationary bike behind the team's bench, but Frese said she would likely be available for the Terps moving forward.

"It's a bone-on-bone [injury], in terms of her knee being hit," Frese said. "And we wanted to be smart with it getting ready to play two games in back-to-back days down in Florida."

The team next faces Florida International, the destination of its two-day Thanksgiving holiday tournament beginning Friday. And given the way the Terps have dismantled opponents this season without Kizer, having her back with the force of last night's showing might make this weekend little more than a vacation.

Said Frese: "I'm obviously excited to go down to some warm weather, take our team to the beach [today] and enjoy a light day."

vitale@umdbk.com