Terps’ revenge against Georgetown is too easy

Her Georgetown team trailing by eight points early in the second half, Hoyas star Sugar Rodgers leapt in front of an errant pass and began sprinting toward the opposite end of the court, her path to the basket unimpeded. Rodgers took one step, then another as she dribbled to midcourt. Almost as suddenly as she'd intercepted it, though, the ball flew from her hands, caroming off the scorer's table as it bounced out of bounds.

That's just the kind of afternoon it was for Georgetown.

After having its season end last year with a near-flawless dissection by its crosstown rivals, the Terrapins women's basketball team throttled the No. 10 Hoyas at Comcast Center yesterday, 72-53. Perhaps most impressively, they did it without still-suspended center Lynetta Kizer, who has watched the Terps' first two games of the regular season from the bench.

"I'm extremely proud for our team," said coach Brenda Frese, whose Terps also beat Loyola, 84-46, in their season opener Friday. "The balance that we had, the defense that we displayed … I thought it was obviously a terrific team win."

The Terps (2-0) wasted little time jumping ahead of the Hoyas (1-1) in the first half, using a balanced scoring attack to begin the game on a 12-6 run in the first five minutes. Georgetown cut the Terps' lead to as little as one, but any momentum the Hoyas may have gained was quelled in one 12-second stretch late in the half.

With a five-point lead as the game neared the half's final media timeout, guard Anjale Barrett intercepted a long Georgetown pass and got the ball ahead to forward Tianna Hawkins. After missing her first attempt, Hawkins got her own rebound, made the bucket and was fouled, unleashing a primal roar as she walked off the court.

Those 12 seconds extended the Terps' lead to only seven, but it did much more than that for the team's emotional state.

"With both teams in the DMV area, it's always what team is better, who's going to beat who," said Hawkins, who had 17 points and 14 rebounds in the game. "I think it really is a rivalry."

The second half was a show of even greater dominance from the Terps. After allowing the Hoyas to win the rebounding battle and shoot better than 50 percent from the field in the first half, the Terps' defense clamped down hard in the second. Georgetown made less than 22 percent of its second-half shots and was outrebounded, 30-15, as the Terps cruised to a 19-point victory.

Perhaps no aspect of the Terps' performance was more impressive than their defense on Rodgers. After scoring a combined 55 points against the Terps in two games last season — including 34 in the Hoyas' decisive 79-57 NCAA Tournament victory in March — Rodgers mustered just four on 1-for-12 shooting yesterday before fouling out in the game's final minute.

"Sugar showed that she was human tonight," Frese said. "The rotations we had defensively, I thought they were tremendous. They made her have to work for every shot that she took."

Said Georgetown coach Terri Williams-Flournoy: "Sugar had an off night."

With a schedule mostly devoid of high-level competition in the coming weeks, an early win against Georgetown gives the Terps some time to rest before their schedule begins to get too tough again. And given the way last season ended against the Hoyas, yesterday's win should linger longer than this weekend moving forward.

"I know that loss last year motivated us," said forward Alyssa Thomas, who led all scorers with 19 points. "We let our actions speak on the court. They can do what they do, but we do what we do."

vitale@umdbk.com