Women's basketball avenges 2009 loss with second-half surge

As the Terrapin women's basketball team struggled to find its rhythm more than four minutes into the second half last night, center Yemi Oyefuwa shouted encouragement to her teammates from the bench.

The Terps had looked flat for much of their game against Towson — a team that stunned the Terps in nonconference play a year ago — and as they held onto a 35-33 lead, the possibility of a Tiger upset still loomed large.

Then, as if Oyefuwa's words had flipped a switch, the Terps came to life. The team scored the game's next nine points before dominating the rest of the half in a 72-47 victory at Comcast Center.

"I thought, the first half, we came out really flat," coach Brenda Frese said. "You can see our growing pains. But credit to this team, being challenged at halftime, I thought they did a great job responding and coming out with a different energy in the second half."

Neither team was able to get much going in a turnover-laden first half. The in-state rivals traded baskets for much of the opening 20 minutes, with possessions interrupted by countless traveling calls.

But after dragging their feet for the first few minutes of the second half, the Terps became an entirely different team. They began to force turnovers and run the floor the way they have all season, breaking away sharply from the slow-paced first half.

"What broke it open was transition," Frese said. "We started to really attack down the middle of the floor."

Point guard Dara Taylor led the charge for the run-and-gun Terps. Her athleticism shone through against the Tigers, and she finished the game with five assists.

"We know that we're faster. We can run," said Taylor, who finished with three points. "That's what our game is, we're trying to push, so I think to really give us the edge over Towson, we just wore them down and really ran the floor hard."

The Terps' size continued to produce the team's most impressive numbers last night. They once again held a dominant edge on the boards, pulling down 21 more rebounds than the Tigers and even grabbing four more offensive rebounds than the Tigers had defensive.

Afterward, it was hardly a surprise to see that the Terps' four leading scorers — forward Diandra Tchatchouang (12 points), forward Alyssa Thomas (10 points), forward Tianna Hawkins (10 points) and center Lynetta Kizer (nine points) — all hailed from the team's frontcourt.

"I felt like we had an advantage in terms of our inside presence," Frese said. "Our emphasis was to get the ball inside."

The Terps bounced back from their poor shooting performance Tuesday against No. 13 Georgetown, hitting four of 10 3-pointers and shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor.

But it was their bounce back from the game's first 25 minutes last night that had Frese most optimistic at her post-game conference.

"It was a firm halftime talk," Frese said. "I'm very pleased that this team came out in the second half very focused, and understood what they needed to get done."

cwalsh@umdbk.com