Women's basketball falls late at Georgetown in first defeat

WASHINGTON – It took the Terrapin women's basketball team nearly the entire second half to overcome the deficit that Georgetown guard Sugar Rodgers handed it with her buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the first half last night.

But when the Terps finally did on a free throw from forward Alicia DeVaughn with 1:56 remaining at McDonough Arena, they seemed primed for the comeback victory. Despite turnovers and shooting woes, the Terps had erased a Hoya lead that had grown to as many as 12 points in the second half.

The Terps' bubble burst a mere 16 seconds later, when diminutive Hoya point guard Rubylee Wright, who had been battling leg cramps throughout the second half, hit a wide-open 3-pointer to give the Hoyas the lead for good in a 53-45 win, their first ever over the Terps.

"To come back in that stretch says a lot," coach Brenda Frese said. "But you've got to be able to finish and make plays."

Throughout much of the game, the No. 21 Terps (1-1) could do neither. Despite earning 28 offensive rebounds — just one fewer than the No. 13 Hoyas (2-0) had on the defensive glass — the Terps could muster only 15 second-chance points.

Making matters worse, the Terps shot just 17.5 percent from the field and turned the ball over 11 more times than the Hoyas, whose defense was relentless from start to finish.

"Twenty-eight offensive rebounds," Frese said. "You've got to be able to finish those when you get easy looks, and you've got to take care of the basketball."

While the Hoyas' full-court press and half-court zone forced many of the Terps' mishaps, the team still managed to get some open looks from behind the arc when it desperately needed a big shot.

Making them, though, was a different story. The Terps went 0-for-11 from 3-point range in the second half.

"That's a credit to Georgetown, forcing us into quick shots," Frese said. "They sped us up; that's a credit to their defense and how hard they come at you."

Much of the credit for the Terps' comeback was due to DeVaughn. After playing just one minute in the first half following two early fouls, DeVaughn led the Terps with 10 points and 11 rebounds in the second half. While she, like the rest of her team, struggled from the field, she battled in the paint to earn trips to the free-throw line, where she was 6-for-8.

"I thought Alicia did a great job regaining her composure and confidence in the second half," Frese said. "It really made a big difference for us down the stretch."

Frese didn't hesitate to use her lauded freshman class in its first true collegiate test. At one point in the second half, DeVaughn was joined on the floor by three other freshmen and junior center Lynetta Kizer (10 points and 16 rebounds).

And while many of the newcomers' inexperience shined through at times, players said they would take the loss for what it was: an early setback against a talented team in a long season.

"We know we can finish; it's just the lack of concentration that we displayed tonight," Kizer said. "That's something that we're going to get back to practice to work on tomorrow and just continue to go from here."

cwalsh@umdbk.com