Maryland women’s basketball tops Purdue, 88-66, behind pair of star offensive outings

Jakia Brown-Turner picked up a defensive rebound with seconds ticking in the final minute of the first quarter and immediately started her sprint. 

The graduate student crossed to her left hand at midcourt before taking a few steps and picking up her dribble in the red paint. She absorbed the contact from Rashunda Jones and tapped in a shot off the glass with both hands on the left block. 

Brown-Turner secured the and-on and her eighth point of the opening period on the ensuing free throw attempt. 

The N.C. State transfer’s scoring kept coming. The forward scored eight more points in the second quarter as Maryland women’s basketball pulled away to build a double-digit lead by halftime over Purdue. Brown-Turner finished the game with a season-high 18 points. 

The Terps (11-5, 3-2 B1G) used Brown-Turner’s early offensive outburst to jump out to a quick lead over the Boilermakers (9-7, 2-3 B1G) on Sunday. Then Bri McDaniel’s excellent second half — a 16-point showing — keyed Maryland’s offense after halftime. 

Brown-Turner and McDaniel’s star offensive outings led the Terps en route to a 88-66 victory over Purdue. The win pushed Maryland’s conference record back over .500 after falling to Michigan State the past Tuesday in East Lansing. 

“It really just started on defense, it gave me energy and it just led to offense,” Brown-Turner said. 

The 18 points marked Brown-Turner’s eighth double-digit scoring outing this season and her first since Dec. 10 against Northwestern. The performance was a bright sign for the Brown-Turner, who had averaged only nine points a game in December while shooting 10 field goals per game in the span. She opened the game a perfect 7-7 to get her offense rolling early on.

Brown-Turner drained one three-pointer and had another called back as a two in the first half, an encouragement after lumping through early season struggles behind the arc with a 14.3 percent three-point rate.

While Brown-Turner starred in the opening half, McDaniel took over in the second. The sophomore scored a team-high 25 points in the win, with the majority of her points coming after halftime. The mark set a new career high for McDaniel, one game after scoring a previous career best 20 points against Michigan State last time out.

McDaniel has averaged 14.5 points per game in nine games since moving into the starting lineup November 29 against Niagara. The guard also totaled four steals, seven assists and five rebounds in the win over the Boilermakers in an all-around complete performance.

“Coach [Brenda Frese] always tells me to keep the same energy when I step on the court and I’m our energy piece,” McDaniel said. 

McDaniel’s second-half spurt was needed as Purdue cut its halftime deficit to five points shortly after the break following a 10-2 spurt to open the third quarter. The run mimicked the Spartans’ 24-14 third quarter outburst Tuesday which propelled Michigan State to the win — a concern for the Terps after guard Shyanne Sellers described the team’s performance as “flat”.

But Maryland didn’t falter against the Boilermakers. It outscored Purdue by 13 points to close the third quarter up by 18, and cruised in the final period.

“They’ve got to figure out how we can fix it. And we can’t play for them.” Frese said. “We’ve tried different things and those mentalities gotta change because with too many of these teams in the [Big Ten] that third quarter costs us.”

A scary sight came in the third quarter, when freshman guard Riley Nelson exited the game after injuring her knee in a collision on the sidelines with a camera man. Nelson, the Terps’ highest ranked freshman heading into the season. had to be helped off the court by trainers and didn’t return to the game. 

Sunday’s game was originally scheduled for Jan. 6 before being postponed due to a leak in the Xfinity Center roof — Maryland needed to wait a few days to secure a win over Purdue. The Terps will stay home in College Park for a crucial matchup against No. 17 Ohio State on Wednesday, looking for their first win streak of the new year.