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Women’s Basketball: Lady Terps top Iona

By Ryan McFadden

Mar 21, 2015; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins Brene Moseley (3) and Tierney Pfirman (22) help Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (32) off of the floor against the New Mexico State Aggies in the first round of the women
Mar 21, 2015; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins Brene Moseley (3) and Tierney Pfirman (22) help Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (32) off of the floor against the New Mexico State Aggies in the first round of the women /
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In the opening round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, Maryland took on an Iona team that was playing in their first ever tournament game. It was a hard fought game by both teams but in the end the Lady Terps’ experience in these situations helped them to a 74-58 win.

“It was great that we earn that game. I thought Iona played a complete forty-minute game,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “Once we were able to settle in, our experience came into play.”

Maryland is second in the nation in field goal percentage. The Terps were 58.3 percent from the field and had five players to score in double-figures. Senior guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough led the way with 19 points and six rebounds. Walker-Kimbrough got to the free throw line quite a bit as she was 10-10 from the line. Center Brionna Jones tallied 11 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Malina Howard chipped in 10 points.

Senior guard Brene Moseley and forward Tierney Pfirman provided a major spark off the bench for Maryland. Moseley scored 15 points while Pfirman had 11 points. Maryland’s bench managed to outscore Iona’s bench 30-18.

“Our bench was huge,” Frese said. “Brene and Tierney gave us a huge spark.”

Coming out of a mid-major conference, Iona has never played a team like Maryland. Despite that, the Gaels were competitive throughout and made the Terps work for the win. Iona opened the first quarter with a 6-2 lead but Maryland answered with a 11-0 run. The Terps had a 16-8 advantage until Iona came back to cut their lead to 16-14.

In the second quarter, Maryland had full control. They had a double-digit lead for the most parts of the quarter and went into halftime with 42-27 lead.

Maryland led by as many as 19 points in the third quarter but Iona went on a 15-6 run to cut the Terps lead to 51-42. Gaels guard Philecia Gilmore, who finished with a game high 21 points, made a couple of three pointers that got the Iona going. But Maryland came right back to take a 60-48 lead heading into the final quarter.

Iona did march back and make it a 60-53 Maryland lead during the opening minutes of the fourth quarter but that was as close they could get. The Terps defense held the Gaels to score 10 points in the fourth compared to Iona’s 21 point outburst in the third.

“We had to make sure to keep the foot on the glass and continue to pressure the defense,” Shatori Walker-Kimbrough said.

Maryland, who is the best rebounding team in the country, outrebounded Iona 42-25 in the win. But the Terps did commit 19 turnovers.

“We looked like we didn’t play a game in two weeks,” Frese said. “But I knew we would settle in. I had great confidence in terms of our experience and our leadership.”

Next: Maryland holds off South Dakota State

The Lady Terps next game will be on Monday against Washington at the Xfinity Center.