COLLEGE PARK - - The Maryland women's basketball team normally won't encounter opponents that can match its height inside, but Thursday's game against Boston College was an exception. So instead of relying on brawn, the Terrapins used cunning and quickness for a 72-65 victory before 4,773 at Comcast Center.
Diandra Tchatchouang scored a game-high 18 points for Maryland, which extended its school-record home-court winning streak to 48 games and moved to 10-0 against Boston College. The freshman forward made nine of 16 field-goal tries and added eight points and four assists to help the Terrapins win for the eighth time in 10 games.
Maryland (14-3, 2-1) also got 15 points from Lori Bjork, who was 4-for-6 on 3-point tries and has 10 3-pointers in two games. Tianna Hawkins had 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting and 11 rebounds, and Lynetta Kizer chipped in with 12 points for Maryland, which won its second straight in the Atlantic Coast Conference after losing badly to North Carolina State in its league opener.
"I'm just really proud to be able to see the offense starting to click," coach Brenda Frese said. "We're really finding each other. We're really getting comfortable making plays on the offensive end and really fun to watch when we're clicking on all cylinders like we were tonight."
The Terrapins' fast tempo, especially in the second half, led to a 40-20 advantage in points inside, and they outscored Boston College in fast-break points 14-4. Maryland shot 57 percent and limited the Eagles to 39 percent shooting, including holding 6-foot-6 center Carolyn Swords to six points on 3-for-6 shooting. Swords entered the game first in the ACC in field-goal percentage (.662) and seventh in scoring (15.5 ppg).
"If you would have told me we were going to hold Carolyn Swords to six points tonight going into this game, I probably wouldn't have believed that," Frese said. "I think it's obviously a credit to our team, where we're headed. Defensively I thought we did a tremendous job being able to defend tonight as well as being able to dominate the glass, especially in the second half."
Maryland held a 38-27 advantage in rebounding and limited Swords to seven rebounds. The junior leads the ACC in rebounding at 10.9 per game.
BOSTON COLLEGE-Murphy 3-13 0-0 6, Swords 3-6 0-0 6, Thoman 4-7 0-0 10, Johnson 3-10 4-5 12, Picco 5-13 5-5 17, Brown 1-3 0-0 2, Reynolds 0-1 0-0 0, Shields 1-5 0-0 2, Gill 2-2 1-1 6, Nwachukwu 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 24-62 10-11 65.
MARYLAND-Hawkins 5-7 2-2 12, Tchatchouang 9-16 0-2 18, Kizer 6-12 0-0 12, Taylor 2-5 2-4 6, Bjork 5-7 1-2 15, Nared 0-0 0-0 0, Barrett 4-7 1-1 9, Oyefuwa 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-54 6-11 72.
Half: Maryland, 40-38. 3-point goals: BC 7-20 (Johnson 2-4, Picco 2-5, Thoman 2-5, Gill 1-1, Reynolds 0-1, Shields 0-4); M 4-8 (Bjork 4-6, Kizer 0-1, Tchatchouang 0-1). Rebounds: BC 27 (Murphy, Swords 7); M 38 (Hawkins 11). Assists: BC 12 (Picco 4); M 16 (Taylor 8). Total fouls: BC 14, M 12. A: 4,773. MARYLAND @NO. 10 NORTH CAROLINA
Sunday, 5:30 p.m.
TV: Comcast SportsNet