northwestern wildcats

Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 27 points and the No. 5 Maryland women's basketball team held off Northwestern for a 79-70 victory Sunday.

Grant Limone made 14 saves to help No. 11 Loyola Maryland earn an 11-4 victory over host No. 7 Virginia in the season opener for both teams Saturday.

Women's Lacrosse Player of the Week (Feb. 12): Selena Lasota, Northwestern

Maryland's two-time defending national champion women's lacrosse team was selected No. 1 team in the Inside Lacrosse media poll and the Interscholastic Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association poll. both announced Tuesday.

After two road trips in less than a week plus a snowstorm that crippled the Mid-Atlantic region, the fifth-ranked Maryland women's basketball team finally is set to play at Xfinity Center for the first time in nearly two weeks and only the second time since Jan. 7.

Here are three areas that the Terps have to improve to have a chance to beat Iowa.

In finishing second to Wisconsin last season with a 14-4 Big Ten record, the Terps were a perfect 9-0 at home. Maryland is 4-0 at home in the league this season — 11-0 overall at Xfinity Center — and needed help from the crowd to win closer-than-expected games against Northwestern in overtime last week and Penn State last month.

The result was an embarrassing differential on the boards for Maryland, a 41-32 rebound overall advantage and a resounding 16-4 edge in second chance opportunities for a Northwestern team that is not nearly as big or as broad as the Terps.

When ESPN announced earlier this month that its first "College GameDay" of basketball season was coming to East Lansing, Mich., to hype Saturday's game between Michigan State and Maryland, the Spartans were ranked No. 1 in the country and the Terps were No. 3, with only Kansas between them. To say things have changed since for both Big Ten teams, especially the Spartans, would be an understatement.

Melo Trimble scored 18 points, Diamond Stone made a pivotal three-point play with 1:13 left in overtime and No. 7 Maryland squeezed past Northwestern 62-56 on Tuesday night.

Melo Trimble's scoring average may be down, but he's still running the offense efficiently

Here's what you need to know about the Maryland men's basketball team's game against Northwestern on Tuesday.

Maryland center Diamond Stone could return to the starting lineup against Northwestern on Tuesday

Confroy set career highs with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

On a team in transition after DeAngelo Russell left for the NBA and Shannon Scott as well as Sam Thompson departed, Kam Williams is providing a spark off the bench for the Buckeyes, who play No. 3 Maryland on Saturday in College Park. In five Big Ten games, Williams is averaging 11.4 points in just over 23 minutes per game. Williams sees the similarities between his high school career at Mount Saint Joseph in Baltimore and his college career at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio.

They certainly weren't in a position to prove much against a struggling, outmanned team from Rutgers that came unraveled so fast that Mark Turgeon was deep into his bench in the first half. The Terps looked like an NBA team in comparison, but their 88-63 blowout win isn't going to count for much on their resume. Apparently, it will take more than that — or their convincing road victory against a solid Northwestern team on Saturday — to live down their strange performance against Penn

With seniors Jake Layman and Rasheed Sulaimon, junior Robert Carter Jr. and freshman Diamond Stone all scoring in double figures, the Terps led by 28 points at halftime, after allowing season-low 18 points in the first half, and by as many as 42 before playing out an 88-63 victory.

With a team that features four players shooting better than 35 percent on 3-pointers, two at 40 percent or above, it's not difficult to figure out why Maryland coach Mark Turgeon doesn't fret about the Terps launching freely from long distance.

The Wildcats had come in as one of the most efficient teams in the country in terms of hitting 3-point shots and assist-to-turnover ratio. Maryland's 3-point defense and inability to force turnovers had been among the team's vulnerabilities at times this season. Nearly from the start of what quickly became a one-sided victory for Maryland (13-1, 2-0), the Terps played their best defense since a win over Connecticut in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden Dec. 8.

¿Been in a lot of battles with him. I know how good he is, how talented he is," the Northwestern coach said.

Behind the hot first-half shooting of senior guard Rasheed Sulaimon and sophomore guard Melo Trimble finding his range late in the first half, the Terps led by as many as 22 in the half, by 20 at halftime and cruised to a 72-59 victory.

Diamond Stone's breakout performance suddenly makes the fourth-ranked Terps even tougher to scout and defend than before.

The 13-point deficit Maryland (12-1, 1-0 Big Ten) overcame in the last 6:34 against the 15-point underdog Nittany Lions was reminiscent of another home win the Terps had in their first season in the Big Ten. Last January, then-No. 13 Maryland fell behind Northwestern by as many as 14 points and trailed by 11 with 3:46 remaining before coming back to win, 68-67. That game - as well as the one Wednesday - were certainly part of the mental preparation for Maryland going into Saturday's game.

The Greyhounds led 33-22 at halftime but were outscored 52-26 in the second half.

Varsity roundup (Dec. 15): Gilman boys fall to No. 2 New Town

Andrew Hoxie and Levi Houapeu scored two goals each to lead the Baltimore Blast to a 9-2 victory over the Harrisburg Heat in the Major Arena Soccer League on Saturday.

Swimmer Becca Meyers of Timonium and wheelchair marathoner Tatyana McFadden of Clarksville are among five finalists for Female Paralympic Athlete of the Year.

Nevada-Las Vegas suspended guard Daquan Cook (St. Frances) on Tuesday for the nonconference portion of the men's basketball season after a DUI arrest. The school said in a statement that Cook was arrested Sunday.

Maryland, picked to win the Big Ten by conference media and coaches, was ranked No. 9 in the preseason poll. The Terps return four starters from last year's 34-3 squad that went undefeated in the Big Ten and advanced to its second straight Final Four.

Greetings from the Midwest! Maryland will play its only regular-season game scheduled in the Central time zone Saturday afternoon against No. 10 Iowa. The Terps lost a close 31-30 contest to Penn State last week, while the Hawkeyes had a bye week. They last beat Northwestern, 40-10, two weeks ago.

Three games under .500 with five to go with bowl eligibility slipping further away by the week, Maryland has firmly entrenched itself as the underdog for the rest of its season. There's been the blowout losses and a coaching change, now-rectified uncertainty at quarterback and injuries in the front seven. With the murderer's row of the Big Ten Conference's East division and two capable opponents in the West as crossover opponents, the wins down the stretch look hard to come by.

Marc Morehouse is the Iowa beat writer for the Cedar Rapids Gazette. With Maryland set to travel to Iowa City, Iowa, to take on No. 10 Iowa, he was kind enough to answer some questions about the matchup and the undefeated Hawkeyes, one of college football's most surprising stories.

The Maryland women's basketball team was unbeaten, a perfect 18-0, in the Big Ten Conference last season. It won the Big Ten tournament. It advanced to the Final Four, two rounds further than the Big Ten's next-best NCAA tournament team. On Wednesday, after a vote by coaches and media, the Terps were named conference favorites, picked to repeat as champions.

The Maryland women's basketball team was selected to win the Big Ten this year by both the league's 14 head coaches and the league's media panel.

Sophomore George Campbell scored a natural hat trick as the No. 25 Maryland men's soccer team rallied from two goals down to defeat Penn State, 4-3, on Friday night.

Virginia midfielder Ryan Conrad (Loyola Blakefield) was named the top-rated incoming freshman in Inside Lacrosse's "Power 100" rankings.

Maryland cornerback Will Likely was named the Big Ten Conference Special Teams Player of the Week on Tuesday for his performance in the Terps¿ 50-21 win over Richmond in their season opener.

The Washington Wizards released a seven-game preseason schedule Thursday that will begin Oct. 6 and include a trip to Montreal, but not Baltimore.

After two seasons as an independent, Johns Hopkins' women's lacrosse program will play in the Big Ten Conference as an affiliate member beginning in 2017.

Five Maryland players, including first-team selections midfielder Taylor Cummings, defender Megan Douty and attacker Brooke Griffin, were named All-Americans Monday by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association. Loyola had three selections and Johns Hopkins, one.

It took Maryland a half to get warmed up in Sunday's NCAA quarterfinal women's lacrosse game, but a blistering finish showed why the defending champion Terps are the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

If the opposition doesn't pick her up right away, the St. Mary's graduate won't hesitate to make them pay..

Joseph "Nana" Gyau, who played for several teams in Baltimore and Washington during the dawning of U.S. pro soccer died Thursday in his native Ghana.

A look at the four NCAA women's lacrosse tournament quarterfinal matchups.

Kara Burke (Dulaney) tied an NCAA tournament record with eight goals as the Greyhounds (17-4) upset the host Eagles (15-4) for their program-record 16th straight win.

The Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team saw its season end with a 14-11 loss to Penn State in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday in Charlottesville, Va.

At 17-1, the Terps clearly emerged ahead of second seed North Carolina (15-3), third seed Duke (14-4) and fourth seed Syracuse (14-7) after the Tar Heels lost to Syracuse in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, the Blue Devils lost to Johns Hopkins Sunday and Syracuse lost to Loyola Maryland Saturday.

Ryan Drenner and Justin Mabus lead No. 3 seed Towson past No. 2 seed Drexel, 11-8, and into the Colonial Athletic Association men's lacrosse championship game.

Haley Schweizer scored the game-winner with 1:18 left in overtime as the No. 18 Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team beat host Towson, 11-10, on Saturday.