On Sunday, Jan. 20, the Tech women’s basketball team hosted the No. 10 Maryland Terrapins in a 66-57 loss.
The team’s fourth straight loss drops them to 8-10 on the season (1-6 ACC), while Maryland improves to 15-3 (6-1 ACC). This was the Jackets’ seventh game this season against a ranked opponent.
The two teams played a close first half, with Tech’s full-court press frustrating the Maryland offense. Tech lead by as many as six midway through the half, spurred on by 22 points from the bench. A late 9-0 run by the Terrapins saw that lead evaporate, but the Jackets trailed just 32-29 at the half.
Junior guard Tyaunna Marshall led the Jackets with 18 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Those points put Marshall at a career total of 1,255 points, putting her 15th on the team’s all-time list. Marshall also added nine rebounds and two assists.
“It was good to see Ty Marshall take the game over a little bit. That’s what I’ve been waiting for her to do all season long as our go to player,” said head coach MaChelle Joseph, courtesy of ramblinwreck.com.
The rest of the Jackets struggled offensively throughout the game. The Jackets shot just 35.9 percent from the field in the game, and only had one player score in the double digits. Maryland also held a large advantage in the rebounding department, out rebounding Tech by a margin of 52-29.
The start of the second half proved to be the decisive segment of the game. The Terrapins came out strong, and had a 15-0 run early in the half to take a 16-point lead. Maryland was quick on the transition to start the second half, while the Jackets struggled to get going on both ends of the court. The Terrapins’ second half dominance was helped greatly by forward Alyssa Thomas, who scored 28 points by shooting 11 of 25 from the field.
The Jackets did make a surge late in the game to make it exciting. Sophomore guard Sydney Wallace hit two three-point shots with less than five minutes left to cut the lead down to nine points. However, Wallace went down with a lower-body injury with just 3:29 left in the game and did not return. That sparked two quick scores by Marshall to get the Jackets within five points of the Terrapins, but that would be as close as the Jackets would get.
Tech’s next contest will be on Jan. 25 when they visit Florida State.