No. 13 Michigan State drops home matchup to No. 22 Maryland

The No. 13 Michigan State women's basketball team dropped its second game in a row on Wednesday with an 86-70 loss to No. 22 Maryland. This is the first time MSU has lost back-to-back games this season and both losses in this streak occurred at home.

MSU falls to 19-4 on the season and 8-4 in conference play. UMD improves to 18-6 overall and 6-6 in league play with the win.

Grace VanSlooten led the way for the Spartans, scoring 19 and grabbing nine boards, four blocks, and three steals. Kennedy Blair had 15 points and Jalyn Brown scored 13. This game was a complete performance by Maryland with 5 players scoring 10 or more points. Oluchi Okananwa led the Terrapins with 23 points while Yaden Garzon scored 16.

First Half

This game started off pretty sloppy on both sides as UMD and MSU each turned the ball over six and five times respectively and struggled to get open consistently. Quality defensive by both squads contributed to the struggles, though, as each were able to clog up the lines leading to those turnovers.

The second quarter was more of the same with both teams going back and forth against quality defenses. The Spartans started to find their groove at the start of the second quarter, sparking an 8-2 run that forced the Terps to call a timeout.

UMD rallied coming from the pause and responded with a 15-2 run of its own as MSU continued its turnover issues, finishing the first half with 11 total. The Terps continued to control the pace as they kept pressuring the Spartans. This same trend would continue as UMD ended the half on a 14-3 run to take a 43-33 lead into the locker room at the half.

MSU didn’t finish sharp and started to lose its energy. Brown had another great first half performance similar to against Michigan, scoring 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field. However, UMD outscored MSU 13-3 on points off turnovers through the first two quarters of play.

Second Half

The second half started off with more of the same as MSU failed to find an answer for UMD. The Terps opened the third quarter another run, this time a 9-0 one. The Terps continued to be efficient on offense, getting scores and keeping turnovers limited. The Spartans, by contrast, started to look more worn down as UMD maintained control. MSU was unable to go mount a run to attempt a response, shooting just 6-for-16 from the field and ending the third stanza trailing 67-53.

The fourth quarter was again more of the same with UMD controlling the game and MSU unable to crack the Terrapins' defense to attempt to get back in the game. The Spartans shot themselves in the foot in ball security, turning it over 20 times through the final buzzer, giving up 22 points off the poor ball security while managing just seven for themselves off turnovers by the Terps.

MSU goes on the road Saturday at Penn State.  is set for 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time with the game set to be broadcast on Big Ten+.