No. 14 Maryland Rebounds With Win Over Florida State

Maryland used experience and strength to get back on the winning path Sunday.

Juan Dixon scored 19 points and Terence Morris and Lonny Baxter dominated the backboards as the No. 14 Terrapins bounced back from a loss at home to North Carolina with a 76-55 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over Florida State at Tallahassee, Fla.

“We tried to hurt them down low because we had a size advantage,” Maryland guard Steve Blake said. “We haven’t played well in the second half lately. We finally did today.”

The 6-foot-9, 220-pound Morris was only one for 12 and finished with five points but had a game-high 14 rebounds, while Baxter had 12 points and 13 rebounds. The Terrapins had a 54-37 rebounding advantage.

Dixon made nine of 14 shots, while Byron Mouton was five for eight for the Terrapins, 12-4 overall and 3-1 in conference, and had 15 points.

Florida State (5-11, 0-3) closed within 36-32 in the first 33 seconds of the second half, but Maryland pulled away with an 18-6 run

It was a needed victory for the Terrapins, who lost, 86-83, Wednesday to North Carolina.

Adrian Crawford led Florida State with 13 points, while Antwuan Dixon added 11 and Delvon Arrington had 10.

The Seminoles made only 31.3% of their shots, losing for the third consecutive time in ACC play by more than 20 points.

OTHERS

St. John’s 80, Rutgers 71--Omar Cook and Willie Shaw combined for 39 points to lead the Red Storm to a Big East Conference victory at Piscataway, N.J.

St. John’s (9-6, 3-1) won its first road game of the season and won for the fifth time in six games, while Rutgers (8-7) is 0-4 in league play for the first time since entering the Big East in 1995-96.

Cook, the Big East assist leader, had 21 points on seven-for-12 shooting, five assists and three steals. Shaw added 18 points on six-for-eight shooting.

St. Joseph’s 84, Dayton 71--Marvin O’Connor scored 20 points and reserve forward Na’im Crenshaw had 16 in an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Philadelphia as the Hawks won their seventh in a row.

Jameer Nelson added 10 points and 10 assists for St. Joseph’s (13-3, 4-0) is off to its best start since the 1985-86 team went 14-3. Dayton fell to 10-6 and 1-2.

Hawaii 68, Tulsa 65--Troy Ostler and Predrag Savovic each scored 18 points and Nerijus Puida had 15 points and pulled down 11 rebounds as the Warriors (7-8, 1-3) ended their losing streak at four with a Western Athletic Conference victory over the Golden Hurricane (10-6, 1-2) Saturday night at Honolulu.

WOMEN

No. 4 Georgia 64, No. 9 Louisiana State 55--Coco Miller scored 20 points to lead the Bulldogs to a Southeastern Conference victory over the Tigers at Baton Rouge, La., ending LSU’s home-court winning streak at 17.

Behind by a point at halftime, Georgia (15-2, 3-0) cooled the Tigers (11-5, 2-2) with a tight zone defense and outrebounded LSU over the first 4 1/2 minutes of the second half, including grabbing six on the offensive end.

LSU pulled ahead briefly but the Bulldogs tied the game at 40-40 on Miller’s basket with 12:24 to go. By the time she made two free throws 3 1/2 minutes later, Georgia was ahead 54-44.

Christi Thomas had 15 points and eight rebounds for Georgia. Twana McDonald had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Kelly Miller had seven assists.

Marie Ferdinand led LSU with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 5 Duke 75, Maryland 64--Alana Beard scored 29 of her season-high 33 points in the second half to lead the Blue Devils (16-1, 4-1) to an ACC victory at College Park, Md.

Beard set a school record for points by a Duke freshman and finished only four short of the overall mark. Maryland is 10-6 and 1-4.

No. 6 Purdue 94, Northwestern 37--Shereka Wright led five players in double figures with a career-high 19 points, and the Boilermakers put the game away early with a full-court press that forced 32 turnovers in defeating the Wildcats in a Big Ten game at West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue (15-3, 5-0) scored the first 10 points. The Boilermakers, winners of seven in a row, were relentless in their full-court press. They trapped in the corners and at halfcourt and never allowed Northwestern (4-11, 0-5) to run its offense without being under pressure.

No. 13 Penn State 89, Indiana 68--Rashana Barnes and Kelly Mazzante each scored 23 points to lead the Nittany Lions (12-5, 4-2) to a Big Ten victory over the Hoosiers (13-4, 4-2) at State College, Pa.

Jill Chapman, who spent much of the first half on the bench because of foul trouble, scored 17 points and brought the Hoosiers (13-4, 4-2) to 76-63 on a free throw with 4:30 left. But Penn State responded with a 10-0 run that included consecutive baskets by Mazzante.

No. 18 Vanderbilt 74, No. 25 Auburn 66--Jillian Danker made five three-point shots and scored 22 points to lead the Commodores (14-2, 3-0) to a come-from-behind Southeastern Conference victory over the Tigers (13-5, 1-3) at Auburn, Ala.

North Carolina 83, No. 19 North Carolina State 77--Coretta Brown scored six of her 22 points in overtime to lead the Tar Heels (9-6, 3-3) past the Wolfpack (11-5, 2-4) in an ACC game at Chapel Hill, N.C.