How Sweet (16) it is: Terps hammer WVU to advance

College Park, MD -- The Maryland Terrapins (32-2) dominated the West Virginia Mountaineers (24-11) Sunday afternoon to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in six years.

The Terps shot 52 percent from the field en route to their 83-56 victory and held the Mountaineers to just eight points in the second quarter.

Maryland’s Brionna Jones, the game’s leading scorer with 22 points, had already reached a double-double (with 11 rebounds) by the time she checked out of the game with about seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter. She was 10-of-13 from the field.

Jones returned for another basket later in the frame, but by that point, her Terps had gotten West Virginia into a deep, double-digit hole from which they could not recover.

Big Ten Freshman of the Year Destiny Slocum also put on a dazzling performance for the Terps, finishing with 21 points — including a two-handed, overhead heave from well beyond half court at the halftime buzzer — and eight assists.

Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Kristen Confroy rounded out the double-figure scoring totals for the Terps with 19 and 11 points, respectively.

The Mountaineers led Maryland by as many as six in the first quarter thanks to efforts from sophomore Tynice Martin and junior Teana Muldrow.

Muldrow finished with a team-high 16 points, but the Terps restricted Martin, who averages 18.9 points per game, to 10 points on 3-of-18 shooting Sunday.

Maryland pounded West Virginia inside, outscoring the Mountaineers 48-24 in paint points. A 7-0 Terps run to end the third quarter put the Mountaineers in a tough spot going into the fourth; Maryland, playing on its home court in College Park, entered the final frame with a 63-42 edge.

Two consecutive layups by Jones to open the fourth quarter stretched the Maryland lead even farther, keeping the game well out of reach for the Big 12-champion Mountaineers.

Maryland head coach Brenda Frese and her squad kept the pedal to the medal for the remainder of the game, never letting West Virginia get any closer than 21 points.

The Terps’ next game will be March 25 against the winner of Oregon and Duke.