No. 16 Maryland halts Gophers women's winning streak at three with 107-85 pounding

Lindsay Whalen had never beaten her former college coach Brenda Frese in her first four seasons as Gophers women's basketball coach, and her program was winless at Maryland in the all-time series.

The odds were surely not in favor of the Gophers pulling off the road upset against the No. 16 Terrapins on Friday, especially with another turnover-laden performance in a humbling 107-85 loss in College Park, Md.

The Gophers (8-6, 1-2 Big Ten) saw their three-game win streak end after struggling to overcome 23 turnovers in a game in which they gave up the most points in the Whalen era.

The Terrapins (11-3, 2-1), who scored 30 points off turnovers with 26 fast-break points, scored the most points by a Gophers opponent since Michigan State's 114-106 victory on Feb. 21, 2016.

"What really got to us is we tried to play a pace that isn't ours," said Gophers sophomore Rose Micheaux, who had a team-high 22 points and nine rebounds. "We didn't really lock in on taking care of the ball and having poise. I felt like that was the difference."

Dropping to 0-4 in true road games this season, the Gophers saw their leading scorer Mara Braun held to 10 points, none in the second half. But the inability to take care of the ball for stretches has been their biggest weakness all season.

In their five losses entering Friday, the Gophers averaged 18.6 turnovers per game, including 22 in a 73-70 loss at Virginia and a combined 40 in narrow home losses to Wake Forest (63-59) and Kentucky (80-74). Minnesota's starters committed 20 turnovers combined against the Terrapins, who had just six overall.

"Taking care of the ball has kind of been the difference for us in our wins and losses," Whalen told local reporters. "I thought we were just too casual with the ball at times."

Not surprisingly, Whalen's players hung around with Maryland for a bit when they limited their turnover issues, which started with seven in the first quarter.

The Terrapins, who had victories over ranked opponents UConn, Notre Dame and Baylor this season, led 37-18 with 6:31 left in the second quarter. A three-minute stretch showed the potential of the young Gophers led by Braun, who had 10 points during a 12-0 run.

Braun hit two of her team's five threes in the second quarter. Isabelle Gradwell's three then capped a 20-6 run to pull the Gophers within 43-38, but they failed to get any closer.

In the second half, Maryland's aggressive pressure defense forced five quick turnovers to spark an 11-0 run. A three from Shyanne Sellers made it 65-44 in the third quarter. Sellers, Diamond Miller, Abby Meyers combined for 58 points and 10 of the team's 13 steals.

Braun, who averaged 18 points, couldn't find her rhythm for the second straight game. The former Wayzata star shot just 4-for-13, including 0-for-3 in the second half. She saw her six-game double digit scoring streak end with eight points in the Dec. 22 victory vs. Eastern Illinois.

Micheaux established a post presence with her fourth consecutive double figure game. Maggie Czinano also had career-highs with 16 points and eight rebounds, including 13 points in the second half. Amaya Battle came close to a triple-double with eight points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, but she also had seven turnovers.

The Gophers, who start four freshmen, will need to show how much they have learned from mistakes in these tough losses. The new year's first matchup is Thursday at home vs. No. 3 Ohio State.

"It's a lot of growing that we have, a lot of learning," Whalen said. "For us, it's on-the-job training in a sense. Where the players who we start and play a lot of minutes this is the first time going through a lot of this."

The Star Tribune did not send the author of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.