Jakia Brown-Turner scored a career-high 32 points on senior day to lead Maryland women’s basketball to a 77-62 home win over Penn State on Sunday afternoon.
Brown-Turner, an NC State transfer, scored 28 of her points in a commanding second half to help the Terps pull away after leading by just two at the break and continue their push to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The win is the Terps’ third straight, a streak they haven’t matched since winning seven in a row in November and December, and comes after a four-game losing streak.
Shyanne Sellers had one of her best all-around performances of the season, totaling 17 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Brown-Turner, who has scored double-digit points in 10 straight games, also grabbed seven rebounds for Maryland, which avenged a 112-76 defeat to the Nittany Lions on Jan. 28, the most points the Terps have allowed in a game in program history.
A back-and-forth contest gave way to an easy Maryland win after it went on a 47-26 run from the 7:02 mark of the third quarter until the final buzzer.
Trailing 36-30 early in the third quarter, Brown-Turner made a 3-pointer to spark a 12-0 Terps run, during which she made three free throws and two layups. Maryland (15-10, 7-7 Big Ten) took a 53-40 lead into the fourth quarter and led by as many as 23 points with four minutes to go.
Maryland shot 48.3% from the field, including 42.9% (6 of 14) from 3-point range, while holding Penn State (16-10, 7-8) to 25% from beyond the arc.
Ali Brigham led Penn State with 14 points. Ashley Owusu, a graduate student who played three seasons at Maryland before transferring to Virginia Tech for her senior season and joining Penn State for this season, finished with seven points and four assists but tied for a team-high six turnovers.
Brinae Alexander, Lavender Briggs, Faith Masonius and Brown-Turner were honored before tip-off as part of Maryland’s senior day celebrations.
