Dec. 28, 2010

Box Score

COLLEGE PARK, MD - Home state soil was good to La Salle sophomore Ebonee Jones as she poured in a career-high 18 points in the Explorers' 83-45 loss to No. 19/22 Maryland on Tuesday in the opener of the Terrapin Classic.

Jones, an Odenton, MD, native, went 6-for-7 from the free throw line and two of her five field goals were 3-pointers as she led all scorers with 18 points. She nearly registered a double-double, coming just shy with nine rebounds.

Ashley Gale (Glenside, PA/Cheltenham) added 14 points with half of those coming in the first five minutes of the second half. She went a perfect 6-for-6 from the line. Jess Koci (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) pulled down a game-best 10 rebounds and chipped in five points.

Three Terrapins reached double figures, led by Lynetta Kizer's 15 points. Alyssa Thomas added 14 and Diandra Tchatchouang chipped in 11. The Terps (11-1) featured a balanced scoring attack as 11 different players scored at least two points. The Terps also proved why they are the nation's best rebounding team, outrebounding the Blue & Gold 51-36 as 12 different players pulled down at least one board.

The Terps raced out to a 12-0 lead before Jones put the Explorers on the board with a jumper at 17:12. The home team was up 34-9 with 5:25 left before the break when the Explorers (4-7) went on a 10-3 run over the next two and a half minutes before the Terps pushed their lead to 43-21 at the half.

The Explorers got within 19 on two Gale free throws at the 16:06 mark of the second half but the deep Terrapin bench never let the Explorers back in.

The Explorers continue play at the Terrapin Classic on Wednesday at 2:30 against either St. John's or Liberty.