COLLEGE PARK, Md. - At last night's Virginia/Maryland women's basketball game, the second half simply could have been called the Anna Prillaman Show.
Prillaman, a sophomore guard for the Cavaliers, connected on five three-pointers in the closing half, tying a school record, and drove Virginia to a 52-44 road victory. By beating the Terrapins (9-8, 2-4 ACC), Virginia evened its conference record at 3-3 and improved to 10-7 overall.
With the Cavaliers down by seven in the early part of the second half, Prillaman, wide open on the baseline, took a pass from guard Telisha Quarles and sunk a three to bring the margin down to four. Moments later, the two connected again. On a fast break, Quarles passed to Prillaman for another three to leave Virginia down by just one.
Two sequences later, Quarles and Prillaman dominated, connecting on three straight Virginia possession for Prillaman three pointers.
"It was a good night, the threes were falling down," said Prillaman, who scored 20 points and set a career-high with six three-pointers in the game. "Not one of those threes I created myself. My teammates got them for me, I was lucky to have them fall down."
"She definitely had the hot hand," Quarles said. "I just wanted to keep penetrating and kick it to her. I told her before the game I wanted 20 points from her."
Prillaman was able to catch fire because Maryland collapsed inside on Virginia's Brandi Teamer. The Cavaliers spread out their half-court set and concentrated on sinking outside shots.
When the Terrapins eventually put a defender on Prillaman, the Cavaliers defense tightened up. The Terrapins scored only 16 points in the second half and were held scoreless over the last 5:28 of the game.
"We got great performances on the defensive end from the entire team," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said.
LaTonya Blue, a 5-foot-9 wing, made two of the most important plays for the Cavaliers, though the box score says she scored no points.
With a little over a minute remaining, the Terrapins took possession after a missed layup by Quarles. As they fired an outlet pass downcourt, Blue flew crosscourt to make the steal. She was able to stop on a dime and call a timeout before her momentum took her out of bounds.
Moments later, with the Cavaliers up by just four with under a minute left, Quarles missed another shot from short range, but Blue grabbed the rebound. This forced the Terrapins to foul Quarles, who hit both of her free throws to put Virginia up six.
"It was a huge rebound at the end of the game to keep us alive," Ryan said.
Karen Jaeger's steal ensured the victory for Virginia. The senior walk-on also played inspired defense against Maryland's Marche Strickland, who scored only two points in the second half.
"Karen did a terrific job of shutting her down and actually getting us back into the game, "Ryan said.
However, the win for Virginia came with a loss. At the first half 2:57 mark, Cavaliers captain Anna Crosswhite suffered a high ankle sprain in a loose ball scramble and missed the rest of the game.
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