HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Lexie Brown scored 17 points to help No. 4 Maryland beat No. 24 Northwestern on Saturday night, sending the Terrapins to the Big Ten tournament championship game in their first season in the conference.
Laurin Mincy and Brene Moseley added 15 points each as the top-seed Terrapins (29-2) will face No. 2 seed Iowa or No. 3 seed Ohio State in Sunday’s title game.
Nia Coffey had 23 points before fouling out, while Alex Cohen added 12 points for the No. 4-seeded Wildcats (23-8).
Coffey had 14 points as Northwestern opened an early 23-12 lead while Maryland managed to make just five of its 18 shots.
The Wildcats had two more 11-point leads until the Terrapins pushed back over the final nine minutes of the half.
Maryland scored 11 unanswered points in a span of 2:12 for a 34-29 lead with 38 seconds left, while Kiara Leslie’s buzzer-beating putback opened a 36-31 halftime lead.
Mincy and Brown hit two 3-pointers 45 seconds apart as Maryland pushed the lead to double digits. Mincy hit another 3-pointer with 13:38 left as the Terrapins claimed a 53-35 advantage.
Maryland then missed 17 of its next 18 shots, and while Northwestern launched a 15-5 surge that cut the deficit to 58-50 with 3:03 to play, it never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Saturday’s game was the second in a week between Maryland and Northwestern. Last Sunday, the Terrapins pulled away in the second half for a 69-48 victory over the Wildcats in the first all-time meeting between the teams.
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