Maryland women run past Clemson

Watson, Austin lead No. 9 Terrapins to blowout win

Blair Watson scored 19 points and Shakira Austin scored 17 points as ninth-ranked Maryland won its fifth straight, cruising to a 63-44 victory over Clemson on Friday at the Daytona Invitational.

Austin connected on six of her first seven shots as the Terrapins (6-1) stormed out to a 32-8 lead on Kaila Charles’ lay-up with 2:54 remaining in the first half.

Clemson (2-5) closed out the first half with a 9-2 run and got to within 34-22 in the third quarter on Kendall Spray’s 3-pointer. Maryland once again responded with its defense, holding the Tigers scoreless the next four minutes to push its lead to 41-23 with 4:08 remaining in the third quarter on two Charles free throws.

The Tigers did get the deficit to single digits on Shania Mertins’ lay-up with 9:37 remaining that cut it to 46-37.

Watson took over the game after that, hitting four 3-pointers on a 16-0 run that gave Maryland its largest lead of the night, 62-37, with 3:10 remaining.

Amari Wall led Clemson with 14 points. While Spray added 11.

Florida Atlantic 72, Loyola Maryland 61: Stephanie Karcz scored a game-high 20 points, but the visiting Greyhounds (1-5) fell to the Owls (5-2) in the Florida Atlantic tournament. Karcz became the 22nd Loyola Maryland player to score over 1,000 points in her career. The Greyhounds face Wright State in Saturday’s consolation game at 11 a.m.

Towson 75, Iona 58: Kionna Jeter scored a game-high 31 to lead the Tigers (3-4) past the Gaels (1-5) at the Puerto Rico Classic. Towson has won three of its last four games. The Tigers, who went 1-for-2 at the Puerto Rico Classic, will host Temple on Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Men

Delaware 75, UMES 56: The host Blue Hens (8-0) took a 39-30 lead in the first half over the Hawks (0-8). Kevon Voyles scored 14 points and Canaan Bartley had 12 points for UMES.