Watson’s 20 points help Terps top No. 24 Michigan

Blair Watson hit six 3-pointers and scored 20 points and the No. 17 Maryland women’s basketball team used a strong start to defeat host No. 24 Michigan for the second time in 15 days, rolling to a 77-49 win Sunday.

Ashley Owusu added 18 points and Diamond Miller scored 15 for the Terps (12-4, 3-2 Big Ten), who beat the visiting Wolverines (11-5, 2-3), 70-55, on Dec. 28. The freshmen reserves helped the Maryland bench outscore Michigan’s bench 35-11.

“Really proud of their response and their resiliency,” coach Brenda Frese said. “I just thought they took great ownership of how hard it is to win on the road and came out ready to fight. That’s what you want to be able to see from your team.

“The defense starts at the head with Blair. She sets the tone for us defensively. All five were connected and aggressive to be able to turn them [Michigan] into a lot of turnovers. The intensity was a huge difference for us in this game.”

Miller had two fastbreak layups to cap an 8-0 run and Maryland was up for good at 12-4. It was 21-12 after one quarter, and with the Terps scoring the first nine points of the second quarter, starting and ending with a Watson 3-pointer, it was 30-14.

Maryland turned 14 first-half Michigan turnovers into 10 points and led 37-21.

Naz Hillmon paced Michigan with 15 points and Kayla Robbins scored 11. The Wolverines ended up 2 of 10 from 3-point range, shot 34% overall and had 22 turnovers.

Maryland shot better from behind the arc, 10-for-21 (48%), than inside, 19-for-43 (44%).

The Terps will return home to play host to Nebraska (13-2, 3-1) on Thursday at 8 p.m.

Towson 76, James Madison 75: Kionna Jeter grabbed the ball on an inbounds play with 6.1 seconds to go and found space to make a game-winning layup to lead the host Tigers (6-8, 1-2 Colonial Athletic Association) to victory over the first-place Dukes (11-3, 2-1).

Jeter led the Tigers with 27 points, while Nukiya Mayo posted a double double with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Towson plays at Charleston on Friday.

LaKaitlin Wright was fouled and made a free throw with 9.9 seconds to go to give Towson a 74-73 lead. James Madison’s Lexie Barrier answered with two free throws with six seconds left, setting up Jeter’s game-winning basket. JMU’s Kamiah Smalls missed a jumper as time expired.