BOSTON (AP) - Boston College coach Erik Johnson wanted a chance to have the fans say goodbye to injured forward Katie Zenevitch and couldn’t have been more thankful that Maryland coach Brenda Frese agreed.
The Eagles honored their two seniors - Kristen Doherty and Zenevitch - in their last home game before tip-off. Zenevitch started and when Maryland won the opening tip Frese immediately called timeout so the forward could leave the game to a nice ovation, limping to the bench with a knee injury.
The ninth-ranked Terrapins wouldn’t really need that timeout anyway as they pulled away for a 92-66 win over the Eagles on Thursday night.
“Brenda was a class act to today in allowing us to get Katie Zenevitch out of the game,” Johnson said. “Her and I talked before the game and she agreed whoever got possession of the tip was going to call timeout. She was kind enough to burn one of her timeouts so we could start Katie.”
Alyssa Thomas scored 26 points to move into second place on Maryland’s all-time women’s scoring list, carrying Maryland to the victory.
“The most impressive part of her game is when she gets a defensive rebound, then to the have transition automatically,” Johnson said of Thomas. “When she gets the ball, she’s gone. She gets the ball in the paint and out to half court faster than any player I’ve seen, and she’s not the fastest player in the country, but her ability to turn a defensive rebound into transition is really devastating for our defensive transition game.”
Lexie Brown added 12 points, all coming on 3-pointers, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had 11 for Maryland (23-5, 11-4 Atlantic Coast Conference). Thomas added nine boards.
Doherty led Boston College (12-17, 3-12) with 15 points in her final home game. Kat Cooper added 13 points and Kelly Hughes 12 for the Eagles, who have lost 10 of 11.
Thomas surpassed Marissa Coleman for second and needs 34 points to move ahead of Crystal Langhorne’s record of 2,247. She also needs 56 to break Juan Dixon’s overall school record of 2,269.
It was the Terrapins’ third straight win since a 21-point loss at No. 7 Duke.
Maryland made a late charge en route to a 50-38 halftime lead. It’s advantage never fell below double digits in the second half.
The Eagles hung close until Maryland turned up the defensive pressure late in the half, picking up BC full-court and disrupting its half-court offense.
“It’s happened,” Johnson said. “Our lack of a point guard, we sort of have a point-guard-by-committee.”
After Nicole Boudreau’s 3 from the left corner gave BC a 29-28 edge with just over 6 minutes to play before halftime, the Terrapins scored the next 13 points over a 2:39 span. Thomas started the spree with a pair of free throws and closed it with a 3-point play.
The lead changed hands 10 times until Maryland’s surge.
In the opening minutes, the Eagles kept it tight mainly by nailing 3s to offset the Terrapins’ inside scoring. Once BC seemed to clamp down defensively on Maryland’s inside players, Brown started nailing some long-range 3s, with four coming in the final 8 minutes of the half.
Both teams shot at least 50 percent from beyond the arc in the opening half. Maryland - behind Brown’s 4 of 6 - was 7 for 12. BC went 6 for 12.
In the second half, Maryland outscored BC 16-8 to build its lead to 66-46 on Walker-Kimbrough’s driving basket with 12½ minutes to play.
Thomas scored seven consecutive points during a 9-0 run as the Terrapins opened their lead to 77-51 with just under 10 minutes left.
The Terrapins host Virginia Tech in their regular season finale Sunday, while BC plays at Georgia Tech.
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