College Park, Md. — The opportunities for the MSU women's basketball team to make an impression against No. 1 Maryland on Saturday were endless.
The Spartans had a chance to hand the defending national champions their first loss of the season in front of a national television audience on CBS.
Instead, No. 19 MSU was run completely out of the gym by the Terrapins from start to finish and were routed, 97-57, at Comcast Center in front of an announced crowd of 12,295.
"I apologize," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "I'm sure CBS won't invite us back anytime soon. I apologize for the game. It should've been a much better game. I'm sure Maryland was expecting some measure of competition. That didn't occur."
Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said her team was looking to make a statement — and it did.
"I thought we did a tremendous job focusing and being able to keep our focus and intensity for 40 minutes," she said.
Maryland junior center Crystal Langhorne took MSU freshman center Allyssa DeHaan to school for much of the game, scoring 28 points on 13-of-14 shooting with nine rebounds in 28 minutes. It was her 41st straight game in double figures.
"I've never played against a player that big before," Langhorne said. "Our coaches told us she was going to block some shots but to keep going at her, and that's what we did."
On the flip side, DeHaan scored just four points while adding four rebounds and five blocks. She fouled out in 31 minutes. Her only field goal came with 2:31 left in the game.
"Just getting Allyssa exposed to and playing against some of the best post players in the country is the only way she is going to get better," McCallie said. "She might have an overload going after (Saturday)."
But it didn't appear Maryland (17-0 overall) would be as dominant inside as it was in the first four minutes, when DeHaan blocked three shots, forcing the Terrapins to the outside. From there, though, things went downhill — and fast — for the Spartans.
Maryland guard Kristi Toliver nailed three straight triples to give her team a 20-6 lead in the first seven minutes that it never came close to looking back on.
"I thought Toliver was the key to the game," McCallie said. "Her shots in the first half were very significant and let them broaden that lead a little bit. She gave them that edge to open up the inside a little bit."
This boosted Maryland's confidence and aggressiveness, and it showed on the scoreboard and the stat sheet. The Terrapins shot 30 free throws to MSU's nine, outrebounded the Spartans 56-32 and outscored MSU 46-26 in the paint.
"Today was a big statement game," Toliver said. "We came out with a lot of energy, and we made a statement by playing great on offense and playing great on defense."
Not only was Maryland shooting lights out from the outside, the Spartans, aside from senior guard Victoria Lucas-Perry, struggled to get anything going. Lucas-Perry scored 14 of MSU's first 19 points, but by that time, the Spartans already trailed 35-19.
The trio of DeHaan, sophomore guard Mia Johnson and senior guard Rene Haynes shot a combined 3-of-21, with each going 1-of-7 from the field as the Spartans trailed by as many as 47 late in the game.
Now, MSU (12-3) has to regroup in time for Thursday's major Big Ten tilt against No. 10 Purdue at Breslin Center.
"I hope this gave us an opportunity to grow," McCallie said. "You have to put yourself out there. What do you want to do, wait for March to find out? We certainly don't want to do that. We scheduled a great schedule. We'll be in film and get busy. There's no excuses here."
