COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The 8th-ranked South Carolina women's basketball got a boost from a freshman early and a veteran late to post a 63-54 win at 4th ranked Maryland Sunday afternoon at XFINITY Center. 
The Gamecocks (2-0) never trailed in the game, but held off a strong Terrapin (1-1) second half to deliver the top-five victory.
Freshman Aliyah Boston had a team-high 14 points today, including 8 of the team's first 10 points in the game. She added 7 rebounds and 5 blocks to her stat line as well. 
Senior Tyasha Harris tallied 13 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in the game, including the final 5 points of the game for South Carolina. Freshman Zia Cooke also broke double-digits with 10 points and she pulled down four rebounds as well. 
Another freshman, Brea Beal snagged a team-high 10 rebounds, including 7 in the 3rd quarter, to go along with her 8 points and 4 assists.
South Carolina opened the game on a 6-2 run with senior Mikiah Herbert Harrigan scoring the first 2 points, followed by Boston pouring in the next 4. After a bucket from Maryland's Diamond Miller cut into the lead, Boston responded by scoring 4 more points, pushing the Carolina lead to 10-8. 
Beal added a pair of free throws, followed by Harris sinking 2 from the charity stripe to make it 14-8 with 3:58 left in the opening frame. The Terrapins responded with a 3 from Blair Watson and a Kaila Charles layup to make it  14-13, but the Gamecocks closed the first with buckets from Harris, junior LeLe Grissett and redshirt-freshman Laeticia Amihere to take an 18-15 lead into the 2nd quarter.
Defense took center stage in the opening minutes of the second with neither team able to find the bottom of the net until Cooke's layup 2:08 into the quarter. 
Ashley Owusu responded for Maryland before sophomore Victoria Saxton got on the board to give South Carolina a 22-17 lead. After a Stephanie Jones jumper cut the lead to 3 Cooke kick-started a 6-0 run with four quick points, followed by a jumper from Herbert Harrigan to make it 28-19 Carolina. 
The squads traded buckets in the closing moments of the half, with Owusu chipping into the South Carolina lead before Boston tallied her 10th point of the game with a jumper. The Gamecocks closed the half with a pair of free throws from Beal and a jumper from sophomore Destanni Henderson to take a 34-24 halftime lead.
The Gamecocks looked to put some distance between them and the Terrapins in the 3rd with a pair of Beal free throws and a Harris layup/ Maryland fired back with 2 free throws from Shakira Austin and another Owusu jumper. Boston found the bottom of the net with a layup on the following possession, but Charles responded with a layup of her own as Maryland proved that it wasn't going to be easy to get out of College Park with the win. 
Charles cut it to 9 with a free throw, but Herbert Harrigan cut to the rim with a layup to give the Gamecocks some breathing room and a 42-31 lead. A pair of Harris free throws and a Henderson jumper added to the Carolina total, but Maryland closed the 3rd on a 7-4 run to make it 46-38 heading into the fourth.
A Charles layup made it 46-40, but Cooke once again drained her free throws to push the lead back to 8. Cooke finished 6-6 from the charity stripe. Grissett drove the lane for a layup to make it 50-40 with 7:28 to play, just to see Owusu score on the next possession. 
Maryland only got as close as 6 points the rest of the way. Boston sank a pair of free throws, followed by another pair of Beal free throws and Cooke's final free throws of the game to extend the lead. 
Owusu wouldn't let Maryland go away as she scored her 16th point of the night on a layup with 2:10 to play, but a Herbert Harrigan layup followed by a Harris 3-pointer sealed Maryland's fate. Harris added a pair of free throws in the closing moments to seal the win.
South Carolina next travels to Dayton Wednesday.