The American University women's basketball team fell behind early and was unable to claw its way back in the game in a 78-52 defeat at #21/RV Maryland on Sunday afternoon in College Park, Md.

Maryland (3-1) controlled the action from the start, racing out to an 8-0 lead before an Alexis Dobbs three-pointer got American (2-2) on the board. The Terps, however, would score the game's next 15 points over a four-plus minute span to take a 23-3 advantage before Lisa Strack hit a jumper for the Eagles midway through the half. Moments later, another Strack bucket -- this time a transition layup from a Michelle Kirk feed -- cut the Terrapins' margin to 25-7.

Trailing 32-9, the Eagles propelled themselves on a 7-0 run, which trimmed Maryand's lead to 32-16 with 3:58 to play in the half. The streak began with an Ashley Yencho free throw, and was followed by buckets from Liz Leer and Dobbs. The spurt concluded on a Yencho layup off a backdoor cut, which was setup by a Leer pass.

That is as close as American would get the rest of the way as the Terps scored 12 of the game's next 14 points. A Strack jumper just before halftime set the score at 44-20 in favor of Maryland at intermission.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the second 20 minutes began in a similar fashion to how the first half played out. The Terps began the period by jumping out to an 11-1 run before a Stephanie Anya rebound and putback layup gave AU its first bucket of the half with 13:10 remaining.

Despite facing a large deficit, the Eagles continued to fight the remainder of the game. American put together an 8-2 spurt midway through the period on threes by Strack and Kirk, and a driving layup by Kirk. AU then finished the contest by scoring the final nine points -- which included trifectas by Sarah Kiely and Dobbs -- to set the final margin at 78-52.

"We didn't have much success slowing down Maryland's transition offense early in the game," remarked Head Coach Matt Corkery. "Combine that with our offensive struggles and we got down early."

Dobbs and Strack led the Eagles with 13 points apiece. Dobbs' output, which set a new career-high for the freshman, came on 4-10 shooting from the floor, including 3-6 from deep. Strack was an efficient 4-8 from the field, and added five rebounds.

"Two bright spots for us were the play of Alexis Dobbs and Lisa Strack," added Corkery. "Each of them had a performance they can build confidence from heading into next week."

Maryland was paced by Alyssa Thomas' 16-point, seven-rebound, four-steal effort. Lynetta Kizer added 12 points and seven boards, while Anjale Barrett had 11 points.

The Terps, which are currently ranked No. 21 in the AP Poll and are receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, shot an impressive 53.3 percent from the field compared to only 29.3 percent for American. Maryland outrebounded AU by a 40-29 margin while each team committed 21 turnovers.

The Eagles will return to action next weekend in the three-day World Vision Classic in Lubbock, Texas. AU opens play against Sam Houston State on Friday, November 26 at 9 p.m. ET before taking on host Texas Tech on Saturday, November 27 at 1 p.m. ET. American will conclude the weekend with a matchup against Charleston Southern on Sunday, November 28 at 1 p.m. ET.