No. 8 Maryland women’s basketball walked into a sold out Carver-Hawkeye Arena and made a statement against No. 23 Iowa. It led by 25 points less than a minute before halftime.

But the Terps had to survive a fighting comeback effort after a big first-half lead in order to take a 74-66 win over the Hawkeyes, whose 20-game home win streak dating back to last season ended Sunday.

“Really impressed with this group’s poise and composure,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “This group just found different ways to win. I loved our first half. We knew Iowa was going to come back in that second half.”

After Iowa scored first, Maryland went on a 13-0 run and didn’t let up from there, beginning the contest 5-of-7 from 3-point range.

But as great as a start Maryland put together, momentum flipped in the latter end of the first quarter. Iowa inserted a freshman-heavy lineup and went on a 7-0 run that cut Maryland’s lead to seven points after the first quarter. The Terps led by as much as 14 points in the frame, but kept missing shots despite an abundance of offensive rebounds. Five of Christina Dalce’s six rebounds in the first 10 minutes were on the offensive end.

Maryland was dominant to start the second quarter, putting together an 18-1 run to extend its lead to 24 points. The Terps outmatched Iowa on the boards, forced turnovers at will and moved the ball fluidly.

The Terps headed to the break up by 21 points after a small Iowa push, but the Terps made a statement in their biggest road test to this point.

Maryland was 9-of-17 from deep in the first half. It hadn’t converted more than 11 3-pointers in any of its previous 13 games.

Shyanne Sellers and Kaylene Smikle both scored 14 points in the first half, and Maryland’s defense did a masterful job containing Iowa. No Hawkeye scored more than four points except Lucy Olsen with 11.

Iowa came out of the half with some life. After Saylor Poffenbarger started the period with a triple, the Hawkeyes went on a 12-0 run and the crowd erupted.

“I think Iowa came out with punches [in the] second half,” Smikle said. “But we know how to play through that. We aren’t going to crumble from teams going on runs, because that’s just how basketball is.”

The Terps were held scoreless for more than four minutes before Smikle went 1-of-2 from the charity stripe. Maryland made its first field goal of the half before missing its next seven — a Bri McDaniel fadeaway jumper ended the shooting drought.

The Terps held Hannah Stuelke, who entered the game averaging 13.6 point per game, to one point through three quarters, and she was in foul trouble with four fouls.

After scoring 48 in the first half, the Terps only scored 11 points in the third period. Although they still led by 16 points, Iowa stole some of the momentum.

The Hawkeyes started the fourth on a 5-0 run to cut Maryland’s lead to 11, but a steal and finish by Smikle silenced the Iowa crowd.

The Hawkeyes brought the deficit to single-digits, as their comeback effort was in full force. It became a two-possession game halfway through the fourth quarter, and the Terps were in severe danger, succumbing to poor shot selection.

The Terps made a few clutch shots down the stretch and connected when necessary, but a late Iowa run cut the deficit to five points with 44 seconds remaining.

Once again, the Terps came through when they needed to, making free throws and playing strong defense to hold on to the win.

Three things to know

1. Big Ten road win. Maryland survived its toughest road test thus far Sunday, improving to 14-0 on the season. It could easily serve as the most difficult road environment the Terps will see all season, and they held strong.

“This is a tough place to play, and I think we played really hard and we pulled it out,” Sellers said.

2. Smikle shows off. Smikle scored a season-high 26 points Sunday. She went 4-of-5 from three, 8-of-17 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line.

3. Less turnovers, but less rebounds. For the first time this season, Maryland was out-rebounded, 44-41, after a big second half on the boards for Iowa. Maryland won the turnover margin, though, with 15 steals and 22 forced turnovers.