CHESTERTOWN, Md. - Washington (Md.) built an 11-point halftime lead en route to a 79-63 victory over McDaniel in the Centennial Conference (CC) women's basketball opener for both teams on Tuesday.

Steph Perez (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East) scored 16 points to lead the Green Terror (1-2, 0-1 CC), who were held to 25.3 percent shooting from the floor.

Erin Fitzgerald recorded a double-double with 23 points and 17 rebounds for the Shorewomen (3-0, 1-0 CC), who shot 53.4 percent for the game.

Clinging to an 18-15 lead after a Codi McMaster (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) jumper with 10:59 to play in the opening half, Washington scored seven of the game's next eight points to open up a nine-point advantage with 7:14 remaining en route to a 42-31 halftime lead.

Ashley Espinosa hit a 3-pointer out of halftime to stretch the lead to 14 before buckets from Perez and Emma Wingerd (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) trimmed the deficit to 10 before two minutes had elapsed in the second half.

Perez made it a 49-40 game with 13:31 showing but Espinosa hit a layup on the break to spark a 12-0 run and push the lead to 21 just 2:20 later.

The Green Terror returns to action at Penn State-York on Tuesday. Game time is 7 p.m.