Those hoping to see Maryland women’s basketball challenged in its fourth game of the year against Towson left Xfinity Center disappointed Thursday night. The Terps dominated a clearly overmatched Tigers
team, winning 88-70.
In the process, Maryland cemented its record at 4-0 heading into one of the biggest challenges in its nonconference slate against a tough Princeton team.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
Major injury changes
Maryland took a step forward with the return of its reliable and explosive shooting guard Kaylene Smikle, who made her 2025-26 season debut Thursday.
Then it took one immediately back. Electric freshman point guard Lea Bartelme blew past her defender on a drive, only to fall unprompted to the ground clutching her left leg. Bartelme had to be helped off the court, not putting any weight on her injured leg.
“It’s a knee injury, you saw that,” Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said. “She’s going to be evaluated in the next few days.”
As unfortunate an injury to Bartelme is for Maryland, the Terps have elite depth in their backcourt, especially after Smikle’s return. The second-year Terp scored 13 points, 10 of which came in the second half — she began to look like the Smikle of last season, finding her shooting stroke and continuing her relentless offensive effort.
“You can see what she brings to the table in such a short time, with a limited amount of reps,” Frese said. “Only KK [Smikle] could come out and do what she did tonight.”
With Bartelme out for an undisclosed amount of time, it will put even more primary ball handling duties on Addi Mack, who proved her massive outing against Georgetown was no fluke. She scored a team-high 15 points in the win.
Maryland is still awaiting the return of what could be the team’s best guard and player in Bri McDaniel. It likely won’t see McDaniel until conference play in 2026, as she works her way back from a torn ACL.
In the meantime, Smikle, Mack and Oluchi Okananwa look capable of shouldering the load.
“It’s obviously nice to have options,” Frese said. “Hopefully every game we play we’ll get a bit better.”
Terps protected the rim early
Maryland set the tone early that Towson wasn’t going to get any easy points around the basket. The Tigers boasted some talented guards that had the ability to get downhill and create offense. However, the Terps blocked six shots in the first half, and seven total. Maryland’s previous game-high in blocks was three.
Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu had a team-high three stuffs, making her presence felt defensively. She also notched eight points and six rebounds. Saylor Poffenbarger also added a pair of blocks, with Smikle and Okananwa both getting one.
Early in the second quarter, Tigers’ guard Thalia Shepard drove in the lane, only to get rejected by Poffenbarger. Zoli Khalil corralled the loose ball, but Poffenbarger swatted her putback. Poffenbarger then made sure the Tigers wouldn’t get another chance at grabbing the ball, finding Mack in transition for an easy two points.
“We want to be a great defensive team, when we buy into that it creates blocks,” Smikle said.
The team’s first half defensive effort also forced Towson to stay out of the paint and take tougher shots. The Tigers ended the first half shooting 31% from the floor.
Maryland wasn’t able to keep up the defensive effort in the second half when Towson got its offense going, but it was enough to build an insurmountable 28-point lead at the break.
Maryland took its foot off the gas
The Terps looked like they were en route to another blowout, potentially the biggest of the young season, with a 28-point lead at the half. Instead, it was Towson that won the second half by 10 points.
“Our focus and attention to detail could have been a lot better tonight,” Frese said. “I thought we made a lot of uncharacteristic and kind of undisciplined plays. Mistakes that hopefully we’ll be able to learn from.”
Towson’s guards also deserve significant credit for showing off their scoring prowess. Tigers head coach and Maryland legend Laura Harper collected some talented players in the transfer portal. India Johnston and Shepard led the way against Maryland, combining for 43 points.
“I’m extremely proud of the fight that we put up,” Harper said.
Harper said she uses what she learned from Frese to keep her team grounded in difficult games.
“[Frese] is the queen of the locker room,” Harper said. “Everyone thinks it’s X’s and O’s and these advanced scouts and ‘how are we going to guard this’? It’s about instilling confidence in your players and allowing them to have a short memory.”
Maryland turned the ball over 12 times and allowed Towson to put up 47 second half points, some of which could be attributed to lineup experimentation. Still, Frese is eager to get those issues corrected heading into a tough game against Princeton.
“That’s a really good team that’s coming in with a ton of experience,” Frese said. “We’ve got to be able to defend. Giving them 70 points tonight is way too many.”
