For the first time in the 2025-26 season, Maryland women’s basketball has to respond to a game that didn’t break its way. Bogged down by foul trouble, the team dropped a nailbiter to Illinois on the road
Thursday afternoon, losing the 14-game undefeated streak that opened the year.
Just four days after the loss, a reeling Indiana program will arrive at Xfinity Center, desperate for its first conference victory. The game will start at 6 p.m. and be broadcast on Big Ten Network.
Indiana Hoosiers (11-4, 0-3 Big Ten)
Indiana head coach Teri Moren’s 12th season in charge of the Hoosiers started out well. The Hoosiers won seven straight games, including three solid wins against high-major programs, before losing its first game to a great Iowa State team.
Big Ten play has delivered them a rough reality check though — they’ve lost their first three conference games by a combined 64 points. They will show up to College Park on equal rest to the Terps, having taken a 20-point loss to Michigan State on Thursday afternoon.
Players to watch
Shay Ciezki, senior guard, 5-foot-7, No. 10 — In spite of Indiana’s struggles, Ciezki has been a revelation for the Hoosiers this season. After three seasons of being a solid rotation player, she has taken over as the alpha of the current team.
Ciezki is the conference’s leading scorer at 23.2 points per game. Her scoring ability is similar to injured Maryland guard Kaylene Smikle: a dangerous shooter if left unattended that primarily wants to attack her defenders off the dribble and get downhill. She will surely be the No. 1 focus of Maryland head coach Brenda Frese’s scouting report.
Lenée Beaumont, redshirt sophomore guard, 6-foot-1, No. 5 — Beaumont is the clear second scoring option to Ciezki, playing off the ball as a catch-and-shoot threat. She has been deadly from beyond the arc at 45.3%. Maryland will try to run her off the 3-point line.
Zania Socka-Nguemen, sophomore center, 6-foot-3, No. 23 — Nguemen is a former highly-touted local product out of Sidwell Friends in Washington D.C. She played her freshman year at UCLA, where she didn’t see much of the floor, and made the decision to jump ship to Indiana in the offseason. She broke out early this season for the Hoosiers — averaging 13 points and nine rebounds — before suffering an injury to her right foot.
Moren indicated the big would return “after Christmas,” according to the Daily Hoosier. If she returns against the Terps, she could provide the team a huge boost.
Strength
3-point shooting. The Hoosiers don’t take an exceptionally high number of threes (19.6 per contest), but when they do take them, there’s a good chance they’re going in. Most of the shooting is done by Ciezki and Beaumont, but the Hoosiers have a couple other threats from deep, including Nevaeh Caffey and Maya Makalusky. They will be the most accurate 3-point shooting team Maryland has faced this year.
Weakness
Rebounding. The glass will absolutely be the biggest mismatch between Maryland and Indiana Sunday evening. Frese’s team is No. 2 in the country in rebounding margin, while the Hoosiers are easily the worst rebounding team in the conference. This makes the potential return of their best rebounder, Socka-Nguemen, all the more valuable.
Three things to watch
1. Special celebration. This game will be an opportunity for Frese to celebrate a 20-year reunion of the 2006 National Championship-winning team. The team will be honored with a pre-game ceremony with 10 members present, according to Frese.
“You continue to marvel at just how young and fearless and confident that group was to go and win Maryland’s first national championship,” Frese said.
2. Garzon faces a familiar foe. Yarden Garzon spent the last three years as one of Indiana’s best players. Now, she will get to match up against them for the first time in her career. Garzon will also be looking to bounce back from an up-and-down game against Illinois, where she put up 17 points but missed 11 shots and had two crucial turnovers late in the game.
3. More double big? If Socka-Nguemen is indeed still out for the Hoosiers, Frese might be tempted to use some bigger lineups, with two of Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu, Breanna Williams and Marya Boiko to press the advantage inside. With her guards in foul trouble against Illinois, she was forced to these big combinations for stretches of time. They worked relatively well — Boiko had one of her best games of the year.
