Maryland women’s basketball was shorthanded against Bethune-Cookman in the Xfinity Center on Thursday, but it didn’t matter. Maryland opened the game on a 20-0 run and the Wildcats never got closer than within
14 points the rest of the way.
The Terps eventually won, 95-49, staying undefeated heading into a Sunday contest against a scrappy George Mason squad. Here are three takeaways from Thursday’s game.
More small ball
Head coach Brenda Frese got some strong minutes from a five-out lineup against Princeton; she decided to come out of the gate with the same philosophy against Bethune-Cookman. Maryland started the game with Kyndal Walker, Kaylene Smikle, Oluchi Okananwa, Saylor Poffenbarger and Yarden Garzon.
“[Lineup selection] will be based off of scouts,” Frese said. “Just watching what we need to do when we play different teams.”
That lineup powered Maryland’s 20-0 start and helped it swallow the Wildcats out of the gate — suffocating them with a full-court press and getting easy layups for Okananwa, who had six points in the first five minutes.
It was also Smikle’s first start of the season since returning from injury. The guard is looking more and more like herself and tied for the team-lead in scoring with 13 points on 6-of-10 from the floor. Surprisingly, she shot just a single free throw and missed it.
“We’re trying to get KK [Smikle] back into the fold, you know one of our most talented players that’s coming back from an injury,” Frese said.
All five of those players also have the ability to knock down jumpshots, forcing Bethune-Cookman to stay honest on the perimeter. Garzon and Poffenbarger hit two 3-pointers each.
With a healthy Addi Mack — and eventually Bri McDaniel — in place of Walker, this lineup without a traditional post player could be Maryland’s best five. The question will be whether it can hold up defensively against some dominant and imposing Big Ten centers like UCLA’s Lauren Betts.
When Maryland’s centers did play, they struggled offensively. Marya Boiko took just two shots, and Isi Ozzy-Momodu struggled to finish at the rim, missing multiple layups. Maryland’s best post player minutes came from Breanna Williams, who showed off her ability to use her size in the low post to create advantages, finish easy layups and draw fouls.
Walker’s first start
Maryland fans and Frese have been waiting patiently for Walker to look like the player she was at St. John’s College High School in D.C. She redshirted her freshman year with a lingering wrist injury, and has struggled to get going in Maryland’s first five games.
With Addi Mack out with ankle soreness, Walker got her first start and repaid Frese with easily her best game in a Maryland jersey. She confidently attacked her defenders, got downhill and showed her ability as a traditional point guard dishing out four assists to two turnovers.
“I thought Kyndal did a phenomenal job, her career best,” Frese said. “That’s what we know she’s capable of doing and she did a great job overseeing the team.”
Walker’s lack of a reliable jumpshot to this point has made it difficult for her to play off the ball as a shooting guard, but she looked more comfortable in her natural floor general role as the ball-dominant point guard. She ended with 13 points on 5-of-7 from the field and got to the line for five free throws, sinking three.
“The biggest thing for me is being versatile, whether I’m the one or the two I’m pretty comfortable,” Walker said. “My teammates allow me to put them in the right positions and vice versa.”
She also showed how her heart and athleticism can be an asset on both ends, hustling defensively to come up with two steals and drawing a charge near half-court.
Defense continues to dominate
Frese sets her team a target for points allowed in each game. Against Bethune-Cookman, the target was 50 — which Maryland just met, despite a couple late 3-pointers to put it in jeopardy.
The Terps entered the game averaging 20.2 forced turnovers a game, mostly on the strength of an intense full-court press. Thursday was no different, as the Wildcats failed to score for over the first five minutes of the game.
“Really love to be able to see the relentless pressure and intensity that I thought we played with from the tip,” Frese said.
Maryland forced Bethune-Cookman into 26 turnovers, with a majority of those being live ball giveaways allowing Maryland to collect easy twos in transition. The Terps combined for 15 steals, led by Okananwa, who swiped four, and Garzon, who grabbed three.
“This time takes more pride in their defense [than last year. They’re more athletic,” Frese said. “You can see we’re back to pressing, we weren’t able to do that last year.”
Maryland’s defense will be tested further soon with conference play and some high-octane Big Ten offenses looming, but the combination of length, athleticism and energy on the defensive end projects it could legitimately be one of the better defensive units in the conference.
