No. 10 Maryland women’s basketball dominated Loyola Maryland on Monday, 80-26.
After a slow start, the Terps exploded offensively and held the Greyhounds completely in check throughout the final three quarters, easily cruising to victory.
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Here are three takeaways from Maryland’s opening night victory.
The youth injection was noticeable
Maryland utilized a slew of its younger players on Monday, something that it lacked last season.
Maryland had 100 total minutes from its freshman and redshirt freshmen against Loyola, where it had just 178 of those minutes last season.
Depth was also an issue — all the 2024-25 minutes came from Ava McKennie. Breanna Williams and Kyndal Walker, the other members of McKennie’s freshman class last year, made their collegiate debuts Monday.
In comparison, all five current freshmen saw the floor for the Terps Monday.
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“I thought our freshmen were really, really important tonight to be able to kind of continue to gain valuable game experience,” head coach Brenda Frese said.
Marya Boiko led the Terps’ youth invasion down low with eight points. She looked a bit unsettled early, but got into a groove and showed signs of raw talent in spurts. Lea Bartelme started for the Terps and was noticeably quick with strong ball movement. She had seven points, three rebounds and two assists.
The Terps are also much deeper than they were a year ago; 13 players competed against Loyola, while Maryland only had 11 players suit up for it throughout last season.
“We never took our foot off the gas and thought we played really hard,” Frese said. “This team dives on the floor when you’re up 50, like, that’s a great sign when you have them playing that hard.”
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In the absence of key contributors like Kaylene Smikle and Bri McDaniel, the Terps’ youth got a chance to play that will likely remain through nonconference play.
Once Smikle and McDaniel eventually return, the expansive depth will probably decrease, but the Terps will still be able to utilize it.
“Obviously it’s early, first game, but it is nice to be able to have some of these games where we are able to provide that depth right now,” Frese said. “To be able to see what it’s going to look like when we play better teams.”
The defense showed sizable improvement
Maryland women’s basketball allowed the fewest points in a game across the Frese era on Monday, and the least since 1974.
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“We didn’t play the score. I thought we played to get better. Every possession, every quarter, we were really locked in,” Frese said.
Loyola scored 26 points and shot 20% from the field. After an 11-point first quarter, the Greyhounds scored 15 points for the remaining 30 minutes of the contest.
The Terps forced 29 turnovers and had 18 steals. They scored 35 points off turnovers.
Individually, Saylor Poffenbarger was Maryland’s most effective defensive player. She had five steals and one of the game’s three blocks. Maryland’s rim protection was supported by the big presences of Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu and Boiko.
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The defensive improvement has been reiterated throughout the preseason. The Terps were aggressive throughout, intercepting passing lanes and making Loyola uncomfortable.
“We were able to change things up. I thought when we were able to shift something between full court to half court, little bit of zone, they were really locked in together,” Frese said.
Offensive style changed and produced efficiently
Maryland’s offensive style was significantly different on Monday, which led to efficient scoring.
The Terps limited their offensive isolation and relied on strong ball movement, speed and shooting.
Maryland also limited its shot selection to almost exclusively 3-pointers and layups. Due to its high probability shot selection, it shot 50.9% from the field and 47.6% from deep.
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“I’d love to be 10-for-21 [from deep] game in and game out,” Frese said. “I do think we have a lot of weapons from three, then it’s going to help us in the offensive end to be able to extend it, but definitely when we’re unselfish, I like the assist and playing for one another.”
Oluchi Okananwa was Maryland’s primary option and its only shot creator. She was 4-of-4 from beyond the arc and was looked to for scoring whenever offensive sets were sloppy. She led the team with 18 points.
“I knew that for this team, I needed to be someone that they can rely on to knock down a shot,” Okananwa said.
Aside from her, the offense was balanced. Poffenbarger was 3-of-3 from 3-point range and had 11 points but wasn’t a primary scorer. The Terps had 11 different players score, with only two in double figures.
