No. 9 Maryland women’s basketball had a scare Sunday against Georgetown. Luckily for the Terps, freshman guard Addi Mack propelled the team to victory with an electric fourth quarter.
Maryland remains a perfect 3-0 on the young season. Now riding three-and-a-half days of rest — more than it got between any games last week — it will be fresh on Wednesday to take on Towson, its fourth straight local opponent. Maryland is 20-5 against Towson all-time and riding a streak of 10 straight wins.
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Thursday’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. and stream on Big Ten Plus.
Towson Tigers (2-1, 0-0 CAA)
2024-25 record: 12-20, 8-10 CAA
The Tigers are led by a familiar face to Terps fans: head coach Laura Harper. Harper played four seasons with the Terps from 2004-2008, and was an instrumental part of the 2006 national championship team. She remains close with Maryland head coach Brenda Frese.
Now in her fourth year, Harper is trying to lead a turnaround after a rough 2024-25 campaign. In her first two seasons, the Tigers won at least 20 games.
The Tigers opened the campaign with a blowout loss on the road at Virginia Tech before bouncing back with big wins over Stetson and Division II Frostburg State.
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Players to watch
Zoli Khalil, junior guard, 6-foot-0, No. 13 — Khalil was a big get for Harper in the transfer portal. She poached Khalil from VCU, where she was the Rams’ second-leading scorer and shot 44.6% from beyond the arc. Khalil has been by far Towson’s most dynamic offensive option through three games, averaging 15.7 points on over 50% shooting from the field. Expect the guard to be the primary focus of Maryland’s scouting report.
Thalia Shepard, junior guard, 5-foot-9, No. 11 — Another transfer, Shepard has been a two-way force for the Tigers, averaging 11.7 points and 2.3 steals per contest. Shepard played her first two seasons at Merrimack, where she led the team in scoring and earned all-conference honors in the Northeast Conference.
Tilda Sjökvist, senior guard, 5-foot-7, No. 9 — Sjökvist rounds out Towson’s three-headed monster in its backcourt as the team’s floor general. She’s averaging a team-high five assists per game and can also extend the defense, having cashed in seven 3-pointers in three games.
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Strength
Guard play. If the Tigers’ players to watch didn’t make it apparent, Harper was able to build a really solid group of guards through the transfer portal — Sjökvist also came from it, out of Missouri. Maryland, who may remain without its two most experienced and lead guards in Bri McDaniel and Kaylene Smikle, will have some difficult matchups on its hands in the back court.
Weakness
Rebounding. A symptom of their guard-heavy lineup is Towson’s struggles on the glass. The Tigers have been outrebounded by a combined 30 boards in their two games against Division I opponents. Expect Towson to mostly get one look at the basket, while Maryland’s superior size should often get multiple.
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Three things to watch
1. Can Garzon get going? Maryland has gotten to 3-0 without getting much offensive production from marquee Indiana transfer Yarden Garzon. Garzon, who was the best 3-point shooter in the conference with the Hoosiers, has started just 4-of-19 from deep. She has impacted winning in other ways, both on the glass and as a facilitator, but Maryland is still awaiting her offensive breakthrough.
2. Guard rotation. Mack announced herself against Georgetown, while other young guards like Kyndal Walker and Rainey Welson saw much time on the floor. Whether Frese opts for more of Mack and less of the other two will be interesting to monitor going forward.
3. Boiko and the bigs. Due to Towson’s lack of size, the Terps’ physical frontcourt bodies like Marya Boiko, Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu and potentially even Breanna Williams — who’s played sparingly — could be in line for big outings. Look for Frese to try and feed the post early and often against the Tigers.
