Fresh off passing its toughest test so far this season with a win over Princeton, Maryland women’s basketball will welcome Bethune-Cookman to College Park on Thursday night.
The Terps will be heavily favored to move to 6-0 against an opponent who hasn’t beat a Division I team yet this season.
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The game will tip off at 6 p.m. and be available to stream on Big Ten Plus.
Bethune-Cookman (1-3, 0-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference)
2024-25 record: 10-21, 7-11 Southwestern Athletic Conference
Head coach Janell Crayton Del Rosario, now in year five with the Wildcats, has seen a lot more losing than winning during her tenure. Bethune-Cookman has been a below-average team for the SWAC, one of Division I’s weaker conferences.
The Wildcats are off to another losing start this season, but have been collecting checks to play on the road against programs with a lot more resources. They have losses to Miami, UCF and FIU. Their lone victory came at the expense of Division II Albany State.
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Players to watch
Alexandria Johnson, graduate student guard, 5-foot-8, No. 11 – In her fifth season of college basketball across three different levels, Johnson is putting together her best year yet. She’s the Wildcats only player averaging double figures in scoring and is fresh off her best game of the season: a 23 point outing against Florida International.
Sanai Tyler, junior forward, 6-foot, No. 25 – Tyler is getting her first taste of Division I hoops and acclimating well. She is mega-efficient in her shot selection, shooting over 60% from the floor and one of team’s leading rebounders at 5.7 boards a game. She will be in for a tough battle against Maryland’s much bigger front court players.
Daimoni Dorsey, senior guard, 5-foot-7, No. 0 – Dorsey is a product of Baltimore powerhouse St. Frances, and was the SWAC preseason Defensive Player of the Year. She’s averaging 1.5 steals a game early in the season to go along with 8.5 points. With Maryland’s tendency to turn the ball over, Dorsey could be a pest Thursday evening.
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Strength
Drawing fouls. Much of Bethune-Cookman’s offense rests on its ability to get to the free throw line, something they’ve done at a top 30 rate in the country so far this year. They have shot over 25 free throws a game, but converted just below 64 percent on those shots.
Weakness
Efficiency. The Wildcats simply don’t make enough shots to be competitive at the top level of Division I basketball so far. They are below 300th in the country in field goal percentage (34.4%) and 3-point percentage (21.2%), and it would be surprising if they improved against a rock-solid Maryland defense.
Three things to watch
1. More lineup experimentation. After Frese had to shorten her bench in a tough game against Princeton, the Terps pivot to what might be the weakest team on their schedule. The Wildcats should allow Frese plenty of room to go deep into her bench and give players like Ava McKennie, Breanna Williams, and maybe even Nicole Fritea more experience.
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2. Wear and tear. Thursday will be Maryland’s sixth of 10 games in the month of November. Frese has commented on the difficulty of the tight turnarounds, and the team has picked up a couple injuries, including Lea Bartelme’s ACL tear. Maryland is also waiting on Rainey Welson back from a lower leg injury.
3. Do the post players bounce back? Part of Frese’s smaller rotation against Princeton included opting for a smaller lineup without either Marya Boiko or Isi Ozzy-Momodu on the floor. Against an undersized Bethune-Cookman game either or both of the bigs should be able to have a lot of success on both ends of the floor.
