No. 12 Maryland women’s basketball probably didn’t expect to win too many games while scoring just 62 points this season, but that’s all it needed on the road in a tight victory over USC.
After four quarters of turnovers, missed shots, fouls and offensive rebounds, the Terps won, 62-55. Here are three takeaways from the game.
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The Terps overcame the physicality
Head coach Brenda Frese identified ahead of the game that the more physical team would be the one who came away with the victory. By the final whistle, she was proven right — the Terps battled to a win on the back of defensive and rebounding effort.
“I’m just really proud of our toughness,” Frese said. “Any time you’re able to get a road win, they’re precious in our league.”
The team’s combined for just 117 points. Early, it was USC who seemed to be bringing the game to the Terps, forcing them into one of its worst halves of the season. The Trojans pressure and defensive intensity led to 13 first-half turnovers for the Terps.
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Luckily, Maryland was able to hang tough on defense — in the end, USC couldn’t generate enough offense to pull away. Maryland flipped the script after halftime.
Maryland turned up the temperature in the second half. It began to attack into the teeth of USC’s physical defense and force the referees into foul calls.
The game took some victims — Rainey Welson left after a collision with Jazzy Davidson saw her bang the back of her head into the hardwood floor. USC’s leading scorer, Kara Dunn, left the night with a black eye.
The Terps cleaned up their turnovers and ultimately won the turnover battle, 22-18. They outrebounded the Trojans as well, 40-35, despite losing the battle on the offensive glass.
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Maryland slowed Davidson after the first quarter
Davidson showed why she was the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 class early on. She lit up Maryland getting downhill to her spots and stepping out from deep.
She ended the first quarter with 12 points, on pace for 48 in the game — but Davidson didn’t score again. Davidson did Maryland some favors, settling for contested 3-pointers as opposed to attacking, but the Terps’ defense overwhelmed her for the last 30 minutes of the game.
“Being able to hold Jazzy was really important,” Frese said. “First quarter she was really motivated, to be able to hold her 0-for-14 after that first quarter was really impressive for this group.”
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Much of that credit goes to Oluchi Okananwa. She had a quiet offensive night, but checked Davidson for much of the game with her trademark speed and disruptiveness. It seemed that every time USC had a chance to pull away from the Terps, Davidson would miss a shot to throw the Terps a lifeline.
Maryland had a three-point lead in the fourth quarter and Okananwa turned the ball over. The Terps hadn’t scored yet in the quarter and the California crowd was trying to will their team back into the lead. Instead Kyndal Walker stripped the ball from Davidson deflecting it back off her leg and getting Maryland the ball straight back.
Those kinds of defensive plays on Davidson helped Maryland keep USC to just 55 points.
Role players chipped in when it counted
In a game where USC had solid defensive scouts and agitated Maryland’s leading scorers like Okananawa, Yarden Garzon, and Saylor Poffenbarger, the Terps needed all their available players to chip in. That’s exactly what they did.
The most valuable contribution came from Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu who put together a good 27 minutes and then capped it off with a clutch two-way sequence to ice the game for Maryland. First she scrapped for an offensive rebound and putback, putting the Terps up by four points with just over a minute to go. Then on the other end, USC’s Malia Samuels went up for a lay up — Ozzy-Momodu reached over from behind to reject it.
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She served as Maryland’s defensive anchor during the shutdown performance.
“We were all locked in on defensive communication,” Ozzy-Momodu said. “I’m always at the back. If I’m not communicating then no one else is going to communicate.”
Ozzy-Momodu wasn’t the only one. When Rainey Welson went down with an injury, Walker was forced to take over pretty much all of the backup guard minutes and she was up to the task.
Beyond defensive intensity, Walker scored nine points — all at the free throw line — fearlessly attacking the basket and drawing fouls. Breanna Williams played eight minutes and scored three points and grabbed four boards, relieving Ozzy-Momodu for a couple stretches of the game.
“I love where our bench is at, you see the confidence we’re playing with,” Frese said. “Breanna Williams gave us just impactful minutes, you know she hadn’t been in a game of this magnitude before.”
