Every game day in the Big Ten brings its own challenges. Each team near the top of the conference has their own strengths and on Sunday, No. 19 Ohio State women’s basketball gets its first chance at one of the most unique. The No. 8 Maryland Terrapins welcome the Buckeyes to College Park, Maryland for the first of two games between the ranked Big Ten rivals.
For the Terps, they hope to continue to grow a team devastated by injury and the Scarlet and Gray get a chance to do something it has only one twice in the past 10 years — defeat the Terrapins on their home court.
Meet the Terps
Look at the projected starting lineup for the Maryland Terrapins and only one suited up for head coach Brenda Frese last season. Guard Kaylene Smikle, the two-time All-Big Ten selection, attempted to play through knee pain this year but decided to undergo season-ending surgery after seven games.
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Fellow guard Bri McDaniel, who tore her ACL last season, and was slated to return at the start of the 2026 calendar year decided to go redshirt to play one more full season of college basketball.
Those are two of four examples where a Maryland player suffered a season ending injury, or is not going to play anymore minutes during the 2025-26 campaign. Promising Slovenian freshman guard Lea Bartelme and guard Ava McKennie joined the two role players this season, but that does not make the Terps a team to overlook. Anything but. Ohio State has a stiff challenge ahead of itself.
Graduate senior guard Saylor Poffenbarger is the lone returner in the expected starting five for coach Frese. Alongside the versatile 6-foot-2 guard, who can shoot from deep but also has the size to play inside and pass to find open teammates, is a duo of all-conference transfers and a freshman growing into starter minutes.
Duke Blue Devil guard Oluchi Okananwa and Indiana Hoosier guard Yarden Garzon each entered the transfer portal and landed in College Park, Maryland. With it, the Terrapins’ foundation brought consistency to a roster that is now anything but.
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The junior guard Okananwa challenges Ohio State point guard Jaloni Cambridge as one of the quickest in the conference. Okananwa is not a frequent shooter from three-point range but uses that speed to work inside the arc.
Defensively, Okananwa is a one-player fast break with 2.2 steals per game, which bumps up to 3.2 in conference play. Once the junior gets a steal, she possesses the speed to leave the offense turned defense in the dust.
“You’ve got to get back and get her under control, or get her pushed off to a side,” head coach Kevin McGuff told reporters. “If you let her go wild in transition, it’s gonna be a long night, because she gets to the rim, and she creates so much good offense with the ball in her hands. So you’ve got to find a way to keep her in front. It’s not an individual thing. It’s gonna have to be a team effort.”
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When Okananwa finds an open teammate, Garzon brings the same deep shooting prowess the senior possessed under head coach Teri Moren in Bloomington. It took the guard a little bit of time to adjust, and has a career low three-point shooting percentage of 40.3% but since conference play hit a groove and 50% of shots from beyond the arc are falling for Garzon.
Then there is senior transfer Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu and freshman Addi Mack, who round out the starting five. Ozzy-Momodu brings size inside the paint a 6-foot-3 and Mack is one of four players on the active roster with at least 2.5 assists per game.
Overall, the Terrapins compete with their versatility. While Okananwa has pace and Garzon can shoot, nobody is a one-dimensional player for Frese. Maryland’s ability to adjust to all of the losses in the roster over only half of the 25-26 season is because nobody fits into a box. Ohio State needs to prepare for anything.
We’re trying to lock in, as much as we can, what our best guess of how they’re going to run things and execute, but because they can move them around so much, in two days you’re not going to really cover it all,“ McGuff said. ”So we’re gonna have to hang our hat on being the best version of ourselves, especially defensively, because they’ll they’re going to put some people in some positions we haven’t seen yet.“
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Turnover vs. Rebounds
Sunday will come down to which team plays to their strengths more effectively. Maryland’s versatile roster will screen and pass the Buckeye defense into open shooters. When those shots do not fall, the Terrapins are one of the best in the conference at grabbing rebounds to either maintain, or flip, possession.
Maryland averages the second most rebounds per game in conference play (44.2), a fraction of a rebound less than 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts and the No. 4 UCLA Bruins (45) and it is not because of one or two people. Seven Terrapins average at least three rebounds per game and what about Ohio State? Only four. That shows a team that is active without the ball in their hands and will not let the ball fall into the hands of a Buckeye easily.
Ohio State struggled rebounding against the Illini on Wednesday, especially on offensive boards where the Fighting Illini out-rebounded the Buckeyes 12-6. The Terps grab 16.2 offensive rebounds per game and will be a challenge to forward Kylee Kitts and center Elsa Lemmilä, who had positive moments against Illinois but were out-paced and out-hustled on the boards and interior defense.
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Part of that was Illinois’ smaller size, which brought quicker pace. Another part is decisions on defense.
“I think if people are trying to make plays and score over them [Kitts and Lemmilä], if they can just kind of keep them in front of them and make them score over them, it becomes very difficult,” McGuff said. “But they [Illinois] were getting by both of them and getting to the rim and drawing fouls.”
What will help Ohio State stay in the game is decisions in halfcourt defense and forcing turnovers. The Buckeyes’ are prone to allowing an open shooter and the Terrapins are patient and will use the clock to find the open player. That requires pace from the Scarlet and Gray to close down on shooters, or shadow Garzon who takes seven threes per game on average.
Turnovers will be especially critical because the Terrapins are no strangers to giving the ball away. Despite being a team full of players who can morph into different roles, there is still a learning curve in College Park for a group that was not expected to start or be the core of the team.
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The Terrapins average 17 turnovers per game in conference play, but with that said still have a positive turnover margin because they too will defend with full court, havoc-inducing, pressure. This is the same team that came back from nine points down in double overtime with less than a minute remaining, on the road, against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Maryland forced turnovers and scored 10 unanswered points on its way to a season shifting victory.
Offensively, Ohio State will rely on Jaloni Cambridge, but senior guard Chance Gray has found her place as a clutch moment shooter over the last three games. Against Illinois, Gray had 18 points and most of the time they were stopping an Illini run or putting Ohio State in the lead. The Buckeye bench has a chance to make a difference on Sunday, because the injuries have Maryland going further down its bench than expected this season.
Ohio State’s current bench rotation brings in a trio of guards in T’Yana Todd, Ava Watson and Bryn Martin, but against Illinois the three scored no points, but played a combined 29 minutes.
Projected Lineups
Ohio State
G: Jaloni Cambridge
G: Chance Gray
G: Kennedy Cambridge
F: Kylee Kitts
C: Elsa Lemmilä
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Lineup Notes
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The Buckeyes had zero bench points in Wednesday’s win over the Illinois Fighting Illini
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Jaloni Cambridge’s 41 points on Wednesday increased her season scoring average to 20.8 points per game
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Kennedy Cambridge is on pace for 123 steals this season, which would be a program record over 115 by Yvette Angel in the 84-85 season. Angel is the only Buckeye with at least 100 steals in a season
Maryland
G: Oluchi Okananwa
G: Addi Mack
G: Yarden Garzon
F: Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu
F: Saylor Poffenbarger
Lineup Notes
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Oluchi Okananwa needs nine points to reach 1,000 in her career, which will be the fourth player on the Maryland roster to achieve the milestone
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Yarden Garzon takes seven three-point shots per game, a career high
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Seven of Maryland’s 15-player roster are new to the team this season
Prediction
Sunday will be a close game or a blowout, with little in-between. Ohio State played in a hostile environment against UConn earlier this season and a quick start will help the Buckeyes at least quiet the College Park crowd. More players will get in on the offensive side of the ball for McGuff’s side and will have a stronger three-point shooting day.
The game will stay close and could come down to the last minute or even the final shot. Maryland has the experience and home court advantage that gives the Terps the upper hand.
LGHL Score Prediction: 70-71 Maryland Terrapins
How to Watch
See what streaming experts have to say about how to best watch Sunday’s game and more in Land-Grant’s How to Watch.
