No. 7 Maryland women’s basketball dominates Mount St. Mary’s 87-52 behind balanced offensive attack

Photo courtesy of Rose Fernandes/ Maryland Athletics

Riding a perfect 10-0 record all-time against Mount St. Mary’s (0-6), No. 7 Maryland women’s basketball (9-0) looked to extend its in-state dominance. The Terps — who defeated the Mountaineers 98-57 in 2021 — continued that trend in Tuesday’s contest, winning 87-52. 

But it took a quarter of play before Maryland got its footing in the game. The Terps led by just seven points after 10 minutes and added to its free-throw struggles, shooting 5-9 at the charity stripe. 

“I’d like to see us get back to shooting free throws better,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “We were shooting 80% before the weekend hit, so that’s an area we need to get our mojo back and step up to the line and make free throws.”

Maryland made up for it on the glass, outrebounding Mount St. Mary’s by 22. The Terps garnered 46 boards in the contest, 12 on the offensive glass.

Once again, the Terps got off to a slow start. Allie Kubek opened the scoring, going 1-2 at the free-throw line. Sarah Te-Biasu followed it up with the first bucket, knocking down a three-pointer to push Maryland out to 4-0 lead.

Mount St. Mary’s responded though, with consecutive layups from guards Madison Ruff and Rosa Revueltas Pareja. And the Mountaineers continued to hang around. In her first game off the bench, Christina Dalce notched the next four points.

Saylor Poffenbarger extended the Terps’ lead to six, nailing the second three-pointer of the contest and matching their total from Sunday’s contest. But forward Tessa Engelman had the answer for Mount St. Mary’s, nailing a jumper from behind the arc.

Te-Biasu wrapped up a woeful opening quarter for Maryland, draining a pullup jumper. Despite shooting just 30.8% from the field, the Terps took a 15-8 lead into the second quarter.

“I was disappointed clearly with the start,” Frese said. “I think we need to set the tone early and be a lot more aggressive. Really wanted to make the point there. It’s understanding the standard we want to play at.”

Maryland finally got its offense going, opening up on a 10-0 run to start the quarter. Allie Kubek sparked it with the first four points before Shyanne Sellers, Kaylene Smikle and Bri McDaniel each added a bucket. The Terps opened up its largest lead of the game, 25-8.

And Maryland only extended its advantage. Dalce continued her stellar bench production, with a layup, before Sellers finished off an and-one. Then, a bucket from Kubek moved the score to 32-10.

The Terps — who allowed just two points in the first five minutes of the second period — gave up five points in a matter of 35 seconds.

Engelman knocked down Mount St. Mary’s second three-pointer, the only ones it had in the opening half. Smikle closed out the second quarter, nailing just her second bucket of the contest. The Terps held a 40-19 lead heading into the break.

“Coming into the second quarter, we just reiterated how we need to come with more energy no matter who the opponent is,” Kubek said. “Whoever wants to be on the court is going to have to play defensively and offensively.”

After a 25-point outburst in the second quarter, Maryland continued to fire on all cylinders. The Terps opened up a 25-point advantage on the heels of back-to-back layups from Kubek and Sellers. And Kubek kept her strong play going with three more points before McDaniel pushed the score to 49-21.

However, consecutive jumpers from guard Gabrielle Kennerly added to her team-high eight points. Mount St. Mary’s kept on scoring, tallying seven of the next 11 points to cut the deficit to 20.

But then Maryland got hot from the field, wrapping up the third quarter with 12 points in three minutes. Two jumpers from Poffenbarger helped restore the Terps’ 25-point lead.

Maryland took its foot off the pedal in the final period, emptying its bench. And that was evident, as the Terps scored just nine points in the first five minutes of the quarter. Dalce and Mir McLean added four second-chance points. 

In just 3 minutes of action, Amari DeBerry collected an assist and board, before she added her first points of the contest. Her bucket gave Maryland a feat it hadn’t accomplished this season, 10 players touching the court and 10 scorers.

The Terps closed the game with 16 of the last 23 points, including a 7-0 run. Smikle tallied six of them, marking the fifth Maryland player to score in double-figures. In her first start of the season, Poffenbarger recorded 10 points and seven boards.

“[Saylor] is super valuable,” Sellers said. “She’s a triple-threat for us. She can rebound, she can score inside, she can score outside. She makes it a tough matchup for other people. … Really versatile guard and forward for us.”

 Maryland will begin conference play on Saturday, facing Purdue on the road at 2 p.m.

“It gets real on Saturday,” Frese said. “Purdue’s a great team and [has] always been a hard place to play. We know this in conference play, that there’s 18 teams and half of them are ranked with the other two receiving votes. … You have an off night, you’re going to lose.”