Takeaways from No. 18 Maryland women’s basketball’s win over No. 11 Duke

Photo courtesy of University of Maryland Athletics

No. 18 Maryland women’s basketball secured its first signature win of the season, upsetting No. 11 Duke, 85-80. The Terps scored the first nine points of the contest and never looked back.

Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s game.

Duke press forces Terps to sloppy play. 

In the first two games of the season, Maryland had 36 turnovers, including 22 in its season opener. And Sunday’s match against Duke was no different. The Blue Devils full-court pressed, something that the Terps haven’t seen this season and their struggles against it were evident. 

Maryland had 20 turnovers, several of which were at inopportune times. The Terps had difficulties getting the ball inbounds and gave Duke free points. Off of these turnovers, the Blue Devils had 16 points.

“I’m still learning who our best inbounders are against the press break,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “Those things are going to take time as we watch film and have more games like this under our belt.”

While Maryland limited Duke’s points off turnovers to just three in the second half, it still had eight turnovers. The Terps had several opportunities to blow the game wide open, but instead, they let the Blue Devils hang around.

“I thought in spurts we handled [the press] really well,” Frese said. “I don’t know if it was fatigue-based or still learning each other. … All areas that we can continue to keep improving on, we’re still learning that chemistry.”

Transfers continue to shine. 

After losing nine players from last season’s roster, the Terps desperately needed to restock in the transfer portal. Maryland did exactly that, getting a program-high seven transfers. And these players have been as good as advertised.

Guard Kaylene Smikle led all scorers with 23 points against Duke, her second consecutive game with 20+ points. After putting up 16 points a game last season before getting injured, Smikle has gotten back to an elite level. Over the past two games, she has gone 7-9 from behind the arc.

“She’s just a competitor and winner, and clearly just an elite three-level scorer,” Frese said. “I love that she doesn’t fear the moment, really an aggressive attacking mentality.”

While forward Christina Dalce only had 12 points in the game, she was a force to be reckoned with on the glass. Dalce – the Big East Co-Defensive Player of the Year last season at Villanova – had a season-high 14 boards. She had seven of the Terps’ 14 offensive rebounds, helping with the team’s 13 second-chance points.

“We knew recruiting her that she was going to be an elite rebounder, shot blocker and high motor [player],” Frese said. “She didn’t fear the moment. She was really aggressive and confident.”

A pair of guards in Saylor Poffenbarger and Sarah Te-Biasu combined for 12 points on 5-10 shooting while adding five boards and four assists. Te-Biasu had a crucial layup late in the fourth quarter to effectively seal the game.

The transfers accounted for 49 of the team’s 85 points and helped the Terps reach their 3-0 start.

Raining in the 3s. 

After going just 2-13 from three-point range in its first match against UMBC, Maryland has been on fire since then. The Terps went an efficient 6-9 from downtown against Duke, its highest three-point percentage in a game since 2021 against Michigan. 

Maryland started the game a perfect 4-4 from behind the arc, before finally missing its first shot with 3 minutes left in the second quarter.

Smikle couldn’t miss in the game, going 3-3. She hit a three-pointer in the third quarter to push the Terps in front by double-digits. Te-Biasu, Poffenbarger and Shyanne Sellers each added one to the elite shooting night. 

The Terps weren’t just knocking down their shots, but also making the right shot decisions.

“We mostly found our in the flow of the offense, seeing what the defense gave us,” junior guard Bri McDaniel said.