Maryland women’s basketball secures Villanova transfer Christina Dalce

The Terps have one remaining scholarship spot.

After losing Rhode Island transfer Mayé Touré to Utah, head coach Brenda Frese and Maryland women’s basketball got right back to work in the transfer portal. On Tuesday, the Terps secured the commitment of Villanova forward Christina Dalce, per her post on Twitter.

The 6-foot-2 junior hails from New Jersey and offers a similar skillset to Touré. She proved to be a relentless rebounder with the Wildcats, pulling down an average of 9.4 boards per game. Her scoring averages have also improved with each passing year, going from 1.7 points per game in her freshman season to 7.3 in her sophomore campaign to 8.3 in 2023-24. Dalce’s shooting percentages have also gone up since her freshman year (40.9 to 44.1). Notably, she averaged 2.3 blocks per game in her junior season.

At the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, Dalce was named Philadelphia Big 5 Most Improved Player and selected to the USA Basketball 2023 women’s 3×3 U21 team. Following the 2023-24 season, she was named to the All-Big 5 second team.

Maryland’s rotations should not change all that much following the addition of Dalce. She projects to slide into a forward rotation that already consists of current Terps Allie Kubek and Emily Fisher, as well as fellow transfers Isi Ozzy-Momodu and Amari DeBerry.

If the Terps can tap into the scoring potential of Dalce, in addition to her strong defensive abilities, the team’s versatility will position them to contend for a top spot in the Big Ten.