The Terps outscored the Red Flash 32-3 in just the first quarter.
No. 11 Maryland women’s basketball hammered Saint Francis (PA) on Sunday by a 72-point margin, 107-35.
The Terps fell five points short of their largest margin of victory in program history. It was their highest margin of victory since 2019 against Georgia State.
Sunday’s game between the Terps and Red Flash could aptly be described as a massacre. It was a game between teams from totally different stratospheres.
“We’re not playing the score, we’re not playing the team. We’re playing to have really good habits,” head coach Brenda Frese said.
Kaylene Smikle led the way with 25 points for Maryland, while Allie Kubek added 20.
Saint Francis scored first in the contest, but the Terps had the next 11 to get out to an early lead. Ultimately, the Terps embarked 32-1 run throughout the first quarter.
The 32-1 run included a stretch after the Red Flash split free throws, and the Terps subsequently scored 21-consecutive points. Smikle had 15 points within the first eight minutes, scoring at ease.
The Red Flash only stopped the bleeding early in the second quarter, when Yanessa Boyd made a layup to cut the deficit to 28.
The Terps continued to add to their lead in the period, as Saint Francis had no answer to Maryland’s booming offense. Maryland went on a 20-0 run in the frame.
The Terps ended up building a 50-point first half lead, but started to get careless with their shot selection. However, it didn’t particularly matter, because Saint Francis couldn’t seem to grab a rebound.
The Terps were up by 57 points at the conclusion of the opening half. Meanwhile, Saint Francis scored nine points in the first 20 minutes, courtesy of four lay-ups and a free throw. The Terps accrued 24 points off turnovers, out-rebounded Saint Francis 30-9 and had 11 steals.
“That’s Maryland basketball,” Smikle said about forcing turnovers. “This is how Maryland plays. We accomplished what the game goal was, to turn the team over more than we usually do.”
The Red Flash made their first 3-pointer of the game early on in the second half, but that only cut Maryland’s lead to 60-points. Continuing to add on to the scoring margin, the Terps still had their starters on the court while up by 70 points.
Maryland started to take its foot off the pedal in the second half, as the Terps only out-scored the Red Flash by 12 points in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Saint Francis started to get in a groove from deep, going 3-of-9 from beyond the arc.
“We just want to continue to play to our level, to our standard,” Frese said about her halftime message. “I told them we needed them out and play like we were down 20. Those are the habits that we want to build.”
The Terps got careless in the second half, and were actually held scoreless during a three minute stretch in the fourth quarter. The game was well out of hand, but Saint Francis had some success, even against Maryland’s starters.
Sunday’s game saw the Terps go 39-of-71 from the field and 9-of-25 from deep en route to a blow-out win.
Three things to know
1. It wasn’t fair. Maryland was eons ahead of Saint Francis on Sunday — there was nothing the Red Flash could’ve done. The Red Flash had the first bucket, and that was the only lead they held all game.
2. Bench experience. The Terps were able to extend their bench on Sunday, which gave players like Amari DeBerry, Ava McKennie, Emily Fisher and Mir McLean ample playing time. McLean had her first double double as a Terp.
“These are great games to be able to kind of add and build your bench minutes and be able to see where we’re growing in that area,” Frese said. “Mir and Ava were able to get some really important minutes for us to be able to extend that bench.”
3. Strong defense. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is — holding any college basketball team to 35 total points in a game is an accomplishment. Maryland’s defense was strong albeit facing a weak opponent.
“I thought we played really hard, especially on the defensive end,” Frese said. “[I] challenged us from deflections and steals and being a lot more aggressive. I thought the group really did that.”