The Terps swept their two-game West Coast road trip
No. 16 Maryland women’s basketball took care of business in the second and final game of its West Coast road trip at Washington.
After falling down early, the Terps surged in the second quarter and held on late, winning 81-73.
Here are three takeaways from Maryland’s road victory.
Smikle thrived in a stellar performance
Kaylene Smikle had her best game of the season Sunday in Seattle, dropping a career-high 36 points, despite nursing an illness.
Smikle went 13-of-18 (72.2%) from the field Sunday, both the most shot attempts and makes she’s had from the field all season. She scored 18 points in each half, and also shot well from 3-point range, going 3-of-4 from deep. Smikle has been the team’s top scoring option all season, but certainly hadn’t seen a game like this.
“[Smikle] was sensational. Just an absolute dog player like her when she’s feeling it,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “It was kind of a great way to start in that third quarter. I think she had the first 10 points. Really special to see.”
First-half rollercoaster
The Terps struggled early in Sunday’s game, falling into a deep hole as Washington built a 15-point lead with two minutes left in the first quarter. It shot 4-of-9 from deep in the opening frame.
“We knew Washington would be really well coached and could shoot the [3-pointer] as well as anyone in the conference,” Frese said. “They battled like their head coach for a complete 40 minutes.”
Maryland trailed by eight points at the end of the first quarter, as the Terps climbed out of the damage from Washington’s massive start.
The Terps had a few notable runs in the second quarter, including an 8-0 one within an overall 14-1 run.
“Obviously, not the start we wanted. [Frese] was on us really bad about our defensive effort, intensity …,” Shyanne Sellers said. “Then, second quarter, we kind of turn it around and put our foot on the pedal.”
Maryland won the second quarter, 25-9, which put it in the drivers’ seat.
This was a trend Maryland experienced early in the season, when the Terps got out to bad starts and needed strong second quarters to bring them back into games. Sunday’s game could’ve gotten out of hand quickly if not for another one.
Late-game struggles
Maryland sometimes takes its foot off the pedal in games it has a significant lead in heading into the fourth quarter. That allows opponents to get into striking range, forcing the Terps to sweat out the final minutes.
Maryland allowed Washington to get within six points in the final few minutes and were a missed 3-point attempt away from it being a one possession game.
“I knew this was going to be a 40-minute game. I never felt comfortable when we were up 17 [points], and just the way that they knew that they were going to play until the bitter end,” Frese said.
It’s now happened a handful of times in conference play, where Maryland has allowed its opponent to get within one or two possessions after leading by 20 points or more. The Terps have won all of those occurrences, but it’s a concerning trend, nonetheless.
Maryland was up by 14 points at the end of the third quarter and its lead was as large as 20, but it only won by eight points in part due to a scoring drought across four minutes in the final frame.