The Terps made a road statement in the Midwest
No. 8 Maryland women’s basketball traveled to Iowa City, Iowa, to take on the No. 23 Hawkeyes Sunday with recent history not on its side. The Terps were 1-3 in their last four matchups against the Hawkeyes, who they played for the first time since the departure of Caitlin Clark.
Maryland took down Iowa, 74-66, though, on the back of a sharp first half.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
The Terps made a statement on the road
Maryland went just 3-8 on the road last season and struggled to earn road wins in the Big Ten.
Entering Sunday’s game, the Terps hadn’t faced an elite team on the road this season, yet still struggled with slow starts at Purdue and Syracuse. But in front of a sold-out crowd, Maryland made a definitive statement, dealing the Hawkeyes the first blow and building a 21-point first-half lead, which proved insurmountable.
“We’ve got to be 10 points better on the road,” Shyanne Sellers said. “We built ourselves a great lead in the first half.”
Maryland allowed Iowa to make big runs in the third and fourth quarters, which cut its lead to as little as five points, but Kaylene Smikle and Saylor Poffenbarger knocked down some big shots to help ice the game. Smikle, who finished with a game-high 26 points, hit two huge threes to push the Terps over the finish line.
Maryland’s road performance spoiled Iowa’s celebration of recently retired head coach Lisa Bluder.
The Terps 3-point shooting was instrumental
A huge component of Maryland’s red-hot start was its shooting from beyond the arc. The Terps set a new season-high for 3-point makes Sunday, going 12-of-25 (48%). Nine of Maryland’s threes came in the first half.
Much of the production came from Sellers and Smikle, who were a combined 7 for 9 from 3-point range. Poffenbarger also knocked down two triples, but missed five.
Maryland’s hot shooting night is a prime example of what makes it a difficult team to game plan for. In the team’s previous two ranked wins over No. 21 Michigan State and No. 14 Duke, it only made six threes apiece, attacking the rim and drawing fouls instead.
As a result, Iowa didn’t appear to be particularly concerned with aggressively closing out the Terps on the perimeter, particularly Sellers, who made three 3-pointers.
The Terps mix of shooters and slashers gives them offensive versatility that is hard to game plan for. They struggled to score around the rim against Iowa, though, ending the win with more made threes than twos, going just 11-of-42 from within the arc.
Maryland protected the rim
A consistent theme for Maryland this season has been high-level defensive execution. Its win over the Hawkeyes was no exception.
Iowa’s frontcourt of Addison O’Grady and Hannah Stuelke is one of the primary strengths of its roster, and Maryland made it hard for both of them by challenging every post-up and shot around the rim.
Poffenbarger, Christina Dalce and Allie Kubek not only challenged the Hawkeyes’ forwards, but played solid help defense on drives from Iowa’s guards. Poffenbarger led the team with two blocks.
Frese also got another stellar defensive performance from Kaylene Smikle on the perimeter, who recorded six steals, a tick above her five last game. Smikle has shown marked improvement on that end of the floor.
Iowa shot 37% from the field and Maryland came up with multiple big stops in the fourth quarter. In the second quarter, Maryland forced Iowa into an eight-minute scoreless drought.
“Being on the road, you’ve got to be able to have that defensive intensity. That was huge for us,” Frese said.