Takeaways from No. 7 Maryland women’s basketball’s 95-38 win over Hofstra

No. 7 Maryland women’s basketball decimated Hofstra, 95-38, on Thursday in Puerto Rico.

The Terps took an early lead and never looked back to destroy the Pride by 57 points.

Here are three takeaways from Maryland’s Thanksgiving win.

The Terps’ dominance allowed them to open up their bench

Maryland’s dominance was present from the jump and it continued throughout without any resistance.

The Terps got out to a 10-point lead within the first three minutes and never looked back. Their defense was suffocating, holding the Pride to 38 points in the game.

“Came out, 10-0 to start the game. I thought defensively, we were really, really good,” head coach Brenda Frese said.

The Terps almost exclusively used their five starters Wednesday in a close win over Kentucky. Frese went with a different approach against Hofstra, using all 13 available players and relying on its bench for key scoring.

The Terps had 11 different scorers in the first half, and none in double figures. Maryland scored at will and shared the scoring more than it had all season. It scored 53 points in the first half and shot 65.5% from the field.

Maryland also crushed the Pride on the boards, with 40 rebounds to the Pride’s 17.

“Rebounding is always going to be critical to our success. So I think we continue to just keep being really aggressive and continue to keep showing who we are,” Frese said.

Kaylene Smikle led the Terps with 13 points. Maryland didn’t have a primary scorer — a committee of 11 players each scored more than six points.

Shooting success

The Terps feasted from anywhere on the court on Thanksgiving. They shot 32-of-55 (58.2%)  from the field — their second-best overall shooting performance of the season.

“It’s really important for us to follow up that Kentucky game with another strong performance,” Addi Mack said.

Maryland also had its third-best game from beyond the arc, shooting 9-of-20 (45%) from deep. The Terps experienced 3-point struggles throughout most of their early win streak, but found a new gear against Hofstra.

The Terps were also very successful from the charity stripe, but tailed off later on. They finished 22-of-32 and were prolific at drawing fouls and created free throw opportunities.

In a back-to-back, Maryland stayed completely consistent Thursday and showed its versatility.

“I think that’s the sign of a good team. I mean, you want to consistently play the right way every single time you step out on the floor,” Frese said.

Ava McKennie was a standout, but left with an injury

Ava McKennie made her first career 3-pointer at the end of the first half and was having the best game of her career. She showed a shooting stroke that hadn’t yet appeared through her two seasons with the Terps, going 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.

McKennie scored six points and had five rebounds in her best performance with little playing time this season.  She scored seven points against both Loyola Maryland and Bethune-Cookman, but looked like a serviceable option against Hofstra. She played 15 minutes and probably would’ve played more if not for an injury.

Unfortunately for her, McKennie went down appearing to hold her knee after a fast-break opportunity.

“Obviously with Ava, we won’t know  until we get back and she’s evaluated,” Frese said.

She didn’t return, and the Terps will know more after getting back to College Park.

“Definitely looked like a knee in the game, but it’s hard to say to what extent that it is, until she gets evaluated when we get back home,” Frese said.

She hasn’t been a significant piece for the Terps thus far, but she was a key player who has been usable off the bench over the past two seasons. The severity of this injury will be a relatively important factor for Maryland’s overall bench depth moving forward.