NEWARK, N.J. — Texas forward Madison Booker assessed her options on the left wing before driving toward the paint. The sophomore stopped abruptly before dishing a right-handed pass to Shay Holle, who was cutting to the basket from the left corner.  

Rather than dribbling to the rim, Holle stopped on a dime, rose up, and nailed a baseline jumper. Holle’s make finalized a 13-0 run that put the Longhorns ahead, 19-5, with just under four minutes to play in the opening quarter. No. 8 Maryland’s nightmare first half had just begun. 

The Terps were thoroughly outplayed during the opening 20 minutes, but one figure in particular encapsulated the trashing. Maryland scored 18 points in the first half; Booker scored 20. Last year’s Big 12 Player of the Year finished with 28 points as she led No. 7 Texas to an 89-51 beatdown over the Terps at the Prudential Center. 

The 38-point drubbing was Maryland’s (16-2, 6-1 Big Ten) largest defeat since losing to South Carolina, 114-76, early last season.   

“For us, it’s just understanding we’re not going to get too high or too low in January, and we’re going to figure it out as we always do,” head coach Brenda Frese said.

Due to their size disadvantage, the Terps played nearly the entire first quarter in a two-three zone defense. Texas (18-2, 4-1 SEC) torched it. 

The Longhorns made consistent off-ball cuts, exposing the soft spots in Maryland’s zone. Two in particular stood out: both baselines.

Booker scored nearly half of her 13 first-quarter points by draining midrange baseline jumpers.

“We wanted to take away those short corners and the overloads, and really make them have to score from the perimeter,” Frese said. “We didn’t do any of that well, so that got us out of our zone, to have to go to man [defense].”

A turnover-prone Maryland also fueled Texas’s offensive production. The Longhorns scored 20 points off of 15 turnovers in the first half. By contrast, the Terps turned Texas over six times, flipping those takeaways into just three points. 

Bri McDaniel’s absence became evident as Texas continued building on its advantage. McDaniel — the Terps’ third-leading scorer — had picked up a knee injury in Maryland’s previous win over Minnesota, and earlier on Monday, the team announced that she’d miss the rest of the year with a torn ACL.  

“This is our first game without Bri, and that’s hard,” junior Kaylene Smikle said. “She brings a defensive energy off the bench and offensive [energy] that we needed.”

The Longhorns’ suffocating man defense may have created a host of Maryland’s turnovers, but it also kept the Terps from putting up shots in general. Texas’ 11 first-quarter makes from the field matched Maryland’s total shot attempts during that same time. 

Maryland trailed 28-12 after the brutal opening quarter, but the worst was still yet to come. 

Entering the night, Shyanne Sellers had averaged 22.6 points per game in Maryland’s previous five contests. She also received Big Ten Player of the Week honors, just hours before Monday’s game tipped off.

Like most other Terps though, the heralded senior struggled offensively in the early going. 

Sellers scored just one point through the first 13 minutes of play. Then, with six and half minutes remaining in the first half, she appeared to knock knees with a Longhorn player, sending her to the floor in considerable pain.

Sellers ultimately limped toward the tunnel, where medical staff assessed the severity of her injury. Meanwhile, the Longhorns continued racking up points and forcing stops without Sellers on the floor.

The senior was eventually cleared to return with just under three minutes remaining but did so with a noticeable limp. Sellers fought through clear pain for several possessions before it eventually became too much. 

The limp had grown to the point that Sellers could no longer put weight on her right leg. She exited the game less than a minute after coming back in, and was officially ruled out for the rest of the night just after the second half started. 

“She said she could go, so she gave it a try,” Frese said. “She’s a competitor. Tried to go out there and fight for her team, but then, … she said it didn’t feel right. So, you know there’s just a bigger picture in mind.” 

Maryland ultimately trailed 48-18 by the end of a gut-wrenching first half — it’s lowest-scoring half of the season. The Terps’ six second-quarter points — all of which were scored by Christina Dalce — also matched their lowest-scoring quarter of the campaign.   

With victory in hand by halftime, Texas coasted the rest of the way. 

Smikle provided a bright spot for the Terps, shooting 11-for-12 from the line en route to a 13-point second half. The Rutgers transfer ultimately finished with 15 and was the only Maryland player to score in double figures. 

Maryland’s arduous shooting night was summarized by its struggles from deep. The Terps finished 0-for-7 from beyond the arc, going without a three-point make for the first time since March of 2022.  

“Playing a top-10 team and losing two of your top three scorers is a tough pill to be able to swallow, but we’ve gotta move through this quickly,” Frese said. 

Monday’s overwhelming defeat at the hands of Texas marked a concerning start to Maryland’s most strenuous week of the regular season. 

The Terps face what’s likely to be their toughest true road game of the campaign on Thursday when they travel to Columbus for a crucial clash against No. 12 Ohio State. 

Then, rather fittingly, Maryland caps off a week of top-15 matchups by hosting No. 1 UCLA on Sunday at 2 p.m. Daniel Stein will have the call of that game for WMUC Sports.