By Bryan Jones

The Maryland women’s basketball kicked off its season with a one-sided exhibition win against Glenville State.

Maryland won 130-61 due to a dominant performance from the offense.

The Terps are projected to finish second in the Big Ten based on voting from coaches and the media, which would potentially end a streak of three straight conference title wins.

Glenville also entered the season with high expectations as the team was picked to win the MEC title by the league’s coaches.

Maryland pulled away early with a 8-2 run as Stephanie Jones was featured heavily in the Terps offense. The sophomore took four of the Terps’ first seven shots and scored on three of them for six points. She finished the game with 23 points.

Jones feels a lot more confident heading into this season healthy compared starting last year injured.

“You don’t have to worry about it, it’s not in the back of your mind,” Jones said.

After Jones put the Terps ahead early, Kalia Charles ran the offense after being named All-Big Ten Preseason team. The Glenn Dale, Maryland native finished with a team-high 27 points while picking up 9 rebounds and three assists.

In response to the deficit, the Pioneers began pressing the Terps late in the first quarter in hopes of forcing turnovers. The pressure did not help Glenville in the first half as the Pioneers had nearly twice as many turnovers as the Terps.

However, the Pioneers forced three turnovers early in the third quarter before Maryland took control of the game again.

A question moving forward for the Terps is whether or not head coach Brenda Frese will play at a fast pace like she has in the past since she only has ten players on her roster.

“[Conditioning] is going to be huge, they know they all have to be ready when their number is called,” Frese said.

The Pioneers shot a dreadful 20 percent on 47 three-point attempts, while the Terps were much more efficient shooting 4-of-11 from long range.

Freshman Channise Lewis filled up the stat sheet in her Maryland debut. Lewis recorded 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds in 26 minutes.

“She was really poised,” Frese said. “She shot the ball really well and had a positive assist-turnover ratio.”

Julie Bishop finished with a team-high 12 points for Glenville due to her 4-of-8 shooting from long distance.

The Terps face Bowie on Nov. 3 at the Xfinity Center for the team’s final exhibition game