By: Chris Gharagozlo

The Maryland women’s basketball team opened up their season with a huge 93-36 win over the Coppin State Eagles on a rainy day in College Park. The Terrapins came into the game undefeated against Coppin State in their last 14 matchups, and the Terps won 113-49 in the previous meeting in Baltimore last season.

Maryland set the tone on the glass in tune to 71 rebounds, a single game-high total, surpassing the previous record of 59 that was set in 2013.

Maryland is heading into the 2018-2019 season with high expectations. In the Associated Press and USA Today preseason polls, Maryland is ranked in the top 10. They also are coming into this season with the No. 4 freshmen class in the country. This is familiar territory for head coach Brenda Frese as she has 12 top-10 recruiting classes in her 17 years in College Park.

The Maryland Terrapins came out firing. They wanted to play the game fast, and they forced Coppin State to cave into their tactics. The Terps came out in a press and thrived in the fast break.

Freshman guard, Taylor Mikesell, who finished the first quarter with 10 points and 2 assists lead Maryland to a 18 point lead going into the second quarter.

The second quarter was a defensive domination by the Terps. They did not allow Coppin State to score until 5 minutes left in the quarter.

On the offensive end, the terps out hustled the Eagles; Second chance points were the difference between Maryland and Coppin State. In the first half, Maryland had 20 offensive rebounds and 15 second chance points. This was largely due the efforts of freshman Shakira Austin, who finished with 10 rebounds in the first half.

Maryland had more offensive rebounds than Coppin State had defensive rebounds. This would prove to be crucial as Maryland led by the score 48-20 at the end of the first half.

The remaining 40 minutes brought more of the same for Maryland’s, the Terps did a great job of pushing the ball and dishing it out to teammates as the team finished with 20 total assists.

In the third quarter, the Terps were led by stellar play from sophomore point guard Channise Lewis. She organized Maryland’s offense, and her fast play allowed the Terps to play at the fast pace that they wanted too.

The Terps continued to run with it. They suffocated Coppin State defensively, and just scored at will offensively. Austin had an absurd 7 blocks propelling the Terp’s defense. She also had a game-high 21 rebounds, three short of tying a single game-high for a Mayland player of 24 rebounds.

Offensively, it was a team effort as four players finished in double figures. The Terps leading scorer was Taylor Mikesell; the freshman did not show any signs of feeling first game jitters.

Maryland looks to ride the momentum into their next game on Sunday November 11th when they face against Dayton at home.