Maryland women’s basketball wasted no time asserting their dominance with an electrifying start to the game. 

The Terps jumped out to a 20-0 lead to start the game, and led wire to wire to defeat Bethune-Cookman 95-49 at Xfinity Center. 

Maryland came into this matchup with a 5-0 record, having defeated every team it had played this season by double digits. The trend that did not end tonight. Oluchi Okananwa led the charge for the team with 20 points, followed by Saylor Poffenbarger with 19, and Big Ten freshman honoree Addi Mack with 15. 

However, despite being named Big Ten freshman player of the week, Maryland had to play this one without Mack in the lineup due to an ankle sprain. 

Before Bartelme was injured, the Terp starting lineup had remained stagnant. But with Mack and Lea Bartelme — who suffered a season-ending injury — out of the lineup, Redshirt freshman Kyndal Walker and Kaylene Smikle saw their first starts of the season. 

This decision seemed to have paid off, as Walker and Smikle combined for 24 points in the first half and shot 10-for-16 from the field. 

“It’s kind of what you trained for in the summer. So I worked hard in the summer to make sure my conditioning was high for whenever my team needed me,” Maryland’s Kyndal Walker said. “Just a matter of my coaches pushing me to be the best. Them trusting in me and my teammates trusting in me.”

As the lineup shuffled, Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu came off the bench for the first time this season. She still dominated the glass, grabbing five rebounds — three offensive —  and scored eight points.  

Maryland exploded from the opening tipoff of this game, going on an early 11-0 run. The team forced seven BCU turnovers within the first four minutes of the game. 

After suffering from early-season shooting struggles, star transfer Yarden Garzon began the game on fire from the field. She shot 3-for-4 and scored an early seven points in the first quarter. 

Everything went Maryland’s way, as they opened the game on a 20-0 scoring run. The quarter would end with Maryland leading the charge, 24-5. The Terps forced 11 of their 26 turnovers in the quarter. 

“This team takes more pride in their defense. They’re more athletic. You can see we’re back to pressing, we weren’t able to do that last year,” Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese said. 

Bethune-Cookman would find its groove early in the second quarter, limiting its second-quarter turnovers to only three. This changed nothing for the Maryland offense that continued to stay hot, and more importantly, efficient. The Terps began the quarter shooting 5-for-6 from the field and holding a demanding 23-point lead.

The strong shooting performance carried over into the second half, as the Terps exceeded their season averages, shooting 56 percent from the field and 42 percent from three, which led to a 30-point Maryland lead at the end of the first half.

The Terps were dominant on the glass tonight, out-rebounding the Wildcats by 19. Frese discussed how this was a key point of emphasis for the team heading into this matchup. 

“We had a goal of holding them under 50 points, which we were able to do,” Frese said. “And then the plus 19 we were on the glass. We were really, really aggressive, so I loved it.” 

Five players finished in double digits for Maryland, as an offense that has scored 80 or more points every game this season put on yet another strong performance. Furthermore, there wasn’t a single player for the Terps who didn’t find the bottom of the net this game.

Maryland went on to win this one by a whopping 46 points. It was their first time scoring over 90 points this season. 

The Terps will look to stay undefeated as they go on to play George Mason on Sunday in College Park.