Despite missing some usual starters, No. 7 Maryland women’s basketball still held Delaware State to only 21 points — the fewest points allowed in program history. 

Going into halftime, Maryland held an insurmountable 51-11 lead and had forced 19 turnovers, which led to an absurd 91-21 win to improve to 11-0.

“Usually come in here and there’s a quarter, maybe more, off, but not this game,” said head coach Brenda Frese. “The mentality was sensational, 40 great minutes where we went hard.”

Entering the game, the Terps were missing three of their main starters in Addi Mack, Saylor Poffenbarger and Kaylene Smikle. Mack and Poffenbarger were only out for the game but, as announced prior to the game on Sunday, Smikle is out for the rest of the season due to having knee surgery.

Despite this, the Terps applied constant defensive pressure and the game was over as soon as it started.

“It starts for us is the pride on the defensive end and just setting the tone,” Frese said. “This team, you know, has bought into that from day one.”

The absence of several starters allowed Frese to experiment with different lineups and spread more minutes across the bench.

The two active starters Oluchi Okananwa and Yarden Garzon still led the way for the Terps. Garzon, who has had a slow start to the season, continued to find her footing as she had 18 points, 16 of which came in the first half alone. Okananwa had her tenth double-digit scoring performance of the season with 18 of her own as well as six rebounds.

“The coaches challenged me today to show and lead the team,” Garzon said. “I know what they need for me, and that makes everything a little bit easier.”

Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu, who has been in and out of the starting lineup started for the Terps and had her best game of the year with an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double alongside four steals. 

Kyndal Walker, who makes the most of every minute played, started as well. She scored 13 points and led the team with six assists. Mir McLean was the final starter and in her second start of the season, she had 11 points and eight rebounds. 

“Today was a bigger opportunity for me, Minnesota was an opportunity,” Walker said. “Every game is a chance to go out there and contribute to winning.”

Assuming that Poffenbarger and Mack reenter the starting lineup following this game, Frese now has a lot to think about in terms of who will fill the open spot in the starting lineup after all three had great performances. 

Like usual, the bench provided size for Maryland. Breanna Williams had nine points and Marya Boiko had eight points and seven rebounds.  

Maryland will be back here at the Xfinity Center on Friday next week when they face off with Central Connecticut State.