Guard Kristen Confroy fights for a loose ball when the Terps routed Goldey-Beacon 127-33 at Xfinity Center on Oct. 31, 2015.
When freshman forward Kiah Gillespie made her debut in the Terrapins women’s basketball team’s starting lineup Saturday against Goldey-Beacom, the former McDonald’s All-American wasn’t worried about how many points she’d score or the number of rebounds she’d pull down.
“I was a little nervous, like first college game,” Gillespie said. “I was trying to get the jitters out and not shoot an air ball.”
And at first, she struggled. Her first attempt was a missed layup. Her second shot, a 3-pointer, clanked off the back of the rim. Her third came on a rebound attempt, but she missed the put back, too.
As the Terps opening exhibition progressed, however, Gillespie loosened up and validated coach Brenda Frese’s decision give the first-year player a start. Gillespie scored a team-high 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to help the Terps cruise to a 127-33 win over the Lighting at the Xfinity Center.
“Obviously you can see she is a lights out shooter and then obviously she can get boards and put it back up,” guard Chloe Pavlech said. “She is really hard for post players to defend as well as guards because she is really great and she brings a lot to the table.”
Gillespie was one of seven players to scored 14 points or more in the win. Guard Kiara Leslie, who also made her debut in the starting lineup after making 35 appearances off the bench as a freshman, chipped in with 18 points.
“I bring an offensive threat this year,” Leslie said. “My shot is falling down and I’m handling the ball a little bit better.”
Gillespie and Leslie combined for just 11 points in the first half, but the Terps continued to assert their dominance in the opening two quarters thanks to the balanced scoring attack. Frese’s team held a 29-8 lead after the first quarter — eight players scored in the period — and extended that advantage to 54-17 at halftime.
Gillespie scored nine of her 22 points in the opening three minutes of the second half as a part of the Terps’ 17-0 run out of the break. Pavlech, who started at point guard, tallied three assists over that span.
Frese inserted Pavlech into the lineup as a replacement for former guard Lexie Brown, who transferred to Duke in the offseason after running the offense for a majority of the past two seasons. Guard Brene Mosely ran the offense at times, too, and the pair combined for 12 assists without a turnover in 41 minutes.
“They both did a terrific job managing the game, and they both bring different elements, which I think is awesome because against different teams it’s going to call for different things,” Frese said.
The veteran coach said Pavlech focuses more on getting her teammates open looks while Moseley has success attacking the rim and pushing the pace. The importance of ball security remains the same with both players, though.
“When you talk about…valuing the basketball and understanding possessions, you can tell we obviously have a lot of offensive weapons,” Frese said. “So being able to get shots at the basket versus of turning the ball over is key.”
Pavlech and Moseley’s ability to efficiently distribute the ball was one of the reasons the Terps shot 62.4 percent from the field.
But it was Gillespie’s 9-for-15 shooting performance in her first game in a Terps uniform that stood out even more in the blowout victory.
“As the time went on, like in the second half, I got more comfortable and coach just told me to play basketball,” Gillespie said.
