Guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough lays the ball in during Maryland’s 105-50 win over High Point at Xfinity Center on Nov. 18, 2015.
While guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 20 points in the first half of the Terrapins women’s basketball team’s win over UMass Lowell on Saturday, guard Brene Moseley notched 24 points to complement the junior in the Terps’ 49-point rout.
Wednesday night against High Point, Walker-Kimbrough led the Terps in the first half again. She scored a career-high 26 points and added 10 rebounds in the contest. But it was forward Kiah Gillespie who provided balance for Walker-Kimbrough in the Terps’ second regular-season game.
Gillespie scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds to support Walker-Kimbrough’s dominant performance as the Terps rolled to a 105-50 shellacking of the Panthers at Xfinity Center.
“Shatori leads by example, so I try to follow that,” Gillespie said. “I came out more confident in the second half. Coach told us we got to play harder and do a lot of things better, so it was important that we show we’re trying to get better every time we step onto the floor.”
The Terps (2-0) got out to a 10-point lead less than three minutes into the game, with all five starters scoring. Walker-Kimbrough then scored two straight 3-pointers to extend the lead to 13.
While Walker-Kimbrough provided a boost on offense, the Terps defense didn’t allow High Point (1-2) to find scoring opportunities in the paint. By the end of the game, the undersized Panthers had just eight points in the paint.
The Terps outscored High Point, 23-6, in the second quarter and held a 48-20 lead entering the second half. Despite the Terps’ height advantage, though, Frese’s squad grabbed just three more rebounds than its foe heading into the locker room.
Frese was discouraged by her team’s effort on defense in the opening period. The 14th-year coach said High Point was a perimeter-oriented team, attributing their struggles in the paint to their lack of size, not the Terps defense.
“We should take that personal in terms of how we’re defending,” Frese said. “We’re going to play better competition in terms of matching size. We got to really get to where we can handle dribble penetration.”
In the third quarter, Gillespie carried the burden for the Terps. She recorded 12 points, three rebounds and two assists in the period, which included 3-pointers on consecutive possessions.
At one juncture, Gillespie grabbed a rebound off a High Point’s player’s miss and used an outlet pass to find a streaking Walker-Kimbrough for a layup. The freshman finished with 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting and seven rebounds.
“Maryland basketball starts with defend, rebound and run,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “A big thing that Coach told us is just being disciplined … and staying true to who we are.”
While Gillespie stepped up and the Terps outrebounded their foe by more than 20 in the second half, Frese said the Terps needed more balanced scoring production.
While four Terps scored in double figures in the team’s second consecutive contest eclipsing 100 points, Frese hopes to see more players get involved offensively. Frese knows the team can’t rely exclusively on Walker-Kimbrough if they want to defend the Big Ten title.
“I’ve challenged Shatori that she’s going to need to put up that production until her teammates come along,” Frese said. “Anytime we can go down the stat sheet and have four or five guys in double figures, it makes us that much more difficult to be able to defend. It’s kind of finding that blend right now.”
