Brenda Frese
The 2012 ACC championship rings the Terrapins women’s basketball team received before tonight’s season opener against Mount St. Mary’s were earned on the glass. The Terps grabbed 12.9 more rebounds per game opponents last season, which ranked second in the nation and propelled the squad to its second conference title in four years.
And tonight, the team picked up right where it left off.
The Terps outrebounded the smaller Mountaineers 54-25 tonight to begin Brenda Frese’s second decade at the helm of the program with an 88-47 victory.
“I really liked how we came out ready to play. The energy was fantastic,” Frese said. “I’m really excited about the dominance of our post play.”
Forward Tianna Hawkins led that effort in the paint with 18 points and 10 rebounds. But she wasn’t the only one finding success down low.
Returning starter Alicia DeVaughn (15 points and 11 rebounds) and highly touted freshman Malina Howard (12 and 7) combined with Hawkins to create a daunting trio of interior players for the Terps.
The quality of the team’s point guard play, though, is still in question. After projected starter Brene Moseley went down with a torn ACL on Oct. 21, the Terps were forced to move last year’s shooting guard Laurin Mincy to the floor general position.
But Mincy and her teammates made the adjustments. Mincy finished with six points, five assists, and four turnovers. As a whole, the Terps finished with 25 total assists over 16 turnovers.
“I think I did pretty well,” Mincy said. “We did share the ball pretty well and we started to get out in transition.”
That transition game helped the Terps pull away from the Mountaineers. The Terps outscored their opponents 22 to zero on fastbreaks.
“I felt like our transition game really started to click,” Frese said. “I felt like we were able to wear them down in terms of how we were running the floor.”
The success on the break coupled with an overpowering trio in the paint put the Terps up 48-23 at halftime.
The Mountaineers only hope to overcome those things may have been to get hot from beyond the arc. The Terps, though, held their opponent to a 17.9 percent three-point shooting percentage.
That defensive effort allowed the Terps to build up a comfortable lead and give younger players more minutes.
“We had to get our freshman some experience,” Frese said. “We needed a game like this.”
The Terps got their wish thanks to the strong interior play that has become commonplace under Frese.
The most encouraging thing for the eleventh year coach? It wasn’t just one player who controlled the paint. Hawkins, Devaughn, and Howard all played a role in a dominating frontcourt that has an entire season to get even better.
“I thought all three of them were really, really good,” Frese said. “Very active. Active on the glass, gave us a great post presence inside and some really positive things to build on.”
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