With two off days in Miami before the start of the Florida International Thanksgiving Classic, the Terrapins women’s basketball team had time to relax and celebrate the holiday weekend.
The vacation didn’t stop when the games started, however.
The No. 8 Terps cruised to two victories over the Thanksgiving weekend, defeating Florida International, 84-52, on Friday before their offense exploded in a 114-83 rout of CSU Bakersfield on Saturday. The team’s 114 points marked its highest single-game scoring output since scoring 118 against Appalachian State on Dec. 1, 2005.
“Some great temperatures down here, a chance to take the team to the beach and just take their minds off school and basketball,” coach Brenda Frese said. “And definitely two really good wins.”
The Golden Panthers (3-3) stuck with the Terps (7-0) through the first part of their game Friday, knotting the score at 17 at the midway point of the first half. A 27-13 run by the Terps to close the half ended any threat Florida International posed, though, and the team rolled to its third win by more than 30 points this season.
The Roadrunners (2-5) saw similar early success against the Terps, cutting their lead to just one as the game neared the seven-minute mark of the opening half. But as halftime drew close, it was clear CSU Bakersfield didn’t have the firepower to keep up after the break.
With only eight Roadrunners seeing action in the game, the Terps’ offense met little resistance in the second half, scoring a season-high 61 points. Six players ended the game in double figures, while the team’s commanding size helped rack up 25 offensive rebounds.
“We came out and we crashed the boards,” said guard Laurin Mincy, who finished the weekend with a team-high 38 points, including a career-high 23 against CSU Bakersfield. “We did a great job pushing the ball in transition. They only had [eight] players and we have a lot of depth, so we were able to wear them down.”
For Frese, the true test this weekend was her team’s ability to play effectively with games on back-to-back days, not necessarily the competition itself.
“Playing at 6 o’clock the first night then a 2 o’clock [afternoon] turnaround [is tough],” Frese said. “I thought they did just a terrific job in terms of their recovery, getting enough sleep, being prepared to play against a style of play that was really physical, full-court pressure, active defense and a run-and-gun style of play. I thought our depth was really able to wear out Bakersfield.”
The Terps will face Michigan in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Wednesday night in Comcast Center. The Wolverines will be the team’s first major-conference opponent since its win over Georgetown on Nov. 13, offering the Terps one of their more difficult tests of the young season.
“The Big Ten conference is obviously an exciting matchup for us,” Frese said. “The competition continues to get better.”
vitale@umdbk.com
