Coach Brenda Frese gives instructions during Maryland’s 86-43 victory over Central Connecticut State on Dec. 5, 2015 at the Xfinity Center.

The Terrapins women’s basketball team shellacked seven of its first eight opponents entering Tuesday night’s game, but there were always parts of each contest coach Brenda Frese thought the Terps could have performed better.

After the Terps’ 56-point win over Detroit Mercy on Nov. 20, Frese said her squad needed to make substantial improvements defensively before its trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands to play in the Paradise Jam. And in

St. Thomas eight days later, the veteran coach knocked the Terps for their carelessness with the ball after committing 26 turnovers in a 70-49 victory against Pittsburgh.

But Frese’s postgame press conference after the No. 5 Terps’ 97-47 win over Loyola lacked the critiques from earlier in the season. Instead, Frese was pleased with her team’s performance as it prepares to start Big Ten play in a little more than three weeks. 

“This was by far one of our most complete 40-minute games,” Frese said. “Really proud of season low in terms of our turnovers … getting to the glass — both ends of the floor — and defending. So just really pleased overall in terms of the consistency that we played with in this game.”

READ MORE: Terps dominate Loyola for ninth straight win

The Terps entered Tuesday night with 126 giveaways, an average of 15.8 turnovers per game. And guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, the Terps’ leading scorer, was the main culprit of the season-long issue. The preseason All-Big Ten selection went into the contest against the Greyhounds with 31 turnovers, 13 more than the next-highest total.

Walker-Kimbrough was again the team’s leader in turnovers, but the junior guard, who poured in a game-high 21 points, gave the ball away just twice. As a team, the Terps turned it over a season-low eight times. 

The Terps used those extra possessions to attack the rim, getting to the foul line 25 times and converting 21 of those attempts. In fact, their total number of shots from the charity stripe equaled their total from their past two wins over Central Connecticut State and No. 19 Syracuse.

“That was actually one of our goals for today was to get 25 shot attempts,” said Walker-Kimbrough, who made both of her attempts. “We were trying to focus on that, staying aggressive on offense.”

In the two statistical categories the Terps thrived, the Greyhounds faltered. 

Frese said she’s recently put an emphasis on being disciplined and not bailing out opposing players with fouls. So she was pleased when the Terps limited Loyola to one foul shot Tuesday.

The Terps excelled in other facets of their defense, too, forcing 21 Greyhounds turnovers. And several of those takeaways were due to their suffocating full-court press. Frese began implementing it more often early in the second quarter, and the defensive adjustments helped the Terps break open the contest before halftime.

“We knew they were a great three-point shooting team, a great shooting team, so we really wanted to speed them up,” Frese said. “So that’s when we kind of brought our press out and got more aggressive in terms of our defense — even in the half court — and it made a big difference.”

The coach also noticed an increased energy from her team Tuesday compared with what it showed in Saturday’s win.

Even when they held a comfortable lead, the Terps were fired up. 

Whether it was forward Brianna Fraser going on a 6-0 personal run in the second period or Walker-Kimbrough putting the ball around her back before finishing a layup a quarter later, the bench couldn’t get enough of its team’s on-court performance.

The Terps could smile at the final buzzer, too, as Tuesday’s victory earned the utmost approval from their coach. 

“We worked extremely hard tonight,” Frese said. “But we had a lot of fun together doing it.”