At one point late in the third quarter, the Maryland women’s basketball team turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions.
Guard Ieshia Small clapped several times in frustration after her pass went off forward Kiah Gillespie’s hands and bounced out of bounds. Forward Brianna Fraser stared toward her bench after turning the ball over in the corner.
But soon after, center Brionna Jones returned to the floor and promptly hit a lay-up.
During a game in which the Terps didn’t always look crisp, big contributions from Jones and fellow senior Shatori Walker-Kimbrough buoyed the team and helped it cruise to a 106-61 win over Maryland Eastern Shore.
“It wasn’t one of our sharpest outings,” coach Brenda Frese said. “A lot of areas for us to tighten up as we move forward.”
The Terps jumped out to an 8-0 lead, but Maryland Eastern Shore stayed in it with three 3-pointers early in the quarter. Frese’s team led, 16-11, halfway through the first period.
Maryland Eastern Shore couldn’t maintain its long-range shooting, but the Terps didn’t play the suffocating defense they showed in its season-opening win against UMass Lowell.
“We gave up 61 points — that’s way too many points,” Frese said. “Our defense has to improve. I was not happy with our defense tonight at all.”
In Sunday’s matchup against UMass Lowell, an aggressive full-court press helped hold the River Hawks to 16 first-half points and never allowed them more than 15 in any quarter. The Terps didn’t utilize the press as much Wednesday, and struggled to keep Maryland Eastern Shore off the board or away from the free-throw line.
Maryland Eastern Shore went to the charity stripe 12 times in the first half and 18 overall, converting 10 of those shots.
Thanks to Walker-Kimbrough and Jones, though, the game’s outcome was never in doubt. The senior duo took over from the start, scoring more than half of the team’s 54 first-half points and shooting a combined 11-for-15 before intermission. Walker-Kimbrough opened scoring with a 3-pointer en route to 11 points in the first 10 minutes. Jones had eight first-quarter points in seven minutes.
“We just took what the defense gave us,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “We have so many weapons. … We all had open shots. It was just about knocking them down.”
That allowed Walker-Kimbrough and Jones to spend most of the second half on the bench, watching and celebrating as the Maryland reserves polished the finishing touchs.
“The last game, [Jones] only got three attempts,” Frese said. “I talked a little bit with our guards [about] really being able to establish that inside-outside presence. … It makes all our guards’ job easier when they have to figure out how to defend [Jones] inside.”
With guards Destiny Slocum and Small in foul trouble early, freshman Sarah Myers saw increased playing time and took Frese’s advice. All three of her first-half assists went to Walker-Kimbrough or Jones.
“I know there’s a lot of great players on our team who can score the ball,” Myers said. “I was just hitting the ones that were open.”
Walker-Kimbrough and Jones masked mistakes, however. In addition to the defensive struggles, Frese wasn’t happy with her team’s 15 turnovers.
Plus, the Terps went to the free-throw line just 14 times and made nine of those shots.
But with Walker-Kimbrough going 4-for-5 from 3-point range and Jones grabbing eight rebounds to pair with a 7-for-11 shooting performance, the team’s shortcomings were washed away in a 45-point win.
“They’re that calming influence on the court for everybody to play around and within,” Frese said. “They’ve been through the worst. So I know when they’re calm, the team can feed off of their presence.”
