The Maryland women’s basketball team’s game against Arizona State on Saturday was supposed to be its first test of the season.

The Terps blew out their first four foes, but they hadn’t played a strong opponent. No. 23 Arizona State was the first major conference team and the first ranked team on No. 6 Maryland’s schedule.

Instead, the Terps earned an 83-42 win, making Saturday’s South Point Shootout game in Las Vegas look like another early-season tune-up.

“We were extremely motivated,” coach Brenda Frese said. “It was a dominating performance, especially the first half.”

Maryland led by 20 after the first quarter and didn’t let the Sun Devils within 30 the entire second half.

Arizona State turned the ball over nine times in the first quarter and allowed Maryland to score 16 points off the giveaways. After the game, Frese and guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough credited part of their success to Maryland’s press defense.

“We’re able to throw a lot of different looks,” Frese said. “That’s something that we’ve really been able to build upon as a team … We really made them have to work for everything.”

When the Sun Devils managed shots, few fell. They started the game 0-for-6 from the field and finished the first quarter 1-for-9.

Maryland, meanwhile, shot 11 of 15 in the opening period.

“[Arizona State was] coming off a loss. You never know how a team’s going to respond,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “You’ve got to be ready for whatever.”

Frustration boiled over for the Sun Devils midway through the second quarter, when the referees assessed the Arizona State bench a technical for arguing a foul call. Guard Kristen Confroy stepped to the line and made both free throws, putting her team up 30 points with five minutes left in the first half.

The Terps widened their lead to 34 points, entering halftime up, 47-13.

Sun Devils guard Reili Richardson provided almost all of her team’s offense before intermission, scoring nine points and making three of its five field goals. Arizona State was 5-for-26 from the field in the first half.

In the first half, Walker-Kimbrough outscored Arizona State by herself with 16 points.

“You can see how special she is,” Frese said of her senior captain. “Her defense, her offense, how hard she plays. It just sets the tone for everything we do.”

Center Brionna Jones had 10 points and nine rebounds at halftime. She earned a double-double with an offensive board toward the end of the third quarter.

Walker-Kimbrough finished with 20 points, and Jones finished with 14. They were two of five Terps to reach double digits, along with starting guards Kaila Charles and Destiny Slocum and forward Brianna Fraser.

Arizona State spent the second half chasing a deficit of more than 30 points. For much of the fourth quarter, it trailed by 40. Still, Frese thought her team’s second half wasn’t perfect.

“We let up a little bit in the second half,” Frese said. “I just want to keep building so we can play as great as we can for 40 minutes.”

But none of the Terps starters played more than 10 minutes after halftime. Walker-Kimbrough has yet to play in the fourth quarter this season. Despite playing its first ranked foe, Maryland’s closest game this campaign was last Sunday’s 32-point win over Niagara.

“You can see we’re coming together,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “We prepared ourselves really well. … We knew this one was going to be important.”