Shyanne Sellers stood on the baseline, her eyes locked with Allie Kubek. Sellers clapped her hand with the ball before firing a quick pass across the lane. Kubek secured the pass and rose up for a perfectly-timed layup.
The textbook out-of-bounds play gave Kubek her 1,001th career point – a special milestone coming against her former team. The former Towson forward became the latest Terp to record more than 1,000 career points.
No. 11 Maryland women’s basketball logged its fifth consecutive win to start the season, spurred by Kubek’s strong start. The Terps cruised to the Sunday victory over Towson, 98-63, winning their 10th consecutive game against the Tigers dating back to 2010.
Kubek provided the game’s first three points with an and-one layup just 14 seconds after the opening tip. The Towson (0-4) transfer poured in seven first-quarter points, capping an 18-8 Maryland (5-0) scoring run.
“Allie’s a tremendous scorer for us,” coach Brenda Frese said. “Being able to have that inside, outside presence … especially getting those plays inside, as well as when she’s back to shooting the ball consistently from the 3-point line.”
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Frese went to her bench just 40 seconds in, subbing in Bri McDaniel and Saylor Poffenbarger. The pair dominated during the first quarter.
McDaniel recorded a steal and back-to-back buckets less than 30 seconds after checking in. Poffenbarger jumpstarted Maryland’s defense with two emphatic blocks on layup attempts from Towson’s Semaya Turner.
The duo combined for 11 of the Terps’ 33 first quarter points. It served as Maryland’s highest-scoring first quarter of the season thus far.
“Every game I get a little more comfortable,” Poffenbarger said. “I have a really good situation and opportunity to kind of get loose and play free.”
Maryland’s offense continued its red-hot play in the second quarter, starting off with six straight Sarah Te-Biasu points. The guard’s second and third respective 3-pointers sparked a 15-8 Terps scoring run.
A Poffenbarger turnover led to a fast break bucket from Towson guard India Johnston just seconds later. The junior proceeded to score the next 10 Tiger points, leading a late road attack before halftime. Johnston scored more than half of her team’s second-quarter points.
Kaylene Smikle matched it for the Terps to halt the Towson surge before the break. After missing a pair of shots to start the quarter, Smikle scored five straight points. A second-chance layup and 3-pointer — both on assists from Shyanne Sellers — extended Maryland’s lead to nearly 20 before the break.
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Smikle, who finished with 21 points, notched her fourth straight 20-plus point game to start her Terps career.
“Consistency is something that I take pride on,” Smikle said. “Even if I’m not scoring well, there’s always something I can do on the floor.”
After shooting a nightmarish 2-for-13 on 3-pointers in its season-opener against UMBC, Maryland scored at least six triples in its next three games. The Terps poured in 11 from beyond the arc on Sunday on an efficient 64.7 percent clip. It matched Maryland’s most single-game 3-pointers since March’s NCAA tournament loss to Iowa State.
Two of those came near the end of the third quarter, both from Poffenbarger. The Arkansas transfer splashed back-to-back triples — she led the Terps with four total 3-pointers.
Another driving layup from Te-Biasu provided the Terps’ with a 23-point advantage as the third quarter buzzer sounded — their then-largest lead of the day.
Towson forward Khady Leye missed a jumper two minutes into the fourth quarter. Sellers corralled the defensive rebound before outletting a high pass ahead to Smikle, who scored the transition bucket. The play gave Sellers a game-high nine assists.
Her 10th came on Kubek’s historic bucket — with the senior serving as the first Maryland player to log double-digit assists in a single game this season.
An Ava McKennie transition layup capped a 24-14 Maryland scoring run through the final quarter — maintaining a 33-0 fast break point advantage over the Tigers. Ten of the Terps’ 11 active players scored at least a bucket, with six finishing in double figures.
“That’s the balance that we want to have,” Frese said. “… You have to pick your poison. When you’re scouting us, we’re really difficult to stop.”