Maryland and Saint Francis (Pa.) last faced off more than 13 years ago — a home first round NCAA Tournament game in College Park and a blowout Terps win. The two teams matched up for just the second time on Sunday, with the outcome being decided just minutes into the contest.
Junior guard Kaylene Smikle drained a straightaway 3-pointer seven minutes in, giving herself 15 first-quarter points. Her first-quarter showing nearly mirrored former Maryland forward Alyssa Thomas’ 16-point performance in 2011. The two both scored team-high points in their respective games against the Red Flash.
Streaky shooting and pressure defense powered No. 11 Maryland women’s basketball to a 107-35 victory over Saint Francis. The Terps remain perfect through six games for the first time since 2021-22.
Red Flash guard Ineivi Plata collected a defensive rebound, accelerating past the Maryland (6-0) logo to set up Saint Francis’ first possession. Plata swung the ball to Marina Artero before repositioning on the perimeter.
Maryland’s Allie Kubek was caught watching as Plata fired a pass to a cutting Julianna Gibson for an easy layup, providing the game’s first two points.
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That was Saint Francis’ first and only lead of the day. A blistering 11-0 Terps run ensued through the following three minutes, featuring a barrage of quick scores from Smikle, Kubek and Shyanne Sellers.
Maryland’s stout perimeter defense caused a nightmarish 8.3 percent Red Flash shooting output through the remainder of the opening 10-minute frame. The Terps held Saint Francis without a single made first-quarter field goal after Gibson’s initial bucket.
“We spent a lot of time defensively this week, really fine tuning our presses as well as our half-court … and I loved the response,” coach Brenda Frese said. “… You could see how hard the effort and the energy was out there.”
Three straight 3-pointers from Smikle gave the junior guard 15 early points — logging nearly half of Maryland 32 team points and five times as much as Saint Francis’ combined three first-quarter points.
Smikle increased her total to 20 with back-to-back layups midway through the second quarter. It marked her fifth consecutive 20-point game, a career best. This time, she only needed 15 minutes to reach it.
Both of Smikle’s second-quarter scores came on assists from Sellers. A late Saylor Poffenbarger triple provided Sellers with her seventh assist to close out the first half. She finished with nine, logging five or more assists for the fifth straight outing.
Sellers’ veteran playmaking fueled another dominant 34-6 Maryland scoring run throughout the second quarter. A pair of free throws extended the Terps’ lead to 57 before the break, their largest first-half lead of the season. All 10 active players who garnered first-half minutes notched at least a point in the 20-minute frame.
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“I told them we needed to come out and play like we were down 20. Those are the habits that we want to build,” Frese said. “We’re not playing the score, we’re not playing the team. We’re playing to have really good habits.”
But the Red Flash led a fast start offensively out of the break, nearly keeping pace with the Terps to start the second half.
A trio of 3-pointers from Plata, Yanessa Boyd and Airah Lavy, along with a hookshot from Giselle Eke, made up Saint Francis’ 11 third-quarter points. The total surpassed its entire combined first half total of nine.
Seven third-quarter points from Kubek, sparked by a crafty second-chance layup, gave the graduate forward 20 points — and extended the Maryland lead to 69 points to close the period.
A Sellers offensive rebound midway through the fourth quarter brought Maryland’s team total to 49 — equal to its 2011 postseason distribution.
Smikle broke it less than a minute after. Christina Dalce added to the count a play later, cleaning the glass for her game-high 11th rebound to give the Terps an even 50 boards. It finished with 53 total, Maryland’s most single-game rebounds this season.
“Our tenacity and size on the board helps a lot,” Kubek said. “Just us working on it every day at practice, and checking and pursuing the rebound helps us a lot in games.”
Back-to-back fast break layups from Sellers and Ava McKennie capped an 11-2 fourth-quarter scoring run, capping another emphatic home victory — and earning a long-awaited second all-time win over the Red Flash.
Ten of Maryland 11’s active players scored en route to the 72-point victory. Maryland earned its largest margin of victory since 2019, falling just five points short of earning its largest-ever win in program history.
“I thought we were really locked in,” Frese said. “These are great games to be able to add and build your bench minutes and be able to see where we’re growing in that area.”
