Junior guard Kaylene Smikle has been Maryland women’s basketball’s best scorer all season. The Rutgers transfer scored 20 or more points in six different games, averaging about 18 points through the Terps’ first 12 outings.

She continued her run of scoring 10-plus against her former team on Thursday.

The guard reached double figures for the 12th straight game, accounting for 13 points. Smikle’s output — coupled with guard Shyanne Sellers’ team-leading 22 points — earned No. 8 Maryland another conference win over Rutgers, 78-61, Thursday night at Xfinity Center.

“Basketball is basketball, it doesn’t matter the team,” Smikle said. “I don’t think me playing Rutgers changed the way I came into the game or the mindset that I had.”

The Terps (13-0, 3-0 Big Ten) are off to their best start in conference matchups since the 2020-2021 campaign. They won the Big Ten regular season and tournament that season.

Maryland didn’t begin games well in December. The Terps scored 89 points in the first quarter across five games, accounting for just 20 percent of their total scoring. Maryland faced similar scoring struggles against Rutgers (8-6, 0-3 Big Ten) to start its third Big Ten contest.

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The Terps’ offense was paced by 3-point shooting in the first quarter, as Smikle, Sellers and junior guard Bri McDaniel each connected on a deep-range shot. Maryland ended the frame with 19 points, shooting 38 percent from the floor.

The Terps’ defense forced five turnovers while holding the Scarlet Knights’ offense to 13 points in the opening period, and created a lead Maryland didn’t relinquish.

Rutgers cut its deficit to three points early in the second. Maryland native Kiyomi McMiller scored 14 points, with three 3-pointers, to spur the Scarlet Knights’ offense in the first half.

But an 11-0 scoring run in the second quarter helped push the Terps’ advantage to double digits. Smikle, Sellers, guard Saylor Poffenbarger and forward Allie Kubek combined for all 11 points.

The Scarlet Knights only netted nine points in the second quarter, and the Terps led, 40-22, at halftime. Rutgers made one field goal in the final seven minutes of the half.

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Sellers, who scored a team-best 11 points through the first two quarters, continued to score in the new half. The senior caught a pass at the top of the key from Poffenbarger. She drove into the paint and spun away from her defender, putting up a shot that fell through the rim. She added eight more in the third, including a three-point play, to put her at a season-high 19 points.

“I thought she set the tone from the tip. That’s what you need to be able to have with your senior,” coach Brenda Frese said.

Kubek and Smikle each eclipsed double-digit point totals in the third as the Terps led by 21 entering the final quarter.

Maryland’s strong defense continued as Rutgers didn’t make a field goal for the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. The Scarlet Knights shot 35.5 percent from the floor in the game.

“I think our defense has really been improving within the last couple of weeks,” Frese said. “We’re much better with scout tendencies than where we were in the nonconference, so that’s also been leading to our defense being able to improve.

The Terps have scored more than 70 points and held their opponents to under that same mark in each of their three conference wins.