Kaylene Smikle is set to undergo knee surgery and will miss the remainder of Maryland women’s basketball’s season, she announced Sunday on Instagram.
Smikle, a senior, said she was fighting through some pain since the preseason. She missed Maryland’s first three games with what coach Brenda Frese called “nagging injuries.” The guard ended her statement by saying she plans to return next season.
She’s is Maryland’s third player and second starter to suffer a season-ending injury. Freshman Lea Bartelme and sophomore Ava McKennie both tore their ACL. Bri McDaniel is also yet to return from a January ACL tear.
Smikle averaged about 13 points a game this season, second most on the Maryland roster. She made her first appearance in the second quarter against Towson to play just 12 minutes. Smikle said after the game that she didn’t want to “rush back” into things and wanted to trust her body’s timing.
[Addi Mack is building a legacy at Maryland. Her childhood coaches expected it.]
She got her first start two games later against Bethune-Cookman, but only played 18 minutes. Smikle averaged nearly 30 minutes a game last season.
Smikle posted a season-high 22 points and five rebounds against Kentucky, Maryland’s only ranked opponent of the non-conference slate.
She was named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award watch list — given to the women’s player of the year — before the start of the season. The New York native averaged 17.9 points a game in her junior campaign, tied for sixth best in the conference.
Frese said in October that her team’s biggest challenge this year will be “staying healthy.” The Teps are now short 20 percent of their roster before Big Ten play begins.
