A solid second half by the Terrapins defeats UMBC in the Opener
Maryland Women’s Basketball started the 2024 season with a win. On Monday evening, the Lady Terps defeated the UMBC Retrievers 74-32.
At first, the game was a bit slow, but a solid second half was key. Here were the keys to success.
PATIENCE is a VIRTUE
The notion that a team should be in unison during the season’s first game is unrealistic. This roster has ten new players (three freshmen and seven transfers). They will need time to gel, which showed in the first half. The next three to five games should give us a good insight into how the rotations will look. But we will see a lot of experimenting and see how far Coach Frese will go in her rotations.
The offense will get better, but again it was the first game.
It is one thing if this is in the middle of the season, but there is plenty of time for things to be cleaned up and adjusted. After a struggling first half, the second half did provide some details. At times, the Terps allowed 22 Apple turnovers. Little things can disrupt the flow of the offense. The three-pointing shooting will get better. There will not be many games of 2-of-13 shooting.
UMBC had three fourth-quarter points……..
UMBC is no South Carolina, UConn, or Ohio State, but it did not have any answers for Maryland’s defense. Maryland allowed 10 second-half points. The retrievers did not have an answer for both man and zone defense. For certain parts of the game, the Brenda Special (Full Court Press) UMBC allowed 25 turnovers, and some of those turnovers were basic mistakes such as backcourt violations or even 10-second violations. It also does not help that the Retrievers shot 25% from the field as a unit.
The Maryland Women’s Basketball next game is against Coppin State at the Xfinity Center on Thursday evening.