Maryland
Maryland women’s basketball lands Rutgers guard Kaylene Smikle via transfer portal
A year after getting an impact player in Jakia Brown-Turner via the transfer portal, Maryland women’s basketball is back at it again.
Rutgers star sophomore Kaylene Smikle confirmed via social media that she is transferring to the Terps after spending her first two seasons in Piscataway, New Jersey. The 6-foot guard will immediately bolster a backcourt that returns All-Big Ten first-team selection and point guard Shyanne Sellers. Maryland had been looking for help at shooting guard with freshmen Summer Bostock and Riley Nelson announcing last month that they had entered the transfer portal and Brinae Alexander, Lavender Briggs and Turner-Brown, who earned a training camp contract with the Washington Mystics after not getting picked in Monday’s WNBA draft, set to graduate.
Smikle, who was named to the All-Big Ten rookie team and second team as a freshman, averaged 17.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.9 assists in her brief career at Rutgers, including 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 steals in 15 games (including 14 starts) this past winter before sitting out the rest of the season because of an unspecified health issue.
The Terps will also welcome three highly touted incoming freshmen. Kyndal Walker, a 5-foot-9 guard at St. John’s, was The Washington Post’s All-Metro Player of the Year after averaging 16.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while leading the Cadets to a 26-5 record and championships in both the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and District of Columbia State Athletic Association tournaments this past winter.
Breanna Williams, a 6-2 forward, was recognized by Gatorade as Montana’s Player of the Year for the second consecutive season after amassing 23.9 points, 11.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 3.4 steals per game. She helped Skyview High capture the state championship.
Ava McKennie, a 6-2 wing at McDonogh, averaged 13.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.0 steals while helping the Eagles win their third straight Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference title. McKennie, the sister of former Maryland football offensive lineman Ellis McKennie, was named to The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro first team this past season.
The Terps also welcome in junior college transfer Isi Ozzy-Momodu, a 6-3 power forward who played at Gulf Coast State in Panama City, Florida. She averaged 17.5 points and 12.1 rebounds this past season.
Maryland finished 19-14 last season, which marked the program’s fewest wins since the 2003-04 squad went 18-13. The team’s 9-9 mark in the Big Ten was its first with a .500 or worse record in the conference since the 2009-10 squad finished 5-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Terps finished tied for sixth with Penn State and Michigan in the Big Ten standings and earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament after upsetting No. 1 seed Ohio State in the conference tournament quarterfinals. But as the No. 10 seed in March Madness, they lost in the first round to No. 7 seed Iowa State after squandering a 20-point second-quarter lead.
Maryland
Maryland correctional facility teaches inmates to bake
Deep within a Maryland prison, a group of inmates are choosing to rise above their pasts, transforming simple ingredients into sweet possibilities, and baking their way toward a future sprinkled with hope.
Maryland
Maryland man to be sentenced for killing man with axe, murder of Baltimore cellmate
BALTIMORE — A Harford County man is expected to be sentenced Thursday morning after he was convicted of killing a man with an axe and pled guilty to murdering his cellmate, according to Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates.
In September 2022, Gordon Staron was charged with using an axe to kill a 63-year-old man at a bus station in the 1400 block of East Monument Street, police said. The victim – Keith Bell – died at a hospital.
Staron was taken to the Baltimore City Central Booking Intake Facility and charged with first-degree murder, according to police.
In October 2022, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said a deaf detainee at the booking facility was found unresponsive.
Javarick Gantt, 34, of Annapolis had been detained in the facility since July 1, 2022, officials said. His death was later ruled a homicide.
In January 2023, State’s Attorney Bates announced he would join the prosecution team in Gantt’s murder trial and said he intended to seek a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. It was the first time a Baltimore City case was prosecuted by a sitting State’s Attorney in nearly a decade, his office said.
“Here, you have a suspect who’s alleged to have committed two separate murders, one on an older adult and one on a vulnerable adult,” Bates said, explaining why he took the case.
Bates has raised questions about the city’s jail system and backlogged courts. After the incident, jail officials refused to answer questions about why Staron was being housed with Gantt, a disabled man who was facing relatively minor charges.
In October, Staron pled guilty to murder. He is expected to be sentenced for both cases on Thursday morning.
“When I campaigned for this office, I promised to be a champion and defender of our older adult and disabled community in Baltimore, and the outcomes of these cases will undoubtedly ensure that Mr. Staron is never back on our streets to commit more malicious acts against vulnerable individuals,” Bates said.
Maryland
Maryland temperatures to plummet through the weekend
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