When Maryland plays its first Big Ten game of the 2025-26 season on the road against Minnesota this Sunday, it will do so undefeated and as one of the favorites to win the conference.

The Terps captured their 10th straight victory against Mount St. Mary’s at Xfinity Center Wednesday night. Maryland rolled through The Mount without much resistance, winning 92-44. Oluchi Okananwa led the Terps with 17 points.

Maryland used the first quarter to put on a passing showcase. The Terps’ offense has been at its best this season when the ball is moving — and it moved early and often against the Mountaineers.

The Terps were able to highlight some of their underrated passers like Marya Boiko. She made a couple Nikola Jokic-esque touch passes in the paint and generated easy looks.

The ball movement created open looks for some less frequent offensive contributors like Rainey Welson and Mir McLean, who combined for 10 points in the first 10 minutes.

On the other end, when the Terps got into their half-court defense, opportunities for the Mountaineers were few and far between. The Terps limited them to under 30% shooting from the field in the first half.

Breanna Williams also got the most first-half action she’s seen all year. She made the most of it, accumulating six points and four boards in the first 20 minutes.

Despite the wide range of contributions, Maryland’s biggest threat was the reliable Okananwa, who seemed to score any time she decided she wanted to take her defender on.

“I’m really excited to take what we’ve learned especially from today and bring that over with us to conference play,” Okananwa said.
Behind her 13 first-half points, Maryland was ahead 46-21 at the break.

“I definitely thought that our first half was a little sluggish coming off of Puerto Rico,” Frese said. “I thought we got back to playing Maryland basketball in the second half, I thought we were able to pick up our defensive intensity.”

Frese started the second half with the same five players who made up her starting lineup: Okananwa, Saylor Poffenbarger, Addi Mack, Yarden Garzon and Kaylene Smikle. This smaller five has been the Terps’ best and most reliable combination, but Frese didn’t stick with it the way she has in closer games.

Instead, her post players received more opportunities; Williams, Boiko and Ozzy-Momodu all played at least 15 minutes. Frese seems much more comfortable deploying a lineup with all of them against undersized mid-major opponents than she does in tight games against other high-level centers.

“We’re all different post players so that kind of helps us,” Williams said about the trio. “We’re able to use our physicality on different mismatches and to be able to dominate in the post.”

To close the third quarter, Williams popped open to receive a pass at the free throw line. She passed up an opportunity for a mid-range jumper, instead flipping it to a wide-open Rainey Welson in the corner, who drilled her second 3-pointer of the game.

These were the kind of rare on-court combinations Maryland fans got to enjoy all evening, as the Terps played all but one available player.

The game was never in doubt, with Maryland leading for over 37 minutes and dominating no matter the lineup. The Terps got 47 points from their bench and dished out a season-high 25 assists en route to their 10th straight win.

1. Kyndal Walker facilitated. Walker has struggled to find her role as a scorer this season, with the exception of a standout performance against Bethune-Cookman. However, when she’s been given the opportunity to operate Maryland’s offense as the point guard, she’s shown her strength as a creator. Walker dished out a game-high eight assists to help Maryland reach its new season-high as a team.

“She did a really good job, being able to find different people for shots,” Frese said. “That’s what we got to be able to have, I thought her pace got better from the offensive end.”

2. Ball pressure continued to pay dividends. Maryland has leaned on defense-to-offense transitions all season, and it was no different against the Mount. The Terps accumulated 11 steals and 31 points off turnovers in their victory.

3. Williams was efficient again. Amid three good games for all three of Maryland’s post players, Williams’ was the best. She finished second on the team in scoring with 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had three assists to just one turnover. She did give up a couple easy buckets on the other end, though, an area where Frese wants improvement.