Maryland women’s basketball dominates UMBC, 92-61

Maryland women’s basketball handled UMBC on Sunday, winning 92-61 to improve to 8-0 on the season.

Facing a lesser opponent, the Terps were able to get out to a quick 8-0 lead within the first few minutes of the game and didn’t look back from there. By the time the teams had reached the half, Maryland held a 58-30 lead. The Terps led by as many as 37 in the second half, and avoided a letdown similar to their last two games.

Forwards Stephanie Jones and Shakira Austin were had their way inside the paint from the tip, as the Terp guards looked to feed the two tallest players on the court as much as they could. The two combined for 18 points in the first half and accounted for 13 of the team’s 26 rebounds.

Jones ended up finishing the game as the team’s leading scorer, pouring in 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting in just 18 minutes. Austin followed right behind her with a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double, with Sara Vujacic adding 13 off the bench as well.

Coming off a game where the defense looked a bit suspect at times, Maryland did a good job at controlling the other side of the court too, as the Terps were able to lock down the Retriever’s attack for most of the game. They held UMBC to just 61 points on 40 percent shooting from the field, forcing 19 turnovers and committing just 12.

Although the Terps had points coming from all over the court, they just couldn’t find their stroke from the free-throw line, despite getting there a whole lot. They shot a collective 17-of-31 (55 percent) from the line, with Austin making just five of her team-high 10 attempts. However, Maryland enjoyed a decent bit of success from the three point line, shooting 7-14 for the game, with Taylor Mikesell and Sara Vujacic leading the way with three triples apiece.

The Terps led 29-14 after the first quarter, then nearly doubled the lead by outscoring the Retrievers 29-16 in the second period. The second half was closer, and UMBC actually outscored Maryland 13-11 in the fourth quarter, but it was still a wire-to-wire victory for the Terps. Their 31-point margin of victory is their third win by more than 20 points on the season.

Maryland will be back in action on Saturday when the Terps face off with James Madison at noon ET. It will be Maryland’s third straight game at the Xfinity Center as they look to continue their unbeaten start to the season.

Three things to know

1. Points off turnovers kept this one from being close. While Maryland already was the better team on paper, the Terps compounded their advantage by taking advantage of UMBC’s mistakes. In all, they totaled 24 points off 19 turnovers, many of which were a result of Maryland guards successfully trapping and stealing the ball, leading to easy transition buckets.
2. Maryland shot its highest field-goal percentage since Dayton. Even though the Terps have had their share of blowout wins already this season, they tied their season best in field goal percentage against UMBC, shooting 55 percent (34-of-62). It helped that Jones and Austin got mostly high-percentage shots at the rim all game, it’s promising to see Maryland shooting above 50 percent from the field semi-consistently.
3. Maryland’s bigs dominated the boards as usual. UMBC was at a size disadvantage for most of this game, and it showed in the rebounding column. Maryland controlled the glass on both sides of the floor all game, outrebounding UMBC 44-28, including 15-6 on the offensive glass. The luxury that Jones and Austin provide on the boards could make an important difference down the stretch of the season, when Maryland—the nation’s best rebounding team so far—will face larger teams in the Big Ten.