Maryland women’s basketball vs. Mount St. Mary’s preview

No. 14 Maryland women’s basketball will play its fourth game of the season against Mount St. Mary’s Tuesday. This matchup will be the final nonconference game for the Terps before they begin Big Ten play.

After starting the season 2-1, the Terps hosted Towson in a 112-78 victory. This was their second game in a row this season scoring over 100 points against an opponent. The Terps also set a Big Ten record by scoring 21 three-pointers in one game.

“They showed you what they’re more than capable of so that’s been fun,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “I love that every single player on our team can score the basketball.”

On Thursday against Towson, the Terps once again proved they have incredible depth. With freshman forward Angel Reese leaving the game less than three minutes in with a right foot injury, Maryland still had success on the court. Seven different players had at least one successful shot, led by senior guard Katie Benzan’s six triples. Sophomore guards Diamond Miller and Ashley Owusu had career-high performances; Miller sank 28 points and Owusu had 25.

“Our responses since Angel’s injury has been really, really positive,” said Frese. “We’re looking forward to get back on the court and being able to get better and test ourselves against Mount St. Mary’s.”

Maryland last played Mount St. Mary’s in December 2017 in College Park. The Terps won that game by 40 points, by a final score of 97-57. Overall against the Mount, Maryland is 4-0.

Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (1-2, 0-0 NEC)

2019-20 record: 20-11 (14-4 NEC)

Head coach Maria Marchesano is in her fourth season as the leader of the Mount after serving as an assistant coach at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. In her first three seasons coaching at Mount St. Mary’s, Marchesano has amassed a 44-47 record.

In 2019-20, Marchesano led the Mount to 20 overall wins, 14 of which were in conference games, for the program’s best record since the 1999-2000 season.

Mount St. Mary’s started this season by losing its first two games to James Madison and Howard. Following a Coppin State cancelation, Mount St. Mary’s hosted UMBC in its home-opener, which resulted in a 72-58 win for the Mountaineers.

Players to know

Kendall Bresee, redshirt senior guard, 5’10, No. 3 - Despite only playing 22 minutes due to foul trouble, Bresee put up 10 points and had three assists in the win against UMBC. However, against Howard, she was one of six Mountaineers to score double-digit points with 16. She also had seven rebounds in that game.

Prior to arriving at Mount St. Mary’s, Bresee played for George Washington University. In her first active season with the Mountaineers, she earned an All-NEC Third Team selection after averaging 11.3 points, 6.5 boards and 3.7 assists per game.

Taylor Addison, junior forward, 5’10, No. 25 - Addison leads the team with an average of 13.3 points per game. Against Howard, Addison had a career-high 15 points just to shatter that personal collegiate record six days later against UMBC by scoring 17 points. She finished that game with five rebounds and three assists as well. During the 2019-20 season, Addison had the highest shooting percentage on the team with 55.2%.

Rebecca Lee, senior center, 6’2, No. 34 - In the first game of the season, Lee scored seven of the Mount’s first nine points to be the much-needed spark. During the 2019-20, Lee became the second player in program history to have 100 blocks. This season, Lee leads the team in rebounds with a total of 21 in the first three games.

Strength

Fighting mentality. In its first three games of the season, the Mountaineers have not stopped fighting, even when they’re down. When it started slowly against Howard, Mount St. Mary’s went on an 11-2 run to take the lead by one. After Howard pulled ahead by eight, the Mountaineers continued to fight pulling the game to a tie with 21 seconds left of the game. Against James Madison University, it was unable to regain the lead, however, it ended the game on a 12-3 run. Against UMBC, Mount St. Mary’s never trailed.

Weakness

Foul trouble. Over its first three games, Mount St. Mary’s has committed 63 personal fouls. Against UMBC, Breese was limited to 22 minutes because she committed four fouls, and when they played against Howard, she and redshirt sophomore guard Aryna Taylor fouled out. Fouls are an area the Terps also struggle with, as over their first four games of the season, they have committed 91. This should make for a physical matchup, however it will be interesting to see if any players on either side foul out.

Three things to watch

1. How will Maryland’s deep roster continue to adapt to the 12-week loss of Angel Reese? Reese went out early in the game against Towson and the team was able to quickly adapt to the lineup change. Every active player scored at least two points and Owusu and Miller had career-high games. However, with Reese out, that means different lineups are coming in, and redshirt sophomore guard Mimi Collins and sophomore forward Faith Masonius will help fill that void.

“Me and Mimi together are just coming in and helping out on the defensive ends being the bigger players on the team,” said Masonius. “On the offensive end, we we need to make up for the points and the boards Angel brought us.”

It will be interesting to see how the team continues to grow without the presence of the former number two recruit in the country on the court.

2. Will Maryland have another 100 point game? The Terps have had two games in a row hitting over 100 points and it doesn’t look like they are planning on slowing down any time soon. After setting a Big Ten record for made three-pointers, how will the Terps continue to build on that momentum?

“We want to play, you know, our style of play,” said Frese. “I mean with our defense and our rebounding and sharing the basketball.”

Mount St. Mary’s is a scrappy team that’s coming off a win, so it may make it difficult for the Terps to have three 100 point games in a row. The last time Maryland had three games with 100 or more points was during the 2017-2018 season, with wins against Loyola, Coppin State and Illinois.

3. Can the Terps continue to commit fewer fouls? In the first three games of the season, the Terps had more than 20 personal fouls a game. However, against Towson, Maryland committed just 16 and only had one player in foul trouble. With Mount St. Mary’s having multiple key players in foul trouble each game, will the Terps fall back into their fouling patterns or will this improvement prove to be long-term?

“We don’t want to give our opponents any easy buckets at the foul line,” said Benzan. “So, anything like fouls we need to keep them as low as they can be so we can keep everyone in and playing at our strongest.”