The Terps look to remain undefeated.
No. 10 Maryland women’s basketball will spend the weekend after Thanksgiving taking part in the Navy Classic.
The Terps bring their perfect record to Annapolis, Maryland, in an event hosted by Navy, which also features George Mason and Toledo. It will be the Terps’ first back-to-back of the 2024-25 season, as they take on George Mason on Saturday and Toledo on Sunday.
Both games will tip off at 3:30 p.m. and streamed on ESPN+.
George Mason Patriots (6-0, 0-0 Atlantic 10)
When the Terps and Patriots meet on Saturday afternoon, one of the two will lose their perfect record.
Fourth year head coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis has led an impressive turnaround for the once-struggling Patriots.
“Coach Blair has done a phenomenal job there with her team,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “A game where we’re going to have to come out, play Maryland basketball and be really disciplined.”
This year, the Patriots are off to a perfect 6-0 start and have already taken down a power conference team, notching a win over Wake Forest on the road.
Players to watch
Kennedy Harris, 5-foot-7 sophomore guard, No. 3 — Harris had an impressive freshman season, making the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team. She has only grown in 2024. Harris is the team’s leading scorer at 15.4 points per game, and is also the lead guard, averaging 4.2 assists to 1.8 turnovers per game.
Nalani Kaysia, 6-foot-2 graduate forward, No. 42 — Kaysia is the Patriots’ best post player, averaging 10.3 points and nine rebounds a game. She already has three double-doubles on the season and should present Maryland forward Christina Dalce with a good matchup down low.
Toledo (3-1, 0-0 MAC)
The Rockets season got off to a later start than Maryland, but they have looked formidable in their opening four games. Their only loss came to No. 22 Iowa, who handled them with relative ease, but they have already taken down Long Beach State, Northern Kentucky and Marshall heading into the weekend.
Head coach Ginny Boggess is in her first year at the program’s helm, joining after three seasons at Monmouth.
Players to watch
Kendall Carruthers, 5-foot-7 sophomore guard, No. 4 — Carruthers returned to her hometown program after winning NEC Rookie of the Year with Saint Francis (PA) in 2023. Carruthers hasn’t missed a step as the Rockets leading scorer, averaging 14.3 points per game. She’s lethal from deep — shooting more than 55% from three on the season — and should present a difficult matchup for Sarah Te-Biasu and Kaylene Smikle.
Sammi Mikonowicz, 5-foot-10 graduate guard, No. 33 — Mikonowicz is already a program legend at Toledo, where she is in her fifth year as a starter. She is enjoying her best season thus far, averaging 13.5 points per game and 4.8 rebounds.
Three things to watch
1. Fatigue. Maryland will be playing a back-to-back for the first time this season, and could be coming directly off a hard-fought game against George Mason for Sunday’s contest against Toledo.
“This is honestly great preparation for the postseason,” Dalce said. “I don’t think [the back-to-back] frazzles any of us because of the expectation. We have to play our game, regardless of the time to prepare.”
2. Test of depth. With the quick turnaround, as well as a game looming the following Tuesday, Frese could go deeper into her bench. This would increase the workloads of players like Mir McLean and Amari DeBerry.
“We have a deep bench we’re going to need to be able to utilize that,” Frese said.
3. Smikle’s streak. Smikle has scored 20 or more points in five straight games for the Terps. The longest streak of 20-plus points by a Terp was Shatori Walker-Kimbrough’s eight in 2017. Smikle would have to do it three times in four days to get to that mark.