Trip to UMBC awaits women's basketball

The Terrapins women's basketball team's average margin of victory in its first three games — more than 31 points, after Wednesday's shellacking of Towson — says enough about how little the Terps have been challenged this year.

But when the No. 10 Terps take on UMBC tomorrow, they will be tested in a way they haven't so far experienced this season.

"Now we've got to get ourselves prepared for a new dynamic," coach Brenda Frese said after the Terps' 82-46 win over the Tigers, "which is going on the road for the first time."

The Terps (3-0) will travel up Interstate 95 to Baltimore tomorrow for their game against the Retrievers (2-1), their first trip away from Comcast Center this season. The Terps finished 9-4 on the road last season, also falling in the first road game of that slate, a 53-45 loss to Georgetown.

Tomorrow's game will be only the second the Terps have played at UMBC in the two teams' history. Overall, the Terps are 9-0 against the in-state foe, but even with their historic success over the Retrievers, Frese said the road atmosphere will make tomorrow's game different.

"I like being 3-0 and to be able to go on the road and challenge this team to go into a new environment," Frese said. "But you've got to play better and be sharper."

The Terps will surely look to improve on their assist-to-turnover ratio. Though the team finished with a season-high 19 assists against Towson, it also committed 18 turnovers, an alarming number considering the defense it was up against.

Frese said the Tigers stuck primarily to a zone defense Wednesday, usually opting to play off the ball. But even without consistent pressure from the Towson defense, the Terps still finished with a season-worst 18 turnovers. That number will have to improve tomorrow, especially on the road against a Retrievers team that has forced nearly 20 turnovers per game so far this season.

"On Sunday [against Georgetown], against a pressing team, we only had 16 turnovers. But [Wednesday], against a team that played us predominantly in a zone, we had way too many turnovers," Frese said. "It's an area where I think we can continue to improve at. Some of the turnovers we have are just [committed] by us and we've got to clean up."

Even if the Terps can't limit their turnovers, and even if the game is away from home, it's likely their matchup with UMBC won't be a difficult one. The Retrievers' two wins this season came against Morgan State and Monmouth, and they recently lost by eight at home to Coppin State.

"We're obviously going to continue to play against really great competition and even better competition," Frese said. "We've got to continue to stay humble and hungry because teams are going to try to find out how they can stop this team."

vitale@umdbk.com