For the first time in the 2025-26 season, Maryland women’s basketball must respond to a game that didn’t break its path. Mired by foul trouble, the team dropped a nail-biter against Illinois on the road Thursday afternoon, snapping the 14-game unbeaten streak that opened the year.
Just four days after the loss, a reeling Indiana program will arrive at the Xfinity Center desperate for its first conference victory. The game will begin at 6 p.m. and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
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Indiana Hoosiers (11-4, 0-3 Big Ten)
Indiana head coach Teri MorenHis 12th season at the helm of the Hoosiers is off to a good start. The Hoosiers won seven straight games, including three solid wins against major programs, before losing their first game to a great Iowa State team.
Big Ten play, however, gave them a reality check: They lost their first three conference games by a total of 64 points. They will report to College Park with equal rest as the Terps, having suffered a 20-point loss to Michigan State on Thursday afternoon.
Players to watch
Shay Ciezki, senior guard, 5-foot-7, No. 10 — Despite Indiana’s struggles, Ciezki has been a revelation for the Hoosiers this season. After three seasons as a solid rotation player, she has become the alpha of the current team.
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Ciezki is the conference’s leading scorer at 23.2 points per game. Her scoring ability is similar to that of Maryland’s injured guard Kaylene Smikle: a dangerous shooter if left unguarded who primarily wants to attack her defenders off the dribble and down the slope. She will surely be the No. 1 target in Maryland head coach Brenda Frese’s scouting report.
Lenée Beaumont, redshirt sophomore guard, 6-foot-1, No. 5 — Beaumont is clearly the second scoring option behind Ciezki, playing the ball as a catch-and-shoot threat. She was lethal from beyond the arc at 45.3%. Maryland will try to get it outside the 3-point line.
Zania Socka-Nguemen, second-year center, 6-foot-3, No. 23 — Nguemen is a former highly touted local product of Sidwell Friends in Washington DC. She played her freshman year at UCLA, where she didn’t see the field much, and made the decision to jump ship to Indiana during the offseason. She broke out early in the season for the Hoosiers – averaging 13 points and nine rebounds – before injuring her right foot.
Moren said the big one would return “after Christmas,” according to the Daily Hoosier. If she returns against the Terps, she could give the team a huge boost.
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Strength
3-point shot. The Hoosiers don’t take an exceptionally high number of threes (19.6 per contest), but when they take them, there’s a good chance they’ll go in. Most of the shooting comes from Ciezki and Beaumont, but the Hoosiers have a few other deep threats, including Nevaeh Caffey and Maya Makalusky. They will be the most accurate 3-point shooting team Maryland has faced this year.
Weakness
Bounce. The glass will absolutely be the biggest mismatch between Maryland and Indiana on Sunday night. Frese’s team is No. 2 in the nation in rebounding margin, while the Hoosiers are by far the worst rebounding team in the conference. This makes the potential return of their top rebounder, Socka-Nguemen, all the more valuable.
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Three things to watch out for
1. Special celebration. This match will be an opportunity for Frese to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the reunion of the winning team of the 2006 National Championship. The team will be honored during a pre-match ceremony in the presence of 10 members, according to Frese.
“You continue to marvel at how young, fearless and confident this group was to win Maryland’s first national championship,” Frese said.
2. Garzon faces a familiar enemy. Yarden Garzon has spent the last three years as one of Indiana’s best players. Now, she will be able to face them for the first time in her career. Garzon will also look to bounce back from an eventful game against Illinois, where she had 17 points but missed 11 shots and made two crucial turnovers late in the game.
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3. No more double big? If Socka-Nguemen is indeed still out for the Hoosiers, Frese could be tempted to use bigger lineups, with two of Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu, Breanna Williams and Marya Boiko to take advantage inside. With her guards struggling against Illinois, she was forced to hit those big combinations for long periods of time. They worked relatively well – Boiko had one of his best matches of the year.
