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Maryland women’s basketball lands Rutgers guard Kaylene Smikle via transfer portal

Edward Lee, Baltimore Sun
·3 min read

A year after getting an impact player in Jakia Brown-Turner via the transfer portal, Maryland women’s basketball is back at it again.

Rutgers star sophomore Kaylene Smikle confirmed via social media that she is transferring to the Terps after spending her first two seasons in Piscataway, New Jersey. The 6-foot guard will immediately bolster a backcourt that returns All-Big Ten first-team selection and point guard Shyanne Sellers. Maryland had been looking for help at shooting guard with freshmen Summer Bostock and Riley Nelson announcing last month that they had entered the transfer portal and Brinae Alexander, Lavender Briggs and Turner-Brown, who earned a training camp contract with the Washington Mystics after not getting picked in Monday’s WNBA draft, set to graduate.

Smikle, who was named to the All-Big Ten rookie team and second team as a freshman, averaged 17.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.9 assists in her brief career at Rutgers, including 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 steals in 15 games (including 14 starts) this past winter before sitting out the rest of the season because of an unspecified health issue.

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The Terps will also welcome three highly touted incoming freshmen. Kyndal Walker, a 5-foot-9 guard at St. John’s, was The Washington Post’s All-Metro Player of the Year after averaging 16.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while leading the Cadets to a 26-5 record and championships in both the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and District of Columbia State Athletic Association tournaments this past winter.

Breanna Williams, a 6-2 forward, was recognized by Gatorade as Montana’s Player of the Year for the second consecutive season after amassing 23.9 points, 11.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 3.4 steals per game. She helped Skyview High capture the state championship.

Ava McKennie, a 6-2 wing at McDonogh, averaged 13.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.0 steals while helping the Eagles win their third straight Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference title. McKennie, the sister of former Maryland football offensive lineman Ellis McKennie, was named to The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro first team this past season.

The Terps also welcome in junior college transfer Isi Ozzy-Momodu, a 6-3 power forward who played at Gulf Coast State in Panama City, Florida. She averaged 17.5 points and 12.1 rebounds this past season.

Maryland finished 19-14 last season, which marked the program’s fewest wins since the 2003-04 squad went 18-13. The team’s 9-9 mark in the Big Ten was its first with a .500 or worse record in the conference since the 2009-10 squad finished 5-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Terps finished tied for sixth with Penn State and Michigan in the Big Ten standings and earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament after upsetting No. 1 seed Ohio State in the conference tournament quarterfinals. But as the No. 10 seed in March Madness, they lost in the first round to No. 7 seed Iowa State after squandering a 20-point second-quarter lead.