Kaylene Smikle is off to quite a start to her Maryland career. She’s leading the eighth-ranked Terrapins in scoring, the team is undefeated — and now she can celebrate reaching the 1,000-point mark.
Smikle surpassed 1,000 on Thursday in a 107-57 victory over William & Mary. The Rutgers transfer scored 14 of her 21 points in the first half after needing only 11 to arrive at the milestone.
“I think it’s just a blessing,” Smikle said. “It’s a blessing to be here, it’s a blessing to accomplish this one milestone here at Maryland.”
The Terrapins also have three other players who have reached 1,000 points. Shyanne Sellers has been a Terp her whole college career, but Allie Kubek is in her second season playing at Maryland after two years at Towson, and Sarah Te-Biasu arrived this season from Virginia Commonwealth.
The Terrapins went through some uncharacteristic struggles last season, bowing out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed in their region. After remaking the roster, they’ve rolled to an 11-0 start in 2024-25.
Smikle, who averaged over 16 points per game in both her seasons at Rutgers, is at 17.7 for the Terps. She reached 1,000 points with a 3-pointer that gave Maryland a 44-21 lead in the second quarter, capping a 21-2 run that broke open a close game.
“It feel like it just made the accomplishment better being in such a great program, with people around me who genuinely care for me and want to push me every day and want to help me grow,” Smikle said.
Now the Terps get a break before facing No. 15 Michigan State on Dec. 29 in what could be a matchup of unbeatens.
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