Maryland women's basketball 2025-26 Season Preview: Projected starting lineup, impact players and rotation explored

Maryland women's hoops made a Sweet 16 run in 2025, but coach Brenda Frese has aggressively attacked the transfer portal and made some significant additions to her squad. Maryland lost a bunch of senior talent, but did a phenomenal job of replacing it. Here's an early rundown on the Maryland squad upcoming for 2025-26.

Maryland women's basketball season preview for 2025-26

Returning guard Kaylene Smikle is a significant star for the Terrapins. (Photo Credit: IMAGN)

Starting lineup

Guard: Kaylene Smikle

The top scorer on last year's team, the 6-foot senior guard averaged 17.9 points and 4.4 boards per game a year ago. Smikle was a 35% 3-point shooter last season and has scored 1,407 points in her Maryland career. She's the building block around which Frese could fit all sorts of interesting additions.

Guard: Lea Bartelme

Bartelme might be the biggest question mark here. A Slovenian import, the 5-foot-8 lead guard has been part of her national team since 2023. She is heavily decorated in international basketball and has been a top distributor in the Adriatic Basketball Association over the past several seasons. She's known for her passing, but Bartelme's ability to run a top college team is a bit of an X factor.

Guard: Saylor Poffenbarger

The 6-foot-2 wing had a solid season a year ago, averaging 9.1 ppg and 7.2 rpg. She's just a 28% career 3-point shooter. Poffenbarger will need to be more consistent with her outside shot or risk losing her starting spot to one of the many solid options available in the Maryland backcourt.

Forward: Yarden Garzon

A 6-foot-3 forward, Garzon was a significant player at Indiana. Last year, she tallied 14.4 ppg and 5.4 rpg. She shot 41% from 3-point range, actually down a bit from her 43% career accuracy. Garzon also shot 90% from the foul line. She'll be a reliable stretch forward for a team that could use an accurate wing shooter.

Rotation Players

Duke's Oluchi Okananwa was Sixth Player of the Year in the ACC last year and could reprise that role or take a starting spot. Guard Bri McDaniel scored 10.2 ppg in an injury-shortened season. Redshirted guard Kyndal Walker could also see some point guard minutes. Redshirted forwards Breanna Williams and Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu figure to see some bench minutes as well.

Impact Players

Merkle figures to be an immediate star, but Okananwa's ability to play multiple roles and positions could also be huge. Point guard is the only real question here, so how ready Bartelme will be to assume leadership could be a key question. There's a high ceiling with this team in any case.

What do you make of Maryland's upcoming team? Share your take below in our comments section!