Maryland women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese had to deal with many obstacles ahead of the 2022-23 season, but she showed off her exceptional coaching skills and arguably put together one of the best coaching efforts of her career.
The Terps’ 2022-23 season ended with a 86-75 loss to South Carolina in the Elite Eight, the first time the Maryland had advanced that far since 2015. The Terps finished the season with a 28-7 overall record and a 15-3 mark in the Big Ten.
ESPN college hoops analyst Debbie Antonelli was particularly impressed with Frese’s work considering how much she lost last offseason.
“They lost 85 percent of their scoring. Diamond [Miller] was coming in with a knee injury, and Faith Masonius was coming off a knee injury and … actually nine new players,” Antonelli said on Glenn Clark Radio March 24.
Despite these setbacks, Maryland was not one to count out this past season. The Terps are always “in the mix,” as Antonelli said. Frese has led the Terps to six conference regular-season titles and five tournament titles since entering the Big Ten ahead of the 2014-15 season.
Frese herself has won two National Coach of the Year awards.
“When you look at Maryland, they’re long, they’re athletic, they play up-tempo, they have multiple ways they can defend. They [are] a handful on the defensive end,” Antonelli said.
Just four players returned to the team from the 2021-2022 season, so Frese brought in nine new players. She is known for successfully creating teams with personalities that fit her style of play and who best fit her standards.
“The portal has changed things in the game. It’s not the same amount of money on the women’s side as the portal is involved on the men’s side, but there’s still the same issues about chemistry and finding the right fit,” Antonelli said.
Frese had five players transfer out of the program and had five players transfer in after last season. The players who transferred to Maryland were Brinae Alexander (Vanderbilt), Lavender Briggs (Florida), Abby Meyers (Princeton), Elisa Pinzan (USF) and Allie Kubek (Towson).
Kubek suffered a torn ACL during the preseason, but the rest were productive for the Terps during the 2022-23 season:
| Games/Starts | Points | 3P% | Rebounds | |
| Brinae Alexander | 35/1 | 9.0 | 43.9 | 3.3 |
| Lavender Briggs | 35/6 | 7.2 | 39.2 | 4.2 |
| Abby Meyers | 35/34 | 14.3 | 38.8 | 5.1 |
| Elisa Pinzan | 35/35 | 3.3 | 29.3 | 1.5 |
Frese also recruited four freshmen to play for Maryland in guards Gia Cooke, Ava Sciolla and Brianna McDaniel and forward Mila Reynolds, though only McDaniel remains.
“They’re always in the mix,” Antonelli said. “I think it just speaks to how good and how seamless the personalities fit with the style of play.”
For more from Antonelli, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics