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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The fourth-seeded Maryland women's basketball team cruised to a 70-48 victory over 13th-ranked Saint Francis (Pa.) in the First Round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Sunday afternoon at Comcast Center.
The Terrapins scored the game's first 13 points and led by 23 at halftime in game that they never trailed in.
Freshman Alyssa Thomas scored 10 of her 16 points in the first half for the Terrapins (24-7), who have no seniors and six freshmen (including Thomas) on the roster.
Maryland's youth - and the fact that all but three of its players were making their debut in the NCAA tournament - proved irrelevant against the overmatched Red Flash (22-12).
"Your concern with a young team, when you only have three returning players, is how they're going to handle the NCAA tournament," Brenda Frese said. "They responded really well, like the winners that they are, and came out and played with a lot of confidence. That's what we wanted to see."
Maryland, the fourth seed in the Philadelphia Regional, will next face five seed Georgetown Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Comcast Center. The Terps and the Hoyas (23-10) met earlier this season in Washington. Georgetown won 53-45 on Nov. 16.
Brittany Lilley and Nickia Gibbs each scored 10 for Saint Francis, the Northeast Conference champions. A year ago, the Red Flash were eliminated in the opening round with a 93-59 loss to Ohio State.
St. Francis had the edge over the Terps in tournament experience, but Maryland was unlike most of the teams the Red Flash see during the regular season.
"They're a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger than what we're used to in our conference," said Allison Daly, one of four guards in the St. Francis starting lineup.
The Terrapins finished with a 49-32 rebounding advantage, forced 24 turnovers and limited Saint Francis to 31 percent shooting from the floor.
St. Francis went 0 for 7 from the field with three turnovers as Maryland built a 13-0 lead. Diandra Tchatchouang and Lynetta Kizer each made two baskets in the surge and Anjale Barrett contributed a 3-pointer.
"It was pretty just us telling ourselves that we were going to come out and be ready to play," Kizer said.
"I liked how we came out and set the tone early. That was something we talked about," Frese said. "I thought we were focused and ready to play."
Samantha Leach finally got the Red Flash on the board at the 15:06 mark. Maryland then upped its lead to 23-2 before Leach scored from 3-point range with 8:49 left in the half.
Prior to that basket, St. Francis was 1 for 13 with 10 turnovers.
"It was definitely frustrating," Leach said. "Maryland did a great job. They came out and executed well and definitely took us out of our game."
It was 40-17 at halftime, and Frese liberally substituted throughout the second half in an effort to keep her key players fresh for Tuesday's second-round contest.
For tickets to the Maryland-Georgetown game, please log on to umterps.com or call 1-800-IM-A-TERP.
Tuesday's game will be shown on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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