The team holds up the Big Ten regular-season trophy after the Terps’ 65-34 win over Penn State in Xfinity Center on Feb. 23, 2015.
A year after reaching the Final Four as a No. 4 seed, the Terrapins women’s basketball team will return to the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed in the Spokane region. Connecticut, Notre Dame and South Carolina round out the rest of the No. 1 seeds.
The Terps will open action Saturday at 1:30 against No. 16-seed New Mexico State at Xfinity Center, which will host first and second round games. If the Terps advance to the tournament’s second weekend, they will play in Spokane, Washington.
New Mexico State enters the tournament with a 22-7 record and won the Western Athletic Conference to earn an automatic bid.
A victory Saturday would set the Terps up in a second-round matchup with the winner of No. 8-seed Princeton — the only undefeated team left in women’s basketball — and No. 9-seed Green Bay. No. 2-seed Tennessee, No. 3-seed Oregon State and No. 4-seeed Duke join the Terps as the other top seeds in the region.
The tournament appearance marks the Terps’ 11th during coach Brenda Frese’s 13 seasons in College Park and their fifth straight visit. It is the fourth time in program history the Terps have earned a No. 1 seed and the first since the 2008-09 season.
The Terps enter the tournament riding a 24-game winning streak, which is tied for the longest in program history. The previous mark was set during the Terps’ only NCAA title victory in the 2005-06 season and then carried over to start the next campaign.
During their previous three trips as a No. 1 seed, the Terps reached the Final Four once and the Elite Eight twice. Their NCAA championship win in 2006 came as a No. 2 seed.
