Throughout the season, ESPN has marketed its women’s basketball coverage as “3 to See,” with nationally televised contests featuring Baylor’s Brittney Griner, Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins and Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne.

Last night, Terrapins women’s basketball forward Alyssa Thomas made the case that there might be another must-see star worthy of that campaign.

For the second time in three days, Thomas carried her team through the NCAA Tournament. One game removed from a 29-point outburst against No. 13-seed Quinnipiac, Thomas dropped 28 points on No. 5-seed Michigan State, as the No. 4-seed Terps cruised into the Sweet 16 with a 74-49 victory.

“Maybe at some point there’ll be ‘4 to See’ and people will start to talk about what Alyssa Thomas has done,” coach Brenda Frese said moments after she clinched her fifth Sweet 16 appearance in 11 years.

The Spartans knew they needed to stop Thomas, who has scored at least 26 points in her past four games, to have a chance at winning. But the 6-foot-2 junior slashed and gashed the collapsing defense from the start. Thomas scored 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting in the first half, and the Terps entered intermission with a 34-23 lead.

“Alyssa Thomas won the game in the first half. The game was over,” Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant said. “The game was over in the first half when she took control.”

The hot shooting continued in the second half, too. Thomas, a career 25.6 percent three-point shooter, stepped out to showcase her range with a career-high-tying two 3-pointers. She only missed two shots in the second half, and the Terps led by as many as 29 down the stretch.

“Definitely just feeling confidence,” Thomas said. “They were stepping back. Everything was going in for me, so I started shooting threes.”

Michigan State, a half-court team that planned to slow the game down to counter the Terps’ (26-7) transition offense, tried to establish itself from the opening tip. The Spartans (25-9) ran the shot clock down and guard Kiana Johnson missed a jumper at the buzzer.

The teams traded baskets early, and it appeared the Terps would be in for a fight after Spartans forward Annalise Pickrel drained a 3-pointer to cut an early Terps lead to 10-9 with 14:09 remaining in the first half.

Michigan State would never be that close again.

The Terps went on a 12-2 run to extend their lead to 11. When a Thomas layup made it 28-15, she was outscoring the entire Spartans team.

The teams exchanged buckets to open the second half, and the Spartans cut the lead to nine. But the Terps were too much, and the game would never be close the rest of the way.

The Spartans’ offense struggled, and their leading scorer, guard Klarissa Bell, attempted just two shots and was held scoreless. Pickrel and forward Becca Mills led the team with 12 points each, but Michigan State shot 36.7 percent in the second half and 18.8 percent from three-point range for the game.

All facets of the Terps’ game were clicking. Center Alicia DeVaughn posted double-digit rebounds for the third time in four games with 10, and forward Tianna Hawkins notched her 17th double-double on the year with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Even guard Katie Rutan grabbed eight.

And Thomas was hardly the only Terp to connect from the outside last night. The Terps shot 53.8 percent from three-point range, including 5-of-7 in the second half. Rutan was 3-of-7 for the game, and guard Chloe Pavlech hit 2-of-3 on her way to scoring eight points.

“They really focus on our inside game and Alyssa driving, so that opened up opportunities for me and Chloe, especially,” Rutan said. “I guess [Thomas] wants to take some, too.”

The Terps’ victory set up a date with No. 1-seed Connecticut in Bridgeport, Conn., on Saturday at noon with a return trip to the Elite Eight on the line. The Huskies, who defeated the Terps, 63-48, on Dec. 3, ousted No. 8-seed Vanderbilt last night, 77-44.

It’s yet another challenge facing the Terps, who have overcome a well-documented assortment of injuries throughout the season. Frese, though, is looking to see what Thomas will do next. She’s averaging 28.8 points in the postseason, and each basket has been more crucial than the last. Thomas’ place among the sport’s elite, Frese reasons, should be cemented.

“We’re talking about it as a staff, just how dominating she’s been here in postseason play,” Frese said. “I think obviously it speak volumes to Alyssa. The bigger the game, the bigger the stage and the moment, just how she rises to the occasion.”

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