NCAA women's tournament: No. 5 Maryland breezes to 59-44 win over Navy in opening round Laurin Mincy scored 14 for Maryland (29-4), which will next play Monday night against the winner of the Louisville-Michigan State game. Thomas, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, scored 12 points in the second half on 5-for-7 shooting. Along the way, she became the 27th player in the history of the program to break the 1,000-point mark. The Terrapins led 31-23 before Thomas fueled a 14-4 run at the outset of the second half to up the margin to 15. Minutes later, she scored six points in an 8-0 spree that made it 57-36 with 6:30 to go. Although the men's tournament featured a pair of 15 seeds knocking off No. 2s, there would be no major upset here. When the women's tournament began, No. 15 seeds were 0-68, and Navy was unable to break the trend. The Midshipmen had never defeated a ranked team or an Atlantic Coast Conference foe, and that pattern continued, too. It was Maryland's 20th trip to the NCAA tournament and Navy's second. The difference between the teams, however, transcended postseason experience. Navy, the Patriot League champion, simply didn't have enough height or talent to compete with the Terrapins, who finished with a 46-33 rebounding advantage. Jade Geif led Navy (18-14) with 14 points. The Midshipmen shot 30.5 percent and took only two free throws. Audrey Bauer went 2 for 15 from the floor and missed eight of nine attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. Despite finishing with a 27-14 rebounding advantage in the first half, Maryland needed a late 14-6 run to take a 31-23 lead at the break. Navy did a good job of hanging with the Terrapins at the start, perhaps because the Terrapins hadn't played a game since winning the ACC tournament on March 4. Maryland missed five of its first seven shots and fell behind 8-4 on 3-pointers by Alix Membreno and Bauer. The Midshipmen were painstakingly deliberate on the offensive end, rarely taking a shot without players on the bench counting down the final seconds on the 30-second clock. Not many of those tries went in, but Navy had only two turnovers in the opening 16 minutes. Maryland got plenty of layups but couldn't connect, going 5 for 19 from the floor before backup Kim Rodgers drilled a 3-pointer for a 20-17 lead. After Navy misfired on the other end Rodgers again connected from beyond the arc, and Brene Moseley added another to make it 26-17.