NCAA tournament 2012: Maryland storms back, advances to Elite Eight RALEIGH, N.C. - The Maryland women's basketball team fell behind by 18 points late in the first half, but as it has done time and again this season, the Terrapins forged back to craft an improbable 81-74 victory over Texas A&M on Sunday in the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 at PNC Arena. Playing in the region semifinals for the first time since 2009, the Terrapins extended their winning streak to 10 and triumphed for the 13th time in 14 games. Sophomore guard Laurin Mincy led Maryland with 21 points and 10 rebounds for her first career double-double, and sophomore forward Alyssa Thomas had 21 points and nine rebounds. Second-seeded Maryland (31-4) advanced to its fourth region final in Coach Brenda Frese's 10 seasons and will play either top-seeded Notre Dame or fifth-seeded St. Bonaventure on Tuesday night. In erasing the first-half deficit - their largest since trailing Georgia Tech by 20 in January - the Terrpains went ahead to stay, 75-74, on senior center Lynetta Kizer's layup with 3 1/2 minutes to play. Mincy followed with a fast-break layup off a pass from Thomas to make it 77-74, and Maryland could begin to exhale. The Terrapins trailed 36-18 with 7 minutes 10 seconds to play in the first half, but they stormed back with a 21-6 flurry before the break. Then, on its first possession of the second half, Maryland got a basket from Thomas to pull within 44-43. From there, though, the reigning national champion Aggies scored eight in a row to keep Maryland at bay momentarily. The Terrapins rallied again, though, this time trimming the deficit to 70-65 with eight minutes to play on Thomas's foul-line jumper. After Texas A&M (24-11) pushed the lead to seven on a layup from center Kelsey Bone, Maryland got four consecutive points from Kizer, and it could have been more. Kizer missed three foul shots during that stretch. But Mincy got an offensive rebound on the next possession and scored, and after freshman guard Alexia Standish answered for third-seeded Texas A&M, Maryland pushed ahead for good.