The Maryland women’s basketball team is staying home for the start of the NCAA tournament.

The Terps (23-7) earned the No. 4 seed in the College Park subregion Sunday night and will face No. 13 seed Norfolk State (30-4) in the first round at approximately 4 p.m. Saturday. The winner will advance to a second-round game March 24 against No. 5 seed Alabama or No. 12 seed Green Bay. South Carolina is the No. 1 seed in the region.

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Maryland hosted opening-weekend games in College Park as a top-four seed in every NCAA tournament from 2012 to 2017 and from 2019 to 2022. But the Terps were among the last at-large teams to receive a bid in last year’s 68-team field, earning a No. 10 seed. They lost to No. 7 seed Iowa State, 93-86, in the first round.

This year, Maryland finished fourth in the Big Ten Conference despite a rash of injuries and entered the conference tournament within reach of a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. A blowout loss to Michigan in the Big Ten quarterfinals cast doubt on the Terps’ hosting chances.

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Guards Kaylene Smikle and Shyanne Sellers were first-team All-Big Ten selections and lead a transfer-heavy roster. Smikle, a junior and Rutgers transfer who led the team in scoring (17.7 points per game), is making her first NCAA tournament appearance. Sellers, a senior who’s averaging 14.1 points and a team-high 4.2 assists, has been dealing with a minor knee injury for the past two months.

The 13th-seeded Spartans are making their third straight NCAA tournament appearance. They swept through the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference this season, going 14-0 in conference play and winning three league tournament matchups by an average of 25.7 points. Norfolk State beat Missouri and Auburn and hung with Alabama in nonconference play. North Carolina handed the Spartans their last loss in late December, a 90-47 blowout.