COLLEGE PARK — The third quarter was approaching Saturday, and all Kaylene Smikle could see inside Xfinity Center was an uncooperative hoop. As the Maryland women’s basketball team huddled near its bench at the end of halftime, the junior guard hung back a few paces, together but apart, shooting.

Norfolk State had been in her way in her NCAA tournament debut, but now it was just Smikle and her touch. She rose for a 3-pointer. Clank. She took another. Clank. A teammate collected the rebound and found Smikle. She tried again. Finally, satisfaction.

The fourth-seeded Terps’ 82-69 win over No. 13 seed Norfolk State did not hinge on a halftime shootaround, but a different Smikle and a different Maryland seemed to emerge from that huddle. In the first half, the Terps were tight and timid, playing as if they were resigned to a second straight season without an NCAA tournament win. In the second half, they found their touch, then their mojo, shooting their way out of a potentially historic upset.

“This first half, I was a little nervous,” said Smikle, whose 21 points and four rebounds helped lead Maryland to a second-round matchup Monday against No. 5 seed Alabama, which beat No. 12 seed Green Bay earlier inside Xfinity Center. “This is my first March game. I feel like that’s normal.”

After a blowout loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Conference tournament quarterfinals, Maryland (24-7) had over a week to stew before its NCAA tournament path was revealed — a No. 4 seed, and its attendant hosting duties, was a minor surprise — then another week to prepare for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion Spartans (30-5), who hadn’t lost since before Christmas.

A year ago, the layoff seemed to do the Terps some good, until suddenly it didn’t. At halftime of its NCAA tournament opener against No. 7 seed Iowa State, No. 10 seed Maryland led 52-36. But the Terps’ defense crumbled in the second half, and coach Brenda Frese headed back to College Park with a 93-86 loss, her first first-round defeat in two-plus decades with the program.

Saturday was a different story. The Terps were double-digit favorites. They had a remade roster led by two first-team All-Big Ten selections, Smikle and senior guard Shyanne Sellers. They were facing an undersize team searching for the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament win. And they opened the game playing like none of that mattered.

Norfolk State, which had earned its Goliath-killing credentials with a pair of early-season wins over Southeastern Conference programs, scored the game’s first seven points. It led for over 13 minutes in the first half. It got better shots in the half court and looked faster in transition. At halftime, with Maryland trailing 32-30, Sellers and Smikle had combined for five points, seven turnovers and one assist.

Frese said afterward that she expected some first-quarter jitters. “I didn’t think it would lead to the second,” she added. “So [a turnaround] took a little longer than what I anticipated. But it took a full 20 minutes and the halftime to be able to reset. So I’m hopeful, as we move forward, we can get back to playing the way we’re used to playing.”

The Terps caught fire quickly. They connected on their first four shots for 11 points in the third quarter’s opening minutes, almost as many as they’d scored in their largely lethargic second quarter (12). Graduate transfer guard Sarah Te-Biasu paced the Terps’ early surge with a pair of 3-pointers, forcing the Spartans out of their zone defense, before passing the baton to Smikle.

The Rutgers transfer, Maryland’s leading scorer this season (17.8 points per game), had been held without a point until late in the second quarter. Then she missed her first shot of the third. But a three-point play midway through the period gave the Terps a 49-41 lead, their biggest of the game, and Smikle a spark. She closed the quarter with another five points.

“The first half, I was playing tight, and I was rushing a little, not taking the best shots,” said Smikle, who had four turnovers and went 1-for-5 from the field in the first half but finished shooting 5-for-13 overall. “And I think, after I relaxed and calmed down, it just flowed.”

Norfolk State narrowed its deficit to 60-56 early in the fourth quarter before the Terps’ backcourt pushed the Spartans back. Smikle found Te-Biasu for a 3-pointer, then hit back-to-back treys herself for a 69-58 lead with over six minutes remaining.

Maryland got just enough from its defense, which limited MEAC Player of the Year Diamond Johnson to 18 points on 7-for-19 shooting, to hold on late. Graduate student forward Allie Kubek finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Sellers had 12 points and three assists. Te-Biasu, the Terps’ most consistent performer Saturday, had 22 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including a 6-for-8 showing from beyond the arc.

“That’s what we have to have from our guard play if we’re going to continue to move through this tournament,” said Frese, who’s 19-1 in first-round NCAA tournament games. “Our guards have to show up. … We’re fortunate we found a way to win. But we’re going to have to play a much better game come Monday.”