BATON ROUGE, La — Penn State guards Maggie Lucas and Alex Bentley did precisely what coach Coquese Washington has come to expect.

They responded to a shaky first half for the Lady Lions by taking over when it mattered.

Lucas scored 23 points, Bentley had 21 and fourth-seeded Penn State defeated No. 13 seed UTEP 85-77 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament Sunday.

“They’re unfazed by anything that happens in the game,” Washington said of her top two scorers. “As a matter of fact, when the game gets tightest, when the game gets its closest, they’re going to perform at their best. So that’s really a luxury to have as a coach, when you’ve got not only one, but two great players who can turn their game up.”

Zhaque Gray added 15 points for the Lady Lions (25-6), who trailed for much of the first half but led nearly all of the second en route to their second straight appearance in the second round.

Lucas’ first shot missed the rim entirely and she scored only seven points in the first half. But she still had little trouble surpassing her average of 19.1 points per game by the time it was over.

“I just wasn’t going to let the first half determine how I was going to play the rest of the game,” Lucas said. “My teammates kept my head up the whole time.”

Gloria Brown had 18 points and 10 rebounds for UTEP (29-4), which had not lost by more than three points all season.