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Junior Sarah Seipp scored 19 points to lead the Trojans to a dominant 66-47 win over visiting Springbrook in the Class 4A West Region tournament first round Friday. As a result, Gaithersburg advances to host Bethesda-Chevy Chase in Monday's quarterfinals at 7 p.m.

"It's a good first step, definitely," said Gaithersburg head coach Adrian McDaniel. "I'd like to see us continue to play hard, keep up the intensity of our defense and finish our layups and free throws."

That defensive intensity punished the Blue Devils for most of Friday's game, forcing turnovers and feeding Gaithersburg's transition offense. After fighting to a meager 12-10 lead, the No. 4 Trojans (19-3) cashed in on several of Springbrook's 18 turnovers to close the quarter on a 10-1 run. Junior Kara Marshall fueled the run with a pair of 3-pointers.

They never looked back, using an 11-0 run over the final three minutes of the second quarter to go into halftime up, 33-17.

"We tell the girls all the time, ‘Defense wins championships,'" McDaniel said. "Teams have come to expect that pressure from us. And it was a big key for us tonight."

Springbrook (8-14) trailed by 30 points when Seipp knocked down a 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 13 seconds left in the third quarter, prompting McDaniel to keep the Trojans starters on the bench to start the fourth quarter.

But the Blue Devils finally went on the attack. After shooting barely 19 percent from the field through the first three quarters, Springbrook sank 10 of its 14 fourth-quarter shots (.714) and forced seven turnovers. Cheyenne Brown was the driving force behind the surge, scoring eight consecutive points with three open layups coming off of steals near midcourt.

After Brown (game-high 24 points) was fouled on her final layup, and sank the free throw to cut the deficit to 56-37, McDaniel sent his starters back on to the floor.

"I never like to lose, but I liked the effort I saw out there," Springbrook coach Tonya Banks said. "I saw performances that I haven't seen all season out of some of them. Next year, we'll come out even stronger."

Colleen Marshall (14 points) quickly quelled the run with a 3-pointer with 2:03 remaining to put Gaithersburg ahead, 61-39.

The Trojans outrebounded Springbrook, 39-21.

"This was a good win," Seipp said. "We're one big family. And hopefully we keep playing together and continue to do what we're doing."