RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Alana Beard scored a game-high 27 points as top-seeded Duke beat Utah 65-54 in the Midwest Regional on Tuesday.
Beard shot 10-for-12 against the nation’s top scoring defense, leading the Blue Devils (33-1) to the round of 16 for the sixth straight season. Duke will face No. 5 seed Georgia on Saturday.
Iciss Tillis added 12 points and freshman Jessica Foley had 11 for Duke.
Kim Smith scored 20 points and went 4-for-9 from behind the 3-point arc to lead the eighth-seeded Utes (24-7), who came into the game allowing just 50 points per game. Shona Thorburn added 12.
Beard scored 10 points in the last 13:28 of the game as the Blue Devils slowly pulled away. With Duke leading by four, Beard scored six points in an 11-2 run that gave the Blue Devils a 51-38 lead.
Duke, which came into the game allowing just 54 points per game, held the Utes without a field goal for 71/2 minutes midway through the second half. By the time Utah’s Kelsy Stireman ended the drought with a jumper from the right baseline, Duke had a 63-44 lead with 4:38 left.
Texas 67, Arkansas 50
CINCINNATI – Heather Schreiber scored 20 points and Stacy Stephens added 16 points and 14 rebounds as Texas won its 15th straight game, 67-50 over Arkansas in the West Regional on Tuesday night.
The second-seeded Longhorns (27-5), making their 19th appearance in the NCAA tournament, will play Minnesota in the round of 16.
Shameka Christon led seventh-seeded Arkansas (22-11) with 16 points.
The Lady Razorbacks stayed with Texas at the start because of their 3-point shooting. Three 3-pointers by Lewis and two by Christon gave Arkansas an early 15-14.
But Schreiber hit a jumper one minute later to give Texas the lead for good, and the Longhorns started pulling away. Schreiber hit another basket and a free throw, and Stephens got two put backs while Arkansas went four minutes without a basket.
Texas led 38-29 at halftime. Jamie Carey opened the second half with a 3-pointer to give the Longhorns a 12-point lead, and Arkansas never got closer than eight points after that.
Villanova 70,
George Washington 57
NORMAN, Okla. – Katie Davis scored 24 points and Trish Juhline had 14 of her 16 in the second half as Villanova beat George Washington 70-57 in the Mideast Regional on Tuesday night.
The second-seeded Wildcats (27-5) reached the round of 16 for the first time in seven NCAA tournament appearances. They will play Colorado on Saturday in the regional semifinals in Knoxville, Tenn.
Villanova, which averages nearly nine 3-pointers per game, had a tough time getting good shots from the perimeter in the first half. Then the Wildcats missed their first four shots of the second half before getting six 3s in a span of 41/2 minutes to take control.
Davis had three of the long-range shots and Juhline, just 1-for-8 from the field in the first half, added two as the Wildcats took a 47-35 lead with just under 12 minutes remaining.
Ugo Oha, who finished with 21 points, scored 10 straight points for the seventh-seeded Colonials (25-7) to keep them within range at 53-44. Then Jennifer Hilgenberg made a 3-pointer to start a 9-2 run that pushed the lead to 16 with 4:14 to play.
Oha had just four points at halftime because she got her second foul and sat down with 12:25 left.
Penn St. 77,
South Carolina 67
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Kelly Mazzante scored 27 points to lead fourth-seeded Penn State to a 77-67 victory over fifth-seeded South Carolina in the Mideast Regional on Tuesday.
The Lady Lions (26-8) advance to the round of 16 and face top-seeded Tennessee on its home court Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.
South Carolina (23-8) could not handle Penn State’s pressure defense. Kelly Morrone hit a 3-pointer to bring the Gamecocks to 46-35 with 12:15 left, but that’s as close as they would get until it was too late.
On the next possession, Mazzante scored off her own steal to start a 12-2 run. Tanisha Wright then stole the South Carolina inbounds pass, feeding Mazzante for another basket. Jessica Brungo’s layup made it 58-37 with 11:58 left.
Wright finished with 16 points, and Brungo had 10. Jess Strom had eight points and eight assists.
Jocelyn Penn, who came in as the nation’s fifth-leading scorer at 24 points per game, hit a 3-pointer with 1:25 left to start a 12-1 South Carolina run, and Morrone’s 3-pointer with 6.3 seconds made it 77-67.
Notre Dame 59,
Kansas State 53
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Notre Dame pulled off another NCAA tournament upset on another opponent’s home court.
La’Tania Severe scored 17 points and 11th-seeded Notre Dame made six straight free throws in the final 1:01 to beat No. 3 seed Kansas State 59-53 Tuesday night in the second round of the East Regional.
Notre Dame (21-10) frustrated a team that had been averaging 75 points a game with an active zone defense and patient offense and advanced to the round of 16 for the fifth time in seven years.
The Irish will play second-seeded Purdue in the regional semifinals next Sunday in Dayton, Ohio.
Even with its potent offense, Kansas State (29-5) couldn’t recover after going 12:44 without a field goal and had a 22-game home winning streak broken. Notre Dame took advantage of the Wildcats’ struggles to open a 45-38 lead on Megan Duffy’s 3-pointer with 7:45 left, just enough of a cushion to hold on down the stretch.
Connecticut 81,
Texas Christian 66
STORRS, Conn. – Diana Taurasi scored a career-high 35 points to lead top-seeded Connecticut to an 81-66 win over stubborn Texas Christian on Tuesday night.
The junior guard had 10 points in an 18-2 run to open the second half, erasing a two-point halftime deficit. UConn (33-1) has only trailed three times in the last 87 games and for most of the first half, the Huskies’ home-winning streak of 62 games was in jeopardy.
UConn will play Big East rival Boston College in the East Regional semifinal on Sunday in Dayton, Ohio.
Against the ninth-seeded Lady Frogs (20-14), UConn ran into a team just as big and fast. Its problems started in the middle against center Sandora Irvin, who led TCU with 19 points and nine rebounds.
The school’s all-time leader in blocked shots, Irvin dominated inside, putting UConn defenders in foul trouble early. The 6-foot-4 sophomore got solid help on the perimeter as Tricia Payne hit a pair of 3s and Tiffany Evans added another in the first three minutes of the game.
Taurasi brought the defending national champs back with consecutive 3s to tie it at 8, but the Lady Frogs’ hustle and size inside kept the Huskies on their heels, and they stretched the lead to seven twice in the half.
With Irvin out late in the half due to foul trouble, UConn found more success inside. The Huskies tied the game at 33 on a layup by Willnett Crockett with 24 seconds before halftime. That lasted just a few seconds as an inside bucket by Tiffany Evans put TCU up 35-33 at the half.
Taurasi took over in the second half as the Huskies went on their big run. TCU never recovered and trailed by as many as 19.
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