By The Associated Press

Duke's Alana Beard (20) battles Marquette's Christina Quaye for the ball. (AP photo)

DURHAM, N.C. - Alana Beard and reserve Brittany Hunter carried Duke into the round of 16.

Beard scored 30 points in her final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium and Hunter added 12 after halftime to lift the Blue Devils past Marquette 76-67 Tuesday night in the second round of the Mideast Regional.

Monique Currie scored 15 first-half points for the top-seeded Blue Devils (29-3), who have won 12 straight. They head to Norfolk, Va., to play No. 5 seed Louisiana Tech on Sunday.

Kelly Schwerman had 16 points to lead the ninth-seeded Golden Eagles (22-10).

Minnesota 80, Kansas State 61

MINNEAPOLIS - Janel McCarville had 15 points and a career-high 18 rebounds to lead well-balanced Minnesota to an unexpectedly easy victory.

Lindsay Whalen scored 15 points and Shannon Schonrock added 14 for the seventh-seeded Gophers (23-8), who will play No. 3 seed Boston College.

Coach Pam Borton was an assistant at BC for five seasons before Minnesota hired her in 2002.

Nicole Ohlde scrapped her way to 23 points for the second-seeded Wildcats (25-6), who also lost in the second round last year.

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East Regional: Penn St. 61, Virginia Tech 48

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Tanisha Wright made up for fellow All-American Kelly Mazzante's poor shooting by scoring 26 of Penn State's first 36 points, and the top-seeded Nittany Lions advanced to the regional semifinals.

Penn State (27-5) will be making its third straight trip to the round of 16. The Nittany Lions will play Notre Dame on Saturday in Hartford, Conn.

Carrie Mason led eighth-seeded Virginia Tech (23-8) with 16 points.

Notre Dame 59, Middle Tennessee State 46

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Jacqueline Batteast tied her career high with 27 points, 14 during a decisive 22-1 run, to lead Notre Dame.

The fifth-seeded Irish (21-11) advanced to the round of 16 for the sixth time in eight seasons.

The Lady Raiders (24-8) were leading 26-25 when Batteast got the Irish started on their run with a 14-foot jumper from the baseline. Monique Hernandez then scored on a layup to give the Irish a 29-26 halftime lead.

Batteast scored the first six points of the second half and 12 of Notre Dame's first 18 points, with Jeneka Joyce adding a pair of 3-pointers. During the run the Lady Raiders went 10:34 without a field goal.

Connecticut 79, Auburn 53

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Diana Taurasi scored 17 points and Connecticut went on a 30-4 run in the second half.

The second-seeded Huskies (27-4) made a season-high 14 3-pointers and clamped down hard on the Tigers in the second half to win going away.

When Auburn's open looks disappeared, so did its offense. The seventh-seeded Tigers (22-9) missed their first 17 shots in the second half. Le'Coe Willingham scored Auburn's first basket with 3:49 left.

The two-time defending champions advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament for the 11th straight year and will play 11th-seeded UC Santa Barbara.

Taurasi, who won her second straight Naismith Award as the country's top player Tuesday, shot 5-of-9 from 3-point range and finished with seven assists.

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West Regional: Texas 80, Michigan State 61

AUSTIN, Texas - Jamie Carey shook off a ferocious collision in the first half to lead Texas to a bruising win.

Carey had to leave the court for several minutes after running into a defensive screen but returned to score 20 points, hitting five 3-pointers.

Heather Schreiber had 23 points for Texas (30-4). The top seed in the West Regional has won 36 in a row at home but now must go to Seattle, where the Longhorns will play Louisiana State on Saturday.

The Longhorns have reached the round of 16 in each of the last three seasons.

Kelli Roehrig scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead eighth-seeded Michigan State (22-9), which has never advanced past the second round in five NCAA tournaments.

LSU 76, Maryland 61

BATON ROUGE, La. - Seimone Augustus scored 26 points and LSU rallied to end Maryland's best postseason run since 1992.

Doneeka Hodges added 15 points for fourth-seeded LSU (25-7). Temeka Johnson had 12 points and 12 assists, Wendlyn Jones had 10 points and Tillie Willis had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 12-seeded Maryland was led by Shay Doron with 23 points, including 11 of 12 free throws. Delvona Oliver added 15 points.

LSU advanced to the round of 16 for the eighth time, and fourth since 1999.

Purdue 60, Villanova 42

AMES, Iowa - Shereka Wright scored 19 points and Purdue dominated the second half after a slow start to advance to the regional semifinals.

The second-seeded Boilermakers (29-3) outscored Villanova 37-14 in the final period and moved into the round of 16 for the third time in four years. They'll play third-seeded Georgia (24-9).

Wright, named a second-team All-American earlier in the day, bounced back from a 1-for-7 start to score 15 points in the second half.

Villanova (23-7) led by as many as eight in the first half, but was done in by a 13-0 run that gave Purdue a 44-33 lead midway through the second half.