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NCAA women’s tournament: Maryland eliminates Duke, 65-55

Maryland's Kiara Leslie, left, and Duke's Azura Stevens chase after a loose ball during the first half of Maryland's NCAA tournament regional semifinal victory Saturday.

Maryland’s Kiara Leslie, left, and Duke’s Azura Stevens chase after a loose ball during the first half of Maryland’s NCAA tournament regional semifinal victory Saturday.

(Young Kwak / Associated Press)
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Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 18 of her 24 points in the second half, Laurin Mincy scored all 15 of her points in the first half, and top-seeded Maryland advanced to the Spokane Regional final with a 65-55 victory over No. 4 seed Duke on Saturday.

Walker-Kimbrough took over the scoring load carried by Mincy in the first half as the Terrapins (33-2) reached the Elite Eight for the sixth time under coach Brenda Frese, taking down their former foe from the ACC in the process. The Terrapins had lost eight of their previous 10 games against Duke. But Maryland is 2-0 against the Blue Devils in the NCAA Tournament.

Elizabeth Williams led Duke (23-11) with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Maryland was the one left celebrating at the end thanks to one of the best performances of Walker-Kimbrough’s career.

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In the first half, the Terrapins offense was mostly Mincy finding holes in Duke’s zone defense and hitting 3s from the perimeter. Mincy scored 12 of Maryland’s first 24 points, all on 3-pointers, but she deferred to Walker-Kimbrough in the final 20 minutes as the sophomore got hot.

Brionna Jones added 10 points and 10 rebounds as the Terrapins held a decided 33-24 rebounding advantage.

Connecticut 105, Texas 54

Breanna Stewart had 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists to help Connecticut rout Texas in Albany, N.Y., earning coach Geno Auriemma his 100th NCAA Tournament win.

Auriemma became the second coach to reach the century mark, joining Pat Summitt, who finished with 112 victories in her career. They are the only two coaches in men’s or women’s basketball to reach that milestone.

The Huskies shot a blistering 56 percent from the field and became the eighth team to put up more than 100 points in the regionals. UConn also broke the record for biggest margin of victory in regionals, surpassing the previous mark of 44.

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UConn (35-1) led 26-19 midway through the first half before blowing the game open with a 44-9 run spanning the half. The burst started with 13 straight points by the Huskies.

Moriah Jefferson added a career-high 25 points for the Huskies.

Texas (24-11) was making its first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2004.

Dayton 82, Louisville 66

Andrea Hoover scored 26 points and seventh-seeded Dayton continued its improbable run in with a win over third-seeded Louisville.

Amber Deane added 15 points and Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova had 12 and 11 rebounds for the Flyers, who won for the 11th time in the last 12 games.

The Flyers become just the fourth No. 7 seed to advance to a regional final since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1994 and the first since Mississippi in 2007.

Myisha Hines-Allen scored all 14 of her points in the second half to lead Louisville, which finishes its season at 27-7.

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Dayton led by a point at the half, but used an 11-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Deane and ran away from the Cardinals after intermission.

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