Santa Barbara Ousted

Jia Perkins scored 23 points as Texas Tech held off UC Santa Barbara, 72-68, in the second round of the Midwest Regional on Tuesday night at Lubbock, Texas.

The second-seeded Red Raiders (28-5) advance to the round of 16 and will play sixth-seeded New Mexico in Albuquerque on Saturday.

Texas Tech has made it to a regional semifinal five consecutive seasons.

Lindsay Taylor had 26 points, 10 above her season average, to lead the seventh-seeded Gauchos (27-5).

Texas Tech led most of the way, but Santa Barbara overcame a 15-point first-half deficit to make it close. The Gauchos tied the score, 50-50, on a three-point basket by Jess Hansen with 12:32 left, and after that there were three ties and eight lead changes.

Plenette Pierson scored five of her 15 points in the final 27.7 seconds to help Texas Tech put it away.

Duke 65, Utah 54 -- Alana Beard scored a game-high 27 points as the top-seeded Blue Devils (33-1) handled the eighth-seeded Utes (24-7) at Raleigh, N.C.

Beard scored 10 points in the last 13:28 as Duke slowly pulled away. With Duke leading by four points, Beard scored six points in an 11-2 run that gave the Blue Devils a 51-38 lead.

EAST

Notre Dame 59, Kansas State 53 -- La’Tania Severe scored 17 points and the 11th-seeded Irish (21-10) made six consecutive free throws in the final 1:01 to upset the third-seeded Wildcats (29-5) at Manhattan, Kan.

Even with its potent offense, Kansas State couldn’t recover after going 12:44 without a field goal and had its 22-game home winning streak ended. Notre Dame took advantage of the Wildcats’ struggles to open a 45-38 lead on Megan Duffy’s three-pointer with 7:45 left, just enough of a cushion to hold on down the stretch.

Connecticut 81, Texas Christian 66 -- Diana Taurasi scored a career-high 35 points to lead the top-seeded Huskies (33-1) over the stubborn ninth-seeded Lady Frogs (20-14) at Storrs, Conn.

The junior guard had 10 points in an 18-2 run to open the second half, erasing a two-point halftime deficit. UConn has trailed only three times in the last 87 games. The Huskies have won 62 in a row at home.

MIDEAST

Penn State 77, South Carolina 67 -- Kelly Mazzante scored 27 points to lead the fourth-seeded Nittany Lions (26-8) over the fifth-seeded Gamecocks (23-8) at State College, Pa.

Jocelyn Penn, who came in as the nation’s fifth-leading scorer averaging 24 points, finished with 21 but most of them came when the game was out of reach.

Villanova 70, George Washington 57 -- Katie Davis scored 24 points and Trish Juhline had 14 of her 16 in the second half as second-seeded Villanova (27-5) reached the round of 16 for the first time in seven NCAA tournament appearances after a victory over the seventh-seeded Colonials (25-7) at Norman, Okla.

WEST

Texas 67, Arkansas 50 -- Heather Schreiber scored 20 points and Stacy Stephens had 16 points and 14 rebounds to lead the second-seeded Longhorns (27-5) to their 15th consecutive victory after defeating the seventh-seeded Razorbacks (22-11) at Cincinnati.

Texas led, 38-29, at halftime. Jamie Carey opened the second half with a three-pointer to give the Longhorns a 12-point lead, and Arkansas never got closer than eight points after that.

Louisiana Tech 74, Ohio State 61 -- Cheryl Ford had 25 points and 15 rebounds, and the fifth-seeded Lady Techsters (31-2) won their 29th consecutive game in a victory over the fourth-seeded Buckeyes (22-10) at Ruston, La.

Louisiana Tech improved to 36-0 overall at home in NCAA tournament games.

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Sue Guevara resigned as coach at Michigan after finishing last in the Big Ten with a 13-16 record overall and 3-13 in the conference.

Traci Waites was fired as coach at Pittsburgh. The Panthers had three consecutive losing seasons and were 12-16 overall and 4-12 in the Big East last season.