Marquette Battles, But Falls to Duke, 76-67

Christina Quaye

Alana Beard scored 30 points in her final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium and reserve Brittany Hunter added 12 after halftime to lift Duke past Marquette, 76-67, 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 games heading into the round of 16 in Norfolk, Va. Duke will face No. 5 seed Louisiana Tech, which beat fourth- seeded Texas Tech 81-64 on Monday.

Kelly Schwerman had 16 points to lead the ninth-seeded Golden Eagles (22- 10). Christina Quaye added 15.

The Blue Devils shot 52 percent, but committed a season-high 26 turnovers that led to 26 points for the Golden Eagles. Duke led by as many as 16 in the second half, but struggled to put Marquette away.

Hunter, a 6-foot-3 freshman, was a big reason the Blue Devils advanced. She didn't play in the Blue Devils' 101-53 rout of Northwestern State in the first round, and had practiced just once in the two weeks before the tournament due to knee trouble.

Hunter sat out the first half Tuesday, but grabbed six rebounds in 13 second-half minutes. She and Beard combined for 28 of Duke's 37 points in the second half.

Duke led 39-28 at halftime, but the Golden Eagles chopped the deficit to seven early in the second half. Hunter answered with a jumper from the left corner off a feed from Beard, then followed with a putback of her own miss for a 46-35 lead with 16:35 left.

She added two more baskets inside -- a putback and a layup off a feed from Currie -- for a 50-40 lead. She also grabbed a rebound and found Beard on the fast break to give Duke its biggest lead at 59-43 with 9:57 left.

Marquette got no closer than seven points in the final minutes, and Beard and Lindsey Harding combined to go 6-for-6 at the line to seal it.