NCAA WOMEN’s BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT/Monday’s games

Dayton Regional

Tennessee 79, Marquette 70

KNOXVILLE, TENN.

Tennessee can thank its phenomenal freshman for helping it survive a scrappy, senior-laden Marquette team. Meighan Simmons scored 18 points and Tennessee beat Marquette 79-70 on Monday night to advance to the Dayton regional semifinals. The top-seeded Lady Vols will face No. 4 Ohio State next. Marquette never led, but every time the Lady Vols (33-2) built a lead, the Golden Eagles fought back. It was Tennessee’s narrowest margin in a NCAA win on its home court since a 69-65 victory over Auburn in 1991. The Lady Vols led by as many as 11 points in the second half and had a 62-55 lead when Marquette’s Tatiyiana McMorris sank a 3-pointer and Angel Robinson hit two long jumpers to cut it to 63-62 with 6:15 left. Tennessee answered by scoring the next six points to make it 69-62 with 4:53 left and kept Marquette at bay by clamping down on defense and hitting six of their next eight foul shots. Glory Johnson scored 16 points for Tennessee, Alicia Manning sank 11 and Shekinna Stricklen scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Angel Robinson scored 19 points for Marquette (24-9), which has never won a second-round game in four tries. McMorris added 15 points, Jasmine Collins 14 and Fiedorowicz 12.

Philadelphia Regional

No. 2 Duke 71, No. 10 Marist 66

DURHAM, N.C.

Freshman Chelsea Gray scored all 13 of her points in the second half to help Duke rally from 11 down and beat Marist in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Gray hit the go-ahead free throws with 2:27 left, part of an 11-0 run that helped the second-seeded Blue Devils (31-3) escape what would have been a stunning loss on their own home court. She also knocked down a long 3-pointer to beat the shot clock, then followed her free throws by poking the ball loose from Kate Oliver and getting out in transition for a layup that capped the run and gave Duke a 65-60 lead with 1:33 left.

No. 3 DePaul 75, No. 6 Penn State 73

STATE COLLEGE, PA.

Keisha Hampton made two foul shots with 4.9 seconds left and scored 19 of her 26 points in the second half to help DePaul rally from 14 down to defeat Penn State. After Penn State’s Julia Trogele missed from 15 feet with 20 seconds left, the Blue Demons set up their last shot for leading scorer Hampton. Penn State’s Alex Bentley was whistled for a foul after Hampton went up from behind the arc. She missed the shot, but hit the two of the three critical free throws.

Stanford 75, St. John’s 49

STANFORD, CALIF.

Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored 22 points, little sister Chiney added 13 points and 12 rebounds and top-seeded Stanford overcame a slow start to reach the NCAA tournament’s round of 16. The Cardinal (31-2) captured their school-record 63rd straight victory at Maples Pavilion, capping a perfect run by the seniors on their home floor for their careers — the first group in school history to accomplish that feat. Centhya Hart scored 15 points to lead scrappy St. John’s (22-11). Kayla Pedersen had 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists in her final game at Maples and Pac-10 Player of the Year

Associated Press