Mara Freshour led the Florida State with 18 points.

March 7, 2008

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -Abby Waner scored all 14 of her points during the decisive run that carried No. 12 Duke past Florida State 81-67 in an Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinal Friday night.

Chante Black scored 20 points to lead the Blue Devils (22-8), who overcame a slow start and scored 16 straight points during the 30-9 that put them in control. They advance to face No. 5 Maryland in a semifinal Saturday.

Mara Freshour scored 18 points and Tanae Davis-Cain added 15 for the Seminoles (17-13), who were denied their first victory against Duke in ACC tournament play, falling to 0-9 against ranked teams there.

Joy Cheek added 11 points for the Blue Devils, who snapped a pesky two-game losing streak in postseason games at the Greensboro Coliseum. They lost 70-65 in last year's ACC semifinals to a North Carolina State team that was inspired by Kay Yow's return, then fell 53-52 in the NCAA tournament's round of 16 to a Rutgers team that wound up reaching the national title game.

For much of this one, it looked as though the Blue Devils were doomed to another loss here after trailing most of the first half and falling behind by six midway through the second.

Black started the burst with a turnaround basket that pulled Duke to 53-49 with 11:18 left. Waner, who was held scoreless for the first 29 minutes, put the Blue Devils ahead to stay with a fastbreak layup and then hit a 3-pointer from 25 feet away - their first 3 in two games - as part of a perfect second half in which she hit all five of her shots.

Freshour's basket with 11:46 remaining had given the Seminoles their largest lead of the half at 53-47.