Arizona State's Dymond Simon puts up a shot between Temple's Ashley Morris, left, and Lady Comfort (42) during the first half. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

March 23, 2008

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Lauren Lacey opened the second half with two straight baskets to ignite a 13-point run, and the Sun Devils pulled away to a 61-54 victory Sunday night to advance to the second round of the Oklahoma City Regional.

Sixth-seeded Arizona State (22-10) will face No. 3 seed Duke, a 78-57 winner over Murray State, on Tuesday night.

Lacey scored 14 points and Jill Noe had 12 for the Sun Devils, who have won six of seven and are 16-5 after a lackluster 6-5 start.

Ashley Morris led Temple (21-13) with 21 points and Lady Comfort had 11. But no one else on the team reached double figures, and the Owls went 1-for-6 from 3-point range.

Coming into the tournament, the Sun Devils had outscored their opponents by an average of 12 points in the first half over the last six games. Against No. 11 Temple, however, Arizona State sputtered into halftime locked in a tie at 26.

Everything changed in the second half. After Lacey made a layup and a hook in the lane, Noe hit a 3-pointer and Sybil Dosty sank a jumper in the lane. Dymond Simon added a baseline jumper after an offensive rebound, and Kayli Murphy capped the 13-point blitz by making a layup with 15:34 left.

The Owls responded with a 7-2 spree to close to 41-33, but a three-point play by Noe boosted the lead back to double digits, and minutes later Reagan Pariseau sank a 3-pointer to make it 48-35.

It was a disappointing end to a feel-good season for the Owls, who rebounded from a 7-10 start to win 14 of 16 entering the tournament. Both losses came against Atlantic 10 champion Xavier, which was eliminated by Nebraska earlier Sunday.

Temple has appeared in five straight NCAA tournaments, but is 2-5 in that span.

Arizona State's run of four straight tournament appearances and four successive 20-win seasons are the longest such streaks in school history.