HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) (March 4, 2007) ... Megan Duffy scored all 16 of her points in the second half, including the last eight of the game, to lead Notre Dame to a 73-66 win over the University of South Florida in the first round of the Big East tournament Saturday night.

Lindsay Schrader finished with 14 points for the 10th-seeded Fighting Irish (18-10) and Tulyah Gaines and Breona Gray each had 12 points.

Shantia Grace led the Bulls (19-11) with 24 points and was 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Jessica Dickson, the nation's leading scorer added 16. Dickson's jumper in traffic with 4:34 left put the Bulls up 64-61, but it was all Duffy and the Irish after that.

After a Charel Allen layup got the Irish to within a point, Schrader put them up for good at 65-64 with a pair of free throws with 3:19 left. Duffy drove the lane for a layup on Notre Dame's next possession. She then added a pair of free throws for a 69-64 Irish lead. Grace hit a layup for the Bulls with 1:45 left for their final bucket.

Duffy, the Big East's leading free throw shooter, was perfect down the stretch hitting 6-of-6 to ice the game. The Bulls had their chances in the final minute but threw the ball away twice beneath their basket.

The Irish play second-seeded Connecticut in the quarterfinals.

Grace hit three 3-pointers to help the Bulls rally from a six-point deficit midway through the first half. Rachael Sheats' pullup jumper with 4:20 left capped an 11-2 USF run and gave the Bulls their biggest lead at 28-20.

But the Irish weren't done either.

Schrader hit a layup to kick off an 11-3 run down the stretch. Down by two points with 1.9 seconds remaining, the Irish inbounded beneath the Bulls' basket and went the length of the court in two passes to tie it at the buzzer. Allen threw a halfcourt pass to LaVere, who found Gray cutting to the basket. Gray hit a layup at the buzzer to tie it at 31-all at the break.