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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Meighan Simmons scored 18 points and Tennessee survived a scrappy match with Marquette to advanced to the Dayton regional semifinals with a 79-70 victory Monday night.

Tennessee (33-2) led by as many as 11 points in the second half and had a 62-55 lead when Marquette scored seven of the next eight points to cut it to 63-62 with 6:15 left.

The Lady Vols 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.

The undersized Golden Eagles matched Tennessee's 32 points in the paint, but their 11 turnovers led to 16 points for the Lady Vols. Tennessee hit 51.7 percent of its shots while Marquette shot 40.3 percent.

Angel Robinson scored 19 points for Marquette (24-9), which has never won a second-round game in four tries.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press