Courtney Paris was heavily guarded, so Oklahoma depended on her twin sister and the rest of her basketball teammates to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Ashley Paris scored 13 points, Courtney Paris had 12 points and 12 rebounds, and fourth-seeded Oklahoma beat 13th-seeded Illinois State 69-61 on Sunday at West Lafayette, Ind., in the first round of the Oklahoma City Regional.

Oklahoma, which ended a three-game losing streak, will play Notre Dame on Tuesday. The Fighting Irish beat Southern Methodist 75-62.

With the Redbirds sometimes assigning three players to guard Oklahoma's leading scorer, Courtney Paris' teammates picked up the slack. Danielle Robinson and Rose Hammond each scored 12 points, and Amanda Thompson had nine points, eight rebounds, five assists, four blocks and three steals for the Sooners (22-8).

"I was going to have someone else take the crucial shots for our team," Sooners coach Sherri Coale said.

After unsuccessfully trying to get Courtney Paris involved early, Coale decided to use the 6-foot-4 power forward as a decoy by pulling her away from the basket to create driving lanes. Courtney Paris took only five shots.

Kristi Cirone led Illinois State (26-7) with 22 points. The Redbirds had won four straight, including three to win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

ALSO SUNDAY

AT WEST LAFAYETTE, IND.

NOTRE DAME 75, SMU 62: Ashley Barlow had 20 points, a career-high 12 rebounds, four steals and three assists, leading the fifth-seeded Fighting Irish (24-8) past the 12th-seeded Mustangs (24-9), the Conference USA tournament champions, in the Oklahoma City Regional.

The win was Notre Dame's second ever on Purdue's homecourt -- both coming this season -- after eight losses dating to 1985.

PURDUE 66, UTAH 59: Kalika France and FahKara Malone scored 17 points each, and the ninth-seeded Boilermakers beat the eighth-seeded Utes (27-5).

Danielle Campbell added 14 points for the Boilermakers (19-14), who will play the Tennessee-Oral Roberts winner.

Leilani Mitchell had 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds for Utah but also had seven turnovers. Morgan Warburton had 18 points, and Kalee Whipple added 14 points and nine rebounds.

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