No Secrets About These Matchups : Final Four: Texas Tech and Vanderbilt will meet in one semifinal, Ohio State and Iowa in the other.

Two basketball teams that win with style and speed--Texas Tech and Vanderbilt--will meet in one semifinal, and two teams with size and strength--Ohio State and Iowa--will play in the other as the NCAA women’s Final Four gets under way today.

Fifth-ranked Texas Tech (29-3), which knocked USC out of the tournament last weekend in the West Regional, brings the nation’s most complete player, Sheryl Swoopes, into the game with No. 1-ranked Vanderbilt (30-2).

Vanderbilt has the nation’s tallest post player, 6-foot-9 Heidi Gillingham, who shoots 62% from the floor.

Iowa (27-3) is the sentimental favorite of many partly because of Hawkeye Coach Vivian Stringer, 45, whose husband died of a heart attack last Thanksgiving Day. Bill Stringer, the team’s conditioning coach, had carried much of the burden of caring for the Stringers’ handicapped daughter, 12-year-old Janine, and her two young brothers.

His death was only one occurrence in a yearlong series of tragedies that have left Iowa’s players shaken. Ballgirl Nikki Smith died of leukemia, and team physician Pat Hicks died of cancer. In addition, Chris Street of the men’s team died in an auto accident.

How did Iowa’s players react?

“We grew up,” said 6-1 senior Toni Foster, an All-American and Big Ten Conference player of the year.

Stringer, who missed the first month of the season after her husband’s death, said: “I can’t say enough about how grateful I am to these players.

“If it hadn’t been for the support of my children, my staff and my players, I wouldn’t have been able to come back.”

Stringer’s team won the Mideast Regional at Iowa City last Saturday with a 72-56 victory over Tennessee, making her the first women’s coach to take two schools to the NCAA Final Four. Her 1982 Cheney State team finished second in the first NCAA women’s Final Four.

Iowa, like Ohio State, is big and strong. And everyone must play hard defense, Stringer said. “At Iowa, defense is the right of passage,” she said. “You must play great defense for us. After you do that, then we try to bring your offensive skills into play.”

Iowa and Ohio State (27-3) traded home-court victories over each other during the regular season, sharing the Big Ten championship with 16-2 records.

Nancy Darsch’s Buckeye team has four players who score in double digits, including the nation’s top freshman, 6-foot Katie Smith, who is averaging 18 points per game.

Gillingham, will be assigned a major role in her team’s defensive effort against Swoopes, a 6-footer who is averaging 27.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists.

Swoopes was the unanimous winner of the outstanding-player award in last week’s West Regional, scoring 69 points in Texas Tech’s victories over USC and Colorado.

“Swoopes likes to drive to the basket a lot and I hope to be a barrier to her doing that,” said Gillingham, who has blocked 104 shots this season.