Beard’s Stroke Stokes Duke

Alana Beard wasn’t about to let Duke fall short of the Final Four.

Beard scored 24 points on nine-for-12 shooting and Monique Currie added 15 points as the top-seeded Blue Devils beat South Carolina, 77-68, Monday night in the East Regional championship game to earn their second trip to the Final Four.

The Blue Devils (31-3), who have won a school-record 22 consecutive games, advance to San Antonio to face Oklahoma, a 94-60 winner over Colorado in the West Regional final. Duke is returning to the Final Four for the first time since 1999, when it lost to Purdue in the championship game.

Beard also had seven rebounds, five assists, five steals and two blocks to earn the regional’s most outstanding player award.

“She’s an incredible basketball player,” teammate Sheana Mosch said. “She can take over a game when she wants.... She’s awesome, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she could play even better than that.”

Third-seeded South Carolina (25-7) scored the game’s first eight points and rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to take a one-point lead midway through the second half. But the Blue Devils never lost their poise and answered every run.

“I know every last one of these girls here want to win,” Beard said. “Our chemistry is just so strong right now.

“We said, ‘Good teams make runs, but better teams make runs back.’”

Trailing, 35-22, at halftime, the Gamecocks used several zone and trapping defenses to slow Duke’s offense. They scored nine unanswered points to tie the score at 42 and eventually took a 46-45 lead on a layup by Jocelyn Penn with 9:54 to play.

Beard answered Penn’s layup with a three-point play and two free throws for a 50-46 lead with 9:03 left. After a hanging jumper by Currie, Beard found reserve Krista Gingrich on the wing for a three-pointer and a 55-49 lead.

She later found Michelle Matyasovsky rolling to the basket for a layup, then hit two free throws and a short jumper in the lane for a 68-59 lead with 3:16 left. South Carolina didn’t get closer than five the rest of the way.

Duke, which avenged a November home loss to the Gamecocks, scored on 10 of 11 possessions after South Carolina took the lead.

“That’s experience and toughness on their part,” South Carolina Coach Susan Walvius said. “They were fantastic today. They had an answer to everything we threw at them.”

Duke also found success by driving into the paint and getting to the free-throw line. Duke hit 15 of 19 free throws in the second half compared to the Gamecocks’ four-for-six effort for the game.