Louisiana State Gets Past Duke

Louisiana State was finally picking on someone its own size, and it looked at first as if the top-seeded Tigers had gone soft from feasting on lesser opponents.

But not even Duke could long withstand All-American Seimone Augustus and the Tigers’ furious defense. The Tigers are going to a second consecutive Final Four after beating the second-seeded Blue Devils, 59-49, Monday night in the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Regional final.

Louisiana State (33-2) trailed early but tied the score at halftime, went ahead in the first few minutes of the second half and never trailed again.

“I think it will help the team,” Augustus said about being tested. “This is a big momentum-getter and confidence-booster.”

Augustus, the regional’s most outstanding player, finished with 24 points, and Sylvia Fowles had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The Blue Devils (31-5) had a good game plan to go inside and take advantage of their bigger post players, and it worked early. Duke was ahead by as many as 12 points in the first half, putting the Tigers in their biggest deficit of the season.

Then the Tigers tightened their defense, tipping passes and blocking shots, and brought in Fowles, the 6-foot-5 freshman, to help clog the middle. She helped the Tigers out-rebound Duke, 42-27, and the Blue Devils scored only 19 points in the second half. Their point and rebound totals were season lows.

“We felt coming into this game it was going to be a game won in the paint. Duke is a tremendous defensive team. We’ve been known on occasion to play very good defense,” Coach Pokey Chatman said.

Duke’s All-American Monique Currie, who hasn’t decided whether she is returning for her senior season, finished with 11 points. Mistie Williams scored 15.

Baylor 72, North Carolina 63 -- Sophia Young scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and the second-seeded Lady Bears are headed to the Final Four for the first time in school history.

Young, whose mother came from the West Indies last week to see her play in college for the first time, was selected the most valuable player of the Tempe (Ariz.) Regional.

The Bears (31-3) extended their school-record winning streak to 18 games, leading by as many as 19 points in the second half against the Tar Heels (30-4), who had won 16 in a row.

“You can coach a lifetime and have great teams that are expected to be in the Final Four and never make it,” said Coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, who took over in 2000 and built the lackluster program into a powerhouse. “For our team to do it in five short years, I can’t say enough about our coaches and players. These are tears of joy.”

Chameka Scott scored 18 points for Baylor and Steffanie Blackmon scored 14.

The Bears, who hadn’t been to a regional final, advanced to the national semifinals Sunday at Indianapolis, where they will play Louisiana State.

Ivory Latta, North Carolina’s 5-foot-6 point guard, scored 21 points but was bounced around all game by the Baylor defense and shot only six for 22 from the field.