Latta Experiences Joy, Pain in Tar Heel Victory

North Carolina’s Ivory Latta made the winning shot and then was carried from the floor -- by the team’s trainers.

The point guard made a layup with 2.8 seconds remaining before her leg cramped as the top-seeded Tar Heels advanced in the NCAA tournament with a 70-68 victory Sunday over Purdue in the semifinals of the Cleveland Regional.

After banking in the go-ahead basket to snap a 68-68 tie, Latta fell to the floor in pain and watched as Purdue’s Katie Gearlds missed a half-court heave as time expired.

The Tar Heels (32-1) rushed to Latta, who by then was grabbing her left knee and screaming.

As her teammates surrounded her, the arena went from wild cheers to stunned silence.

Latta laid on the floor for several minutes before she was picked up by North Carolina’s medical staff and taken to the locker room.

North Carolina will play second-seeded Tennessee in the regional final on Tuesday night with the winner getting a spot in the Final Four at Boston.

Latta said her calf muscle cramped as she went up for the layup, but she will not miss the Tar Heels’ matchup with the second-seeded Lady Vols.

“I’m a tough little cookie,” Latta said. “It’s going to take a lot to knock me out of a game.”

The Boilermakers (26-7) pushed the tournament’s top-seeded team to the brink of elimination before Latta bailed the Tar Heels out.

Aya Traore’s 15-foot jump shot with 29.6 seconds to play had tied it at 68-68 for the Boilermakers. After a timeout, Latta let some time run off the clock before driving and finishing off Purdue.

Erlana Larkins scored 23 points and Latta added 19, eight assists and four steals for the Tar Heels.

Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton had 21 and Traore 17 for the Boilermakers.

After struggling for 30 minutes with Purdue, North Carolina finally opened a 53-46 lead with 11:07 left on three free throws by Latta.

However, with its fans chanting “Boiler up,” Purdue reeled off seven consecutive points to tie it and kept the pressure on until game’s end.

Tennessee 76, Rutgers 69 -- Candace Parker scored 29 points and had six blocked shots and Shanna Zolman had 29 points, including five three-pointers, to lead the second-seeded Lady Vols (31-4) past the third-seeded Scarlet Knights (27-5) at Cleveland.

Parker, who on March 19 became the first woman to dunk in an NCAA tournament game, scored 12 consecutive points in a 15-4 Tennessee run that followed a 15-1 Rutgers run.

Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt is sick of seeing good friend C. Vivian Stringer in March.

Summitt knocked Stringer, her fellow Hall of Fame coach, out of the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year.

“I hope we never see Rutgers again in a regional tournament,” Summitt said. “We’ve seen them so many times. It’s tough to play against one of your best friends.”

The matchup of two of the three winningest coaches in women’s basketball has gone Summitt’s way every time in the postseason.

The Scarlet Knights are 0-5 against the Lady Vols in the NCAA tournament.

Tennessee will play Tuesday night against North Carolina.

Summitt previously called Tennessee’s No. 2 seeding in the same region with North Carolina, the top-seeded team overall, a “slap in the face.”

Stringer didn’t hold back in her criticism of the NCAA after the game.

“They have been a joke with regards to the selection,” Stringer said. “I didn’t say that earlier because I thought I’d get sent to Alaska and they don’t have a regional there.”

Meanwhile, Tennessee improved to 21-4 in the regional semifinals in its 25th consecutive appearance. The Lady Vols have not missed the regional finals since 2001.

As Summitt left the court, she stopped to kiss her son and her mother, who is in a wheelchair.

“One more mom. One more,” said Summitt, who is seeking her seventh national title and first since 1998.

Zolman, who has made three Final Four appearances and is Tennessee’s career leader in three-pointers, made 10 of 14 shots and played all 40 minutes.

Parker and Zolman accounted for all but 18 of the Lady Vols’ points.

Matee Ajavon led Rutgers with 24 points and Cappie Pondexter, a Naismith player-of-the-year finalist, scored 22 in her final game.

BRIDGEPORT REGIONAL

Connecticut 77, Georgia 75 -- Senior Barbara Turner scored 31 points and made a fadeaway three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left against a double team to cap a comeback from a 15-point deficit to lift the second-seeded Huskies (32-4) past the third-seeded Bulldogs (23-9).

“Never in my basketball career have I had the opportunity that I just had with the ball in my hands, with the game on the line and to be able to make the shot,” Turner said.

“There is no better feeling in the world.”

Tasha Humphrey led Georgia with 27 points, but picked up her fourth foul with 8:45 to play.

In the closing minutes, Turner drove inside and scored six points on Humphrey, who was trying not to pick up her fifth foul.

Cori Chambers had given Georgia its last lead with on a three-pointer with 20.3 seconds left.

With the victory, the five-time national champion Huskies pushed their NCAA winning streak in the state of Connecticut to 29 games.

Duke 86, Michigan State 61 -- Monique Currie scored 17 points to lead the top-seeded Blue Devils (29-3) past the fourth-seeded Spartans (24-10).

Duke, which had six double-figure scorers, scored 18 points off the fastbreak and outscored the Spartans, 48-22, in the paint.

The Blue Devils also scored 23 points off turnovers.

Victory Lucas-Perry had 17 points to lead the Spartans, last year’s NCAA runner-up.