Tar Heels are too tough for Cardinals

North Carolina Coach Sylvia Hatchell couldn’t bring herself to belabor her team’s 25 turnovers, double-digit rebounding deficit or struggles in the first half.

The top-seeded Tar Heels had shown too much grit, too much poise in the face of adversity, to be criticized by their coach.

LaToya Pringle had 27 points and 11 rebounds, and North Carolina (33-2) erased an 18-point deficit in a 78-74 victory over fourth-seeded Louisville (26-10) Saturday in the semifinals of the East Regional at New Orleans, keeping alive the Tar Heels’ bid for a third consecutive trip to the Final Four.

“When you look at those numbers and you still won, I see that as a positive, because I don’t think we’re going to play like that again,” Hatchell said. “Those kids had so much heart. It’s tough, and we had to rise to the occasion.”

The victory extended the Tar Heels’ winning streak to 16 and put them in the regional final Monday night, when they’ll play Louisiana State.

Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry finished with 35 points and 13 rebounds, but was unable to dominate in the second half as she had in the first, when she scored 21 points.

Jessica Breland scored six points during an 8-0 run that gave North Carolina its first lead since early in the first half, 61-57. Those baskets began a 20-6 run that gave the Tar Heels a 73-63 lead with 2:27 to play.

Second-seeded LSU (30-5) complemented its stifling defense with a balanced offense that proved to be too much for third-seeded Oklahoma State (27-8) in a 67-52 victory.

Erica White scored 18 points to lead four Tigers in double figures, and they cruised past Oklahoma State, despite 26 points from Cowgirls star Andrea Riley.

After shooting below 20% into the second half, Oklahoma State scored on four consecutive possessions, capped by Riley’s three-pointer, but got no closer than 41-32.

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Spokane Regional

After lackluster efforts in the first two rounds of the tournament, Maryland finally played like a top-seeded team.

Crystal Langhorne scored 28 points in the first half and Maryland’s defense swarmed fourth-seeded Vanderbilt (24-9) in a 80-66 victory in the semifinals at Spokane, Wash.

The Terrapins (33-3) are one win away from the Final Four. They will play second-seeded Stanford (33-3) in Monday night’s final. The Cardinal routed sixth-seeded Pittsburgh, 72-53.