Baylor Dumps UNC To Earn First Final Four Berth

TEMPE, Ariz. – Sophia Young scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the second-seeded Baylor to the Final Four for the first time in school history after beating no. 1 North Carolina 72-63 last night.Young, whose mother came from the West Indies to see her play for the first time, was named the MVP of the Tempe Regional.The Lady 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 straight going into the game.Chameka Scott, 0-for-9 from 3-point range in her previous two games, was 4-for-8 against North Carolina and scored 18 points for Baylor. Steffanie Blackmon added 14 points.The Lady Bears, who hadn’t even been to a regional final before, will play LSU in the national semifinals on Sunday in Indianapolis.North Carolina, trying to join the Tar Heel men in the Final Four, shot just 32%. Ivory Latta, North Carolina’s 5-foot-6 point guard, scored 21 but was bounced around all night by the Baylor defense and was just 6-for-22 shooting, 3-for-13 on 3-pointers.Leah Metcalf scored 11 and Nikita Bell 10 for the Tar Heels.Two more victories for Baylor would give the Waco school its second national title in any sport. Baylor won the NCAA men’s tennis championship last year.Baylor outscored the Tar Heels 12-2 over the final 5:16 of a sometimes-frenetic and often-sloppy first half to take a 33-24 lead at the break. Scott’s 3-pointer with 12:01 to play made it 49-31, and Young’s two free throws with 11:01 remaining gave Baylor a 53-34 lead.The Tar Heels had not faced that big a deficit all season, and responded with an 8-0 run to cut it to 49-38 La’Tangela Atkinson’s rebound with 6:57 left. But the closest North Carolina got was seven in the final seconds.***LOUISIANA STATE 59, DUKE 49Finally met with a challenge in the NCAA tournament, LSU was up to the task. The top-seeded Lady Tigers are going to a second straight Final Four after beating second-seeded Duke 59-49 last night in the Chattanooga Regional final.LSU was down early but tied it at halftime, went ahead in the opening minutes, and never trailed again.The Lady Tigers (33-2) will face second-seeded Baylor in the national semifinals on Sunday.All-American Seimone Augustus finished with 22 points and Sylvia Fowles added 13 points and 11 rebounds.LSU beat its first three opponents in the tournament by an average of 36 points, but the competition was much tougher last night.The Blue Devils (31-5) had a good game plan to go inside and take advantage of their bigger posts, and it worked early. Duke was ahead by as many as 12 in the first half, putting the Lady Tigers in their biggest deficit of the season.Then LSU turned up its defensive pressure, tipping passes and blocking shots, and brought in Fowles, the 6-foot-5 freshman, from the bench to help clog up the middle. She helped the Lady Tigers out rebound Duke 42-27.LSU’s shooting was cold to start the game, and the Tigers went down 12 points when Alison Bales made a basket over Fowles with 8:14 to go in the first half. LSU trimmed the lead and then took control when they keyed an 8-0 run to finish the half with three straight takeaways and tie it at 30.Duke could not regain the intensity they had at the beginning. The Blue Devils got as close as two points with 13:40 remaining, but couldn’t stop LSU.

Baylor Dumps UNC To Earn First Final Four Berth

Baylor Dumps UNC To Earn First Final Four Berth

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