PHILADELPHIA – Tennessee already gave coach Pat Summitt the record for career wins in this tournament. Last night, the Lady Vols gave her something even more meaningful – a trip to the Final Four.

Shanna Zolman broke out of a slump with a couple of big baskets down the stretch, Nicky Anosike scored 14 points, and the top-seeded Lady Vols beat no. 3 seed Rutgers 59-49 in the Philadelphia Regional final.

Tennessee will play Michigan State (32-3) in the national semifinals in Indianapolis on Sunday night.

The Lady Vols (30-4) are in the Final Four for the fourth straight year, fifth time this decade, and 16th time overall, all under Summitt. She extended her NCAA record with her 882nd career win.

Tennessee survived a long scoring drought, woeful shooting, and a fine performance by Rutgers’s Cappie Pondexter in avenging a December loss to the Scarlet Knights (28-7).

Pondexter scored 25 points and made nine of the Scarlet Knights’ 18 baskets, but she had little help until it was too late. The Scarlet Knights’ physical defense kept them in it until the end.

Rutgers seemed poised to pull within three on Matee Ajavon’s shot from the left side, until it was reviewed by officials who determined it was a 2-point basket. That made it 49-45. Then Essence Carson had a steal for Rutgers and was fouled by Loree Moore.

Carson calmly sank the free throws – her first two points of the game – pulling Rutgers to 49-47 with 1:08 left.

Tennessee, though, sank its last 12 free throws and that was just the cushion the Lady Vols needed to win their 12th straight game. The Lady Vols made 29 of 35 free throws; Rutgers was just 8-for-13.

Tennessee’s free throws compensated for only 31% shooting from the floor.

The Lady Vols went over 12 minutes without a basket bridging the first and second half. They were rushed into bad shots, missed a couple of easy attempts under the basket, and committed seven turnovers in the first 8 minutes of the second half.

Rutgers used a 9-0 run to grab the lead for the first time since scoring the first two baskets of the game. The lead was short lived.

The Lady Vols went ahead on a couple of free throws and Zolman’s fast-break layup pushed the lead to 43-39.Zolman, who missed seven of her first 10 shots, buried a 3-pointer for a 46-41 lead.

Tennessee reached its 15th 30-wins season and first since 1997-98 – the last of its three straight national championships.

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MICHIGAN ST. 76, STANFORD 69

Make some room, Michigan State men. You’ve got company. Liz Shimek and the Michigan State women also are going to the Final Four – a first for the program.

Shimek made a series of huge plays down the stretch, Lindsay Bowen made her only basket of the game at a critical time and the top-seeded Spartans beat no. 2 seed Stanford 76-69 in the Kansas City Regional final last night.

Michigan State (32-3) had never made it past the second round in five previous NCAA tournament appearances, but the Spartans looked comfortable donning their championship caps, delighting a small but vocal band of supporters that included Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and her two teen-aged daughters.

The Spartans will play Tennessee in the national semifinals on Sunday night. The men will play North Carolina in St. Louis on Saturday.

Michigan State becomes the sixth school to send teams to both the men’s and women’s Final Four. UConn did it last year and each team won the national title, the only time that has happened.

Now, Michigan State has a chance for the double. But booking that trip wasn’t easy, even after the Spartans took a 13-point lead against the team that was ranked no. 1 in the final Associated Press poll. Stanford (32-3) came back to tie the score three times, but never got the lead and its 23-game winning streak ended, denying the Cardinal a seventh Final Four trip.

Shimek scored 17 of her 24 points in the second half and grabbed 10 rebounds. When the Spartans needed something at the end, she was there – and so was Bowen.

With the score tied at 61, Michigan State’s Rene Haynes made four free throws and sank a 3-pointer to put the Spartans up 68-61, which proved to be just enough of a cushion.

Stanford drew to 70-69 on a three point play by its brilliant freshman, Candice Wiggins, with 43.6 seconds left. But Bowen, who had been 0-for-7, answered with her only basket of the game, a 15-footer with 27.1 seconds to go.

When Stanford’s Kelley Suminski missed a 3-point shot, Bowen was there for the rebound, producing a fast break lay-up by Kelli Roehrig. And Bowen stole the ball at the end to make two final free throws.