Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. -- As the Louisville Cardinals circled around to cut down the nets for the first time, the scoreboard clock still showed one-tenth of a second remaining.
How appropriate: time hasn't run out yet on the most successful tournament run in program history.
Louisville is headed to the Final Four for the first time, after Angel McCoughtry finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds in a 77-60 upset of top-seeded Maryland in the Raleigh Regional final Monday night.
Deseree Byrd added 17 points and nine assists and Candyce Bingham had 15 points for the third-seeded Cardinals (33-4).
They never trailed and led by double figures for virtually the entire second half in continuing an improbable march through the bracket that started on LSU's inhospitable home court.
"[The players] had to get us out of Baton Rouge ... and they did that. I told them, 'If you get that done, we'll get you to the Final Four,'" coach Jeff Walz said. "They believed in everything we told them. They sat there and they laid it on the line for us. They followed a game plan tonight as well as any team I've coached. It's a credit to them to believing in what we're doing, and it shows."
They did, and now they've earned a spot against the winner of the Oklahoma City regional -- either Oklahoma or Purdue -- Sunday night in St. Louis.
"I'm dreaming right now," McCoughtry said. Then, she gestured to Byrd and adding, "pinch me, Des."
Marissa Coleman finished with 18 points two nights after scoring a career-high 42 against Vanderbilt and Marah Strickland added 15 the top-seeded Terrapins (31-5), who finally ran out of comebacks. Two nights after rallying from 18 down to beat the Commodores, the Terps turned it over 21 times -- a major reason why they were denied their fourth trip to the national semifinals.
"They did a really good job of making us uncomfortable, throwing different looks at us," guard Kristi Toliver said. "They wanted to be physical from the beginning. We knew they were going to be that way, and we never really could get into rhythm."
Headed there instead is a Cardinals team led by a Baltimore native, McCoughtry, and coached by Walz, a former Maryland assistant.
Just when the Terps thought they had clawed back into the game late, the Cardinals' seniors put it away.
Coleman hit a 3-pointer to pull Maryland within eight at the five-minute mark. But Bingham responded seconds later with a layup over Demauria Liles to start the 13-2 run that pushed it into double figures to stay. McCoughtry added hit a 3-pointer over Liles and Bingham followed that with a layup to stretch it to 67-52.
"They carry us," Byrd said. "We just follow."
Once again, McCoughtry was the Cardinals' primary option on offense. The Big East's defensive player of the year got plenty of chances to show her scoring touch -- she was 9 for 25 in this one and combined to shoot 19 for 53 in two games in Raleigh -- while also finishing with 13 rebounds against the Terps.
She helped the Cardinals to win for the 12th time in 13 games and snapped Maryland's 15-game winning streak with a victory that was particularly sweet -- yet also emotionally draining -- for Walz.
He spent six years assisting Brenda Frese and drew up the most memorable play of Maryland's national title in 2006 -- the 3-pointer in the final seconds by the then-freshman Toliver that forced overtime against Duke.
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