Louisville tops Maryland
3/31/2009RALEIGH - Angel McCoughtry had 21 points and 13 rebounds and Louisville claimed its first Final Four berth by upsetting top-seeded Maryland 77-60 Monday night in the Raleigh Regional final of the NCAA women's tournament.
Deseree Byrd added 17 points and Candyce Bingham had 15 for the third-seeded Cardinals (33-4), who never trailed.
Louisville will face the winner of tonight's Oklahoma-Purdue game.
Marissa Coleman finished with 18 points two nights after scoring a career-high 42 against Vanderbilt and Marah Strickland added 15 for the top-seeded Terrapins (31-5), who finally ran out of comebacks. Kristi Toliver, the ACC player of the year, finished with 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting.
Stanford 74, Iowa St. 53
BERKELEY, Calif. - Jayne Appel had a career-high 46 points and 16 rebounds in the third highest-scoring performance in NCAA tournament history to carry Stanford over Iowa State.
Stanford's imposing center also surpassed Candice Wiggins' single-game scoring record for the Cardinal (33-4), leaving little doubt about Stanford's eighth Final Four berth. Only Drake's Lorri Bauman (50 points in 1982) and Texas Tech's Sheryl Swoopes (47 in 1993) have scored more points in an NCAA tournament game.
Amanda Nisleit scored 17 points for the Cyclones.