Surprising Louisville headed to Final Four

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.

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, overwhelming Iowa State’s helpless defense and carrying Stanford back to the Final Four with in the Berkeley Regional final.

Stanford’s physically imposing center with neon-pink fingernails and a dancer’s grace 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.