RALEIGH, N.C. -- Angel McCoughtry couldn't help herself. The Louisville star had just cut down some NCAA tournament nets for the first time, and got caught up in the championship hoopla.
"It's time to go to Disney World," McCoughtry said. Then she broke into a laugh and added: "Oh, wait. We've got two more games."
For these Cardinals, Orlando can wait. They've earned themselves at least one more game -- and it's coming in their first Final Four after they upset top-seeded Maryland 77-60 on Monday night in the Raleigh Regional final.
McCoughtry had 21 points and 13 rebounds, 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 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 added, "pinch me, Des."
Marissa Coleman finished with 18 points two nights after scoring a career-high 42 against Vanderbilt and Marah Strickland added 15 for the Terrapins (31-5), who finally ran out of comebacks. 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.
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"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 Louisville 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 a 13-2 run that pushed it into double figures to stay. McCoughtry added a 3-pointer over Liles and Bingham and 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.
She helped the Cardinals win for the 12th time in 13 games. They 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.
"I told them it's one of the hardest games I've ever had to coach," Walz said. "It's different if you're playing them in a regular-season game because everybody's career continues on. But this was a game where we came out on the top side of it, and their careers are over."
There were no such heroics this time for Toliver, the ACC player of the year who finished with 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Nor were there any for Coleman, who wept inconsolably and nearly collapsed as she came off the court for the final time with about a minute remaining.
"It's always tough to have that moment for seniors, for their careers to end," Frese said. "Especially two seniors like these two. ... You hate for it to end like this."
