No. 19 Louisville 80, No. 16 Kansas St. 63

3/25/2008 11:32 PM

By PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press Writer

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) -On its 12th try, Louisville finally made it out of the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Angel McCoughtry scored 24 and the Cardinals (26-9) beat Kansas State 80-63 Tuesday to advance to the regional semifinals.

Candyce Bingham added 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Cardinals, who have won 13 of their last 15 games.

``We feel like nobody can beat us,'' Bingham said. ``We feel like we're on the same page and we're just clicking.''

Louisville will play North Carolina in New Orleans on Saturday. Chauntise Wright and Patrika Barlos each added 13 points, and Barlow had six assists.

``We definitely feel good right now, being a part of history,'' said McCoughtry, who hit 12 of her 26 shots and added seven rebounds. ``This will go down in history, and we feel very good right now. But we're not going to be content. We are going to try to go as far as we can. We're thinking about Tampa, all the way.''

Ashley Sweat had 16 points and reserve Kelsey Nelson added 12 to lead Kansas State (22-10).

The Big 12 regular-season champions were playing their second game without star Kimberly Dietz, who hurt her knee in the Wildcats' loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament. Nelson, a virtual unknown before the tournament, tried to fill the void: The junior, who scored 23 points all season, had 20 points off the bench to help the Wildcats beat Chattanooga in the first round.

``People are going to remember her,'' said guard Shalee Lehning, who scored nine points and dished out six assists. ``Kelsey Nelson, people are saying that name all over the nation and so I'm just so proud of her.''

But Louisville has just too much size and strength for the Wildcats.

The Cardinals won the rebounding battle, 37-22, scoring 40 points in the paint while holding Kansas State to 20.

Louisville went down low early, finding the 6-foot-3 Wright under the basket for several easy layups.

The Cardinals were up just 6-5 less than 3 minutes in before going on a 13-0 run over the next 5 minutes. They hit eight of their first 10 shots; Louisville finished the game hitting 53 percent from the field.

Louisville coach Jeff Walz gave much of the credit to Bingham.

``Everybody concentrates on Angel, which they should,'' he said. ``Candyce, every night, we might run one play for the kid, and she still ends up with 12 points and 10 boards and has a career high with seven assists. She's the 'X' factor for us.''

Kansas State tried to stay in it with 3-point shooting. The Wildcats held Louisville scoreless for almost 4 minutes, and back-to-back 3s by Nelson and Carolyn McCullough cut the Louisville lead to 25-19.

Louisville used a 10-0 run to stretch it back to 35-19. The Cardinals outrebounded the Wildcats 21-8 in the first half, grabbing 13 offensive boards.

A 3-pointer by Kansas State's Kari Kincaid just before the buzzer cut the deficit to 41-28 at the half.

But Kansas State could get no closer than 12 in the second half. Louisville used a 10-0 run to build a 65-41 lead midway through and cruised.

The Wildcats went 13-3 in the Big 12 this year after coming in last a year ago. They have not been to a regional semifinal since 2002.

This is Louisville's fourth consecutive trip to the tournament. The Cardinals lost in the first round in 2005 and again in 2006, and bowed out in the second round last year, losing to Arizona State 67-56.