Don't be confused, Louisville-North Carolina is a women's showdown, too

3/28/2008 5:41 PM

By BRETT MARTEL
AP sports Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Louisville basketball has reached new heights - in the women's game, that is.

While Louisville's men prepare to play North Carolina in an NCAA regional final in Charlotte on Saturday night, the women's teams from the same two schools will meet earlier in the day in New Orleans in the third round of the women's tournament.

``We just hope that our guys' and women's teams can make history by both beating North Carolina,'' Louisville forward Angel McCoughtry said.

Tournament success is more of a novelty for Louisville's women's squad, making its first appearance in the round of 16 as the fourth seed in the New Orleans regional.

To move on, they'll have to beat top-seeded North Carolina (32-2), which won the ACC and comes in having won 15 straight games, with only one loss in its last 24 contests.

``We're looking hopefully to do bigger and better things,'' North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said, ``but we know we've got a tough game (Saturday) with an excellent Louisville team.''

While Louisville (26-9) is new to the regional round, it's old hat for first-year coach Jeff Walz, who was an assistant on Maryland's national championship squad two seasons ago.

``When I came in for my interview a year ago, three players were in the room and they had the opportunity to ask some questions and they asked me what I could do to help them get past that second-round game,'' Walz recalled. ``I looked at them and I said, 'It's not up to me. It's up to players. You've got to be willing to improve.' And I think they all took that to heart.''

Hatchell got to know Walz when he was at Maryland and credited him with a big part of the Terrapins' success.

``He did an outstanding job with the scouting reports and his knowledge'' of the game, Hatchell said. ``He was a part of a national championship team, so I'm really not surprised with the success that he's had. He's brought an energy level, an intensity, the expectations and all that it takes.''

Walz said he also was fortunate to inherit a player like McCoughtry, who has averaged 23.5 points and 8.8 rebounds, mostly against squads from the highly competitive Big East, which has five teams still alive in the tournament.

While North Carolina appears to have the stronger team, Hatchell worries that McCoughtry is the type of player capable of unleashing a dominant performance that could put Louisville in position to stage an upset.

``I've been coaching for 33 years. I've seen that before. You never know when that can happen and I've had some of my own players do that,'' Hatchell said. ``This kid is capable of doing that. ... We've got three or four lined up to guard her and if we have to keep rotating them, we will. Hopefully, we can do a decent job defensively on her.''

Louisville will have defensive challenges of its own.

North Carolina has five players who average double figures in scoring, led by junior guard Rashanda McCants at 16 points.

Senior center LaToya Pringle and senior forward Erlana Larkins each average 14 points, while freshman guard Cetera DeGraffenreid is averaging nearly 12 points and sophomore forward Jessica Breland nearly 11.

At their best, the Tar Heels turn rebounds into quick transition points in bunches.

``When we get tired quickly, that's almost a good sign because it means we're running up and down the court, playing Carolina basketball,'' Pringle said.

The Tar Heels also feel they have some unfinished business to take care of, given that they came up two victories short of a national title last season, losing to eventual champion Tennessee in the national semifinals.

UNC lost a couple key players to graduation in Ivory Latta and Camille Little, but expected to be a contender with Larkins, Pringle and McCants all returning.

``We've been to this point before. We knew how great we would be, losing Ivory and Camille, because we had the core which is sitting over here back,'' Larkins said, nodding toward McCants and Pringle. ``We just had to make everybody else believe it.

``I'm not satisfied at all because I'm a senior and we haven't won a national championship,'' Larkins added. ``That's what we're focused on.''