A women's Final Four without Tennessee?
Believe it.Tennessee's quest for a fourth consecutive national championship -- and fifth straight Final Four trip -- ended in Greensboro, N.C., on Monday night with a 69-63 loss to Duke in the East Regional finals.
Duke eliminated the top-seeded Lady Vols with a solid offensive game and outstanding defense on three-time All-American Chamique Holdsclaw, who was 2-of-18 from the field while scoring eight points.
So it's third-seeded Duke (28-6) going to the Final Four for the first time instead of Tennessee for the 12th. The Blue Devils will play Mideast champion Georgia (27-6) in the national semifinals in San Jose, Calif., next Friday.
Georgia earned its fifth Final Four trip, and third in five years, with an 89-71 victory over Iowa State in Cincinnati.
The only two No. 1 seeds that survived the first rounds of the tournament, Purdue (32-1) and Louisiana Tech (30-2), will meet in the other national semifinal.
Top-ranked Purdue ran its winning streak to 30 with a 75-62 victory over Rutgers in the Midwest at Normal, Ill. Louisiana Tech, which lost to Tennessee in last year's national championship game, made the Final Four for the 10th time by beating UCLA 88-62 in the West Regional at Los Angeles.
Purdue is going for just the second time, having made its first trip in 1994.
"It's very satisfying, but we're not finished," said Purdue All-American Stephanie White-McCarty, who led the Boilermakers with 22 points.
Tennessee lost in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1995 championship game. Only one year ago, the Lady Vols went 39-0 and were proclaimed by many as the best women's team ever. But that same magic wasn't there this season, even though all the key players were back.
EAST
DUKE 69, TENNESSEE 63: At Greensboro, N.C., Duke needed a supreme effort and an off night by Holdsclaw if it was to beat Tennessee, and the Blue Devils got both.
Holdsclaw, the national player of the year last season, missed her first 10 shots and never got untracked. Her stellar career ended when she fouled out with 25 seconds left and fell sobbing into coach Pat Summitt's arms.
Georgia Schweitzer matched her career high with 22 points to lead Duke.
MIDEAST
GEORGIA 89, IOWA STATE 71: At Cincinnati, Georgia advanced behind the shooting of Kelly Miller, who went 6-for-8 on 3-pointers in scoring 33 points. Miller had four 3's and 18 points as Georgia built a 37-22 halftime lead, and Iowa State (25-8) never got back in it.
MIDWEST
PURDUE 75, RUTGERS 62: At Normall, Ill., Purdue got Rutgers (29-6) in foul trouble and capitalized by making 30 of 46 free throws. Rutgers was called for 32 fouls and was only 7-for-15 at the line.
WEST
LOUISIANA TECH 88, UCLA 62: At Los Angeles, Amanda Wilson had 23 points and 12 rebounds and Louisiana Tech rattled UCLA with relentless defensive pressure.
Down by 10 early, Louisiana Tech ended the first half with a 17-4 run to go up 35-32, then broke it open in the second half.