SAN JOSE, Calif. -- OK, Duke men, now it's your turn.
Nicole Erickson had 22 points and Michele VanGorp had 20 and the women Blue Devils held Georgia's Miller twins to 31 combined points to reach the national title game with a 81-69 victory over the Lady Bulldogs on Friday night.Duke's men will try to match the success of their female counterparts Saturday when they face Michigan State in the national semifinals at St. Petersburg, Fla.
The female Blue Devils, making their first trip to the Final Four, will face Purdue in the championship game Sunday night. Ukari Figgs had 24 points and Stephanie White-McCarty added 17 as the Boilermakers defeated Louisiana Tech 77-63 in Friday's other semifinal.
The title game will reunite Erickson and VanGorp with former teammates Figgs and Stephanie White-McCarty. Erickson and VanGorp transferred away from Purdue in 1996 after their sophomore season.
Georgia Schweitzer added 13 points for Duke (29-6), which was 9-of-16 on 3-pointers. The nine 3-pointers were a record for the national semifinals.
"They beat us the way they beat most teams, and that's by spreading us out and hitting the 3s, or throwing it in to VanGorp," Georgia coach Andy Landers said. "We didn't have a clue offensively throughout this game. We didn't give up, we hung in there, but they just shot the ball too well."
Following up on its shocking defeat of three-time defending champion Tennessee in the East Regional final, Duke built a 15-point lead early in the second half and used a late 16-3 run to rebuild its advantage after Georgia pulled within six.
"I thought we played with tremendous poise," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We played with confidence and I also thought we were relaxed. We had a championship mentality, which we showed all year long."
Coco Miller scored 18 points and identical twin Kelly Miller added 13 for Georgia (27-7). The Millers averaged a combined 37 points per game this season. Freshman center Tawana McDonald had 14 points for the Lady Bulldogs.
PURDUE 77, LOUISIANA TECH 63: Stephanie White-McCarty, Ukari Figgs and Carolyn Peck will team up one last time. And they'll do it in the most important game of all.
Figgs scored 18 of her 24 points in the first half, White-McCarty added 17, and they provided their usual strong dose of leadership as No. 1 Purdue beat Louisiana Tech 77-63 Friday night to reach the championship game of the women's NCAA tournament.
The Boilermakers (33-1) won for the 31st straight time and will try to win their first title Sunday night against Duke, a game that will look a bit like Purdue circa 1995-96 because it will send Figgs and White-McCarty against former teammates Nicole Erickson and Michele VanGorp.
Erickson and VanGorp, who combined for 42 points in an 81-69 victory over Georgia, left Purdue following the firing of coach Lin Dunn in 1996.
Win or lose, it will be Peck's last game as Purdue's coach. She's leaving to become coach and general manager of the WNBA's new Orlando franchise, a job change she announced last July.
Her lame-duck status had no affect on her team and now she has a chance to capture the biggest prize in women's college basketball in just her second year as a coach.
Louisiana Tech (30-3), which had won 22 straight since a 71-65 loss to Purdue on Dec. 19, failed in its bid to reach the championship game for the seventh time. The Lady Techsters, in the Final Four for the 10th time, lost to Tennessee in last year's title game.
Amanda Wilson led Tech with 18 points and Monica Maxwell scored 17.
Playing with poise and patience against Louisiana Tech's tenacious man-to-man defense, Purdue built a 15-point lead in the first half behind Figgs, then weathered a Louisiana Tech comeback.
Purdue led 40-27 at halftime and was up 50-37 after White-McCarty hit a 3-pointer with 15:15. Louisiana Tech then started to cause some problems with its defense and clawed back.
Maxwell's 3-pointer and Wilson's basket inside pulled the Lady Techsters to 52-45 and they trailed just 58-55 when Betty Lennox nailed a 3-pointer with 8:45 remaining. But they would get no closer.