COLUMBIA, S.C. - Cinderella is coming to Cincinnati. The only question is whether her name is George Washington or Notre Dame.
GW and the Irish pulled off back-to-back, big-time upsets at the East Regional of the Women's NCAA Tournament. As a result, the two will play Monday to determine who comes to Riverfront Coliseum for next weekend's Final Four.
George Washington, the fifth seed, sent down the No.Ç1 seed North Carolina in a 55-46 shocker in the first game.
But the sixth-seeded Irish
one-upped the Colonials in the second game, coming back with an amazing second-half rally to stun No. 2 Alabama 87-71.
Neither GW nor ND had made a regional final before Saturday. Now, one is going to the Final Four.
''It's an unbelievable feeling to be playing George Washington to go to the Final Four,'' said Beth Morgan, who led the Irish with a career-high 36 points. ''Even we didn't think it was going to happen for awhile.''
North Carolina and Alabama are among the elite of the women's game. UNC won the national championship in 1994. Alabama was in the Final Four that same year. They were the quicker, bigger and deeper teams here.
''No question about it,'' Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. ''North Carolina and Alabama are very, very talented teams. It just goes to show that when you get down to 16, you can't count anyone out.''
Nearly everyone had counted McGraw's team out when 'Bama pushed its lead back to nine about midway through the second half Saturday. Then Morgan caught fire.
She hit 3 threes in 68 seconds to tie it at 51-all. Alabama would recover and briefly retake the lead.
But a few minutes later, Sheila McMillen - in to give Morgan a breather - hit two more threes in a 29-second span.
The deal was done right there.
''That's where we won the game,'' McGraw said.
The Irish would score 20 unanswered points to go up 75-56.
''They came out and took the game away from us,'' Alabama coach Rick Moody said. ''It was really frustrating, because there was nothing we could do about it.''
Morgan, a 6-foot senior from Bloomington, Ind., had a career day. Her 36 points were an East Region record, as were her six three-pointers. She also had a career-high 13 rebounds.
Notre Dame's 59.3 shooting percentage was also an East Regional record.
''It's all kind of a blur,'' she said. ''I don't how I got so open.''
Katryna Gaither, a 6-3 senior and Notre Dame's other 2,000-point
scorer, added 26 points and nine rebounds.
Morgan and Gaither are the big reason Notre Dame (30-6), which had only won one tournament game before this year, is playing to go to the Final Four.
''They are two of the best players ever to play at Notre Dame,'' McGraw said. ''We've never had this kind of talent before.''
George Washington, 28-5 and winners of 25 of their last 26, is a similar kind of team. The Colonials aren't really deep or athletic, but they have a good senior nucleus, an inside-outside combo to rival Notre Dame's.
And the Colonials got to the regional final with a similar effort. They shot better, played smarter and - just maybe - wanted it a little more than North Carolina.
The 6-foot-3 international duo of Noelia Gomez (Madrid, Spain) and Tajama Abraham (St. Croix, V.I.) combined for 36 points and 19 rebounds to lift GW.
The two scored the first eight points of a 10-0 run that gave GW control in the last four minutes.
''How many teams have two 6-3 girls who can score?'' GW coach Joe McKeown asked. ''Tajama established herself on the block. That was the key.''
This was a breakthrough game for GW, just like it was for Notre Dame.
GW has been to NCAAs each of the last four years but has never advanced this far. GW starts three seniors. They've won more than 100 games in their career, but never one as big as Saturday's.
''We've had a lot of success,'' McKeown said. ''But we were never able to get over the hump. This is about as good as it gets.''
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