By Greg Beacham
The Associated Press

STANFORD, Calif. - After a 16-year absence, Texas is headed back to the Final Four with a low-post duo that just might be good enough to win it all.

Heather Schreiber had a career-high 32 points and eight rebounds, and Stacy Stephens had 14 points and 12 rebounds as the second-seeded Longhorns beat top-seeded LSU 78-60 Tuesday night in the West Regional final.

Tai Dillard added 12 points for Texas (29-5), which won its 17th straight game and earned a meeting with Connecticut (35-1) at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Sunday. Football-crazy Austin will have basketball fever this week, with the men's team heading to New Orleans for that other Final Four.

Led by Schreiber's remarkable offensive versatility and Stephens' inside power, the Longhorns got a blowout victory in what many expected to be the NCAA tournament's most competitive regional final.

Texas led by 28 midway through the second half and coasted to the victory in front of a small but ecstatic cheering section that chanted "Final Four!" as the clock wound down.

Schreiber, Texas' all-Big 12 sophomore forward, went 13-for-21 from the field and embarrassed every defender put in front of her at Maples Pavilion. She was relentless, scoring on post-up moves and 18-foot jumpers with equal ease.

Coach Jody Conradt, who has won more games than any women's coach except Tennessee's Pat Summitt, reached her third Final Four at Texas - but her first since 1987, when the Longhorns made back-to-back trips following an undefeated season and a national championship in 1986.

DeTrina White scored 14 points for LSU (30-4), the only No. 1 seed that won't be in Atlanta.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Tigers coach Sue Gunter, who's never made the Final Four. She has 681 career victories but has lost all three regional finals she's reached at LSU.

Texas won the Big 12 championship on the strength of its dynamic inside combo, which teamed up to average 28.2 points and 17.3 rebounds a game this season. While Stephens dominates the paint, Schreiber scores from inside, on the perimeter and in transition.

After a slow start, Schreiber and Stephens overpowered the Tigers - with plenty of help from their teammates, of course. Trailing 11-4 after the first five minutes, the Longhorns scored 18 straight points and held LSU scoreless for nearly six minutes while building a comfortable lead they never lost.

The Longhorns also had a 42-33 rebounding edge, and Stanford transfer Jamie Carey had 12 points and six assists while shutting down star LSU point guard Temeka Johnson.

Texas followed its 18-0 run with a 19-7 run to end the first half. A 19-9 run midway through the second half sealed it.

Seimone Augustus, the Tigers' freshman star, had just eight points.

Johnson, still playing with a black eye and two broken bones in her face, missed all four of her shots in the first half in the face of Carey's hounding defense. LSU's offense struggled without her help, and she finished with nine points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Carey got another standing ovation from the tiny crowd. She was a freshman star at Stanford three years ago before a series of concussions forced her to switch schools.