The Associated Press

NORMAN, Okla. - In one game, All-American Nicole Powell has the chance to achieve two goals she has held for years - beating Tennessee and getting to the Final Four.

The Stanford star has wanted to beat the Lady Vols since she was a little girl.

She'll get her opportunity tonight when sixth-seeded Stanford (27-6) takes on the top-seeded Lady Vols (29-3) in the Midwest Regional final.

"They have a good program and they have so much history," Powell said. "They are the ultimate powerhouse and you can join them or you can beat them."

Powell is a three-time Naismith Award finalist and a two-time Pac-10 player of the year. She ranks in the top four in career points, rebounds, assists, 3-pointers and free throws at Stanford, a program with some impressive history of its own. Stanford has put 18 players in the WNBA.

With six career triple-doubles, she's the only player in Pac-10 history to accomplish the feat more than once.

But she's never beaten Tennessee, although she came close earlier this season.

She had 32 points and 16 rebounds in the Cardinal's 70-66 overtime loss to Tennessee on Dec. 14 at Maples Pavilion. She missed her final 10 field-goal attempts in that game, including shots that would have won the game in regulation and tied it with 11 seconds left in overtime.

"I think in the end she could just as easily have made a couple of shots" Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt said.

A win would lift Stanford to its first Final Four since its string of three straight was broken with a loss to 16th-seed Harvard in 1998.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said Powell doesn't need to reach the Final Four to validate her greatness as a player.

"In the locker room yesterday, she was hugging people with a fierceness," VanDerveer said. "This is not as far as she wants to go, but she doesn't have to hang her head."

MIDEAST: One team has been a No. 1 seed four years in a row. The other has only been to the NCAA Tournament four times.

In tonight's Mideast Regional final between Duke and Minnesota at Norfolk, Va., the pressure of high expectations is on the Blue Devils, who have reached two straight Final Fours and lost in the semifinals each time.

"It's sort of unfinished business," Duke's three-time All-American Alana Beard said Monday. "Sometimes I wake up in tears thinking about how much this class deserves it and how much I want it for this program."

"It," of course, is a national championship.

After being No. 1 during the season, Duke (30-3) was expected to get this far.

The Golden Gophers (24-8) have come from obscurity by taking out No. 2 seed Kansas State in the second round and No. 3 Boston College in the regional semifinals on Sunday, a 76-63 victory.

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Today's games

MIDEAST REGIONAL FINAL

Duke (30-3) vs. Minnesota (24-8), 7 p.m., ESPN.

MIDWEST REGIONAL FINAL

Stanford (27-6) vs. Tennessee (29-3), 9 p.m., ESPN.