BOSTON - Maryland arrived at the women's Final Four last week with a swagger belying its status as the least-decorated team here, and with the widespread thought that it was the least accomplished of the three Atlantic Coast Conference teams still battling for a national championship.
When confronted with the idea that Maryland was the tournament's heart-warming underdog, guard Shay Doron all but sneered that the Terrapins believed they not only belonged, but "we should have probably gotten a No. 1 seed."
The Terrapins rode that feisty attitude to what nearly everyone else considered an upset of North Carolina on Sunday night, an 81-70 victory that sent Maryland into Tuesday night's championship game. The Terrapins (33-4) will play Duke, which defeated Louisiana State, 64-45, in the later semifinal.
North Carolina, which was the nation's No. 1 team for long stretches of the season, finished 33-2; both its losses were to Maryland.
"This team, this group of kids, are just so special," Maryland Coach Brenda Frese said. "They believed."
The group had lifted the Terrapins into the elite level of women's basketball in only three seasons. Doron, a junior, went to Maryland even though it was coming off a 10-18 season in the A.C.C., which North Carolina and Duke have dominated.
The difference in this game came from two players who followed Doron to College Park, the sophomore forwards Laura Harper and Crystal Langhorne. Harper finished with 24 points and 9 rebounds, and Langhorne had 23 points, making 10 of 12 shots from the field.
"Right from the beginning I could feel it," Harper said. "North Carolina has some great players and so do we. I just wanted to play confident and have fun, and that's what I did."
Harper and Langhorne celebrated after nearly every basket, gaining energy as the game wore on and as a Maryland victory seemed assured.
But the game never materialized into the fast-paced display of great basketball that these teams seemed to promise. Both teams tried to push the pace, but often the frenetic rushes upcourt ended in turnovers instead of baskets. Maryland overcame 26 turnovers in its victory. North Carolina committed a more manageable 17, but never mustered much of an offense.
The Tar Heels relied overwhelmingly on center Erlana Larkins, who became nearly the entire offense with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Larkins was routinely making baskets inside or being fouled, but none of her teammates managed to take the pressure off her. Point guard Ivory Latta scored 14 points but was not much of a factor offensively. No other Tar Heel scored more than 8 points.
"We shot poorly from the outside and we shot too many 3-pointers," said North Carolina Coach Sylvia Hatchell, noting the Tar Heels' 4-for-23 shooting from 3-point range. "I thought we should have gone inside more."
Latta, in particular, was not the force she had been this season in earning all-American honors and widespread attention for her big smiles and big celebrations.
In this game, Latta fell hard and hyperextended her left knee in the first half. Although she returned quickly, she never settled into her usual game.
"We just wanted to keep her in front of us," Doron said. "We wanted to keep the ball out of her hands as much as we could and make sure she took contested shots."
The game stayed relatively even, if clumsily played, through the first half. Maryland held a 36-34 lead at halftime. The Terrapins began pulling away early in the second half, with Harper scoring 6 straight points during one stretch.
Maryland also started receiving timely contributions from other players, including point guard Kristi Toliver. Despite committing 12 turnovers, she scored two key baskets and hit two free throws to help put Maryland ahead by 52-47 with 10 minutes 48 seconds left.
With North Carolina trying to make a game of it down the stretch, Doron made a jump shot and a key pass to Harper inside. She also made four free throws to help keep the game out of reach.
North Carolina won the national title in its only previous trip to the Final Four, in 1994. Maryland had not been to the Final Four since 1989, and it has never been in a title game. And until Frese arrived as coach four years ago, few in the program even mentioned goals like a national title.
That has all changed.
"We've just kind of instilled a winning mentality, that we can do it and we can play with anyone and it's been there since I've gotten there," Doron said. "So nothing's changed. It's reality and we definitely expected it."
Others are finally catching on.
