Lady Razorbacks to play Tennessee in Final Four

Posted: Tue March 24, 1998 at 9:51 AM ET

Lady Razorbacks Kamara Stancle (right) and Christy Smith hug as Duke forward Georgia Schweitzer walks off the floor    (AP)

OAKLAND, California (CNN/SI) -- The Arkansas Lady Razorbacks want to revel in the moment now that they're in the Final Four. They don't care that they're facing Tennessee. They'll worry about that later.

Down 72-71 against Duke on Monday night in the NCAA West Regional final, Arkansas got a go-ahead layup from Tennille Adams with 1:38 left, and Christy Smith's four late free throws gave the Lady Razorbacks a 77-72 victory.

Smith dribbled to midcourt as the clock ran down, then knelt to the floor -- still protecting the ball -- as her teammates piled on top of her. With the win, ninth-seeded Arkansas (22-10) becomes the lowest seed ever to reach the Final Four.

"It doesn't matter who we play," ecstatic coach Gary Blair said. "We're going to the dance."

Smith, a speedy senior guard who made nine of 10 free throws, cried as the postgame celebration went on around her. Later, after all the fans had gone, she and teammate Treva Christensen posed for a private snapshot on the court at the New Arena, wearing their new NCAA West Regional champion hats and T-shirts.

"I've been there before," she said of her pressure free throws. "I've made them before, I've missed them before. And it feels a lot better when you make them."

Sytia Messer led Arkansas with 20 points, while Christensen and Adams each added 14. Smith finished with 13.

Arkansas, which has never before advanced beyond the final eight, goes up against undefeated Tennessee on Friday in Kansas City, Mo. The Lady Vols, the two-time defending NCAA champions, beat North Carolina 76-70 earlier Monday.

"Everyone has picked us to lose every ballgame, and if someone picks us to win the next one, I'd like to see what the odds are because I don't want to be picked," Blair said. "We love the underdog role."

No. 2 seed Duke, denied its first trip to the Final Four, was led by Peppi Browne's 20 points. Michele VanGorp added 14 points and Nicole Erickson had 12.

"We were not mentally tough, we were not focused, and I don't know why," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We're all questioning ourselves right now as to why we weren't ready to play and didn't have our attack mindset."

With the teams trading baskets and the lead down the stretch, Browne made a layup off a feed from Rochelle Parent to put Duke up 72-71 with two minutes remaining.

Arkansas regained command on Adams' layup. After a Duke turnover, Messer's layup rolled off the rim for Arkansas, giving Duke another chance.

But Erickson missed a long jumper, and Lauren Rice was called for a push on Smith while the two battled for the rebound.

Smith made both free throws with 31 seconds remaining to give Arkansas a three-point advantage and added two more with 16 seconds left when she was fouled rebounding a missed shot by Rice.

Duke (24-8) had its best season, but after leading the ACC in 3-point shooting, made just one of 11 against the Lady 'Backs.

Trailing by one at the break and 41-34 early in the second half, Duke scored 12 consecutive points, triggered by a layup by Browne and VanGorp's leaning 6-foot jumper. Arkansas managed to break the momentum with a layup by Celia Anderson.

"We wanted to slow them down and get into our half-court offense," Browne said. "We needed to focus on what we were doing and put in our shots from the field and at the free-throw line. Unfortunately, we didn't do that."

A 7-1 run by Arkansas put it ahead 26-17, the Lady 'Backs' largest margin of the first half, but the Blue Devils surged back, taking a 31-30 lead with 42 seconds to go on Hilary Howard's layup. But Adams hit a jumper with a second left to give Arkansas a 32-31 lead at halftime.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.