St. Louis, MO (My Sportsbook) - Angel McCoughtry put a bad first half behind her and finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and five steals, as Louisville overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to upend the Oklahoma Sooners, 61-59, to advance to the NCAA National Championship game.
The third-seeded Cardinals (34-4), playing in the program's first Final Four after topping Maryland in the Raleigh Regional final, will play either Stanford or fellow Big East foe Connecticut in the title game on Tuesday.
Candyce Bingham notched 14 points and Keshia Hines contributed nine and 10 rebounds for Louisville, which shot 16-for-34 in the second half and forced 17 turnovers to pull off the upset.
Four-time All-American Courtney Paris, who pledged she would pay back her scholarship if the Sooners failed to win the national title, did her part with 16 points and 16 rebounds, but the top-seeded Sooners (32-5) shot 7-for-26 in the final 20 minutes to fall short of its second ever title game.
Ashley Paris notched 14 points, while Nyeshia Stevenson chipped in with 10 but missed a three-pointer at the buzzer for the winners of the Oklahoma City Regional.
McCoughtry, who went 0-for-8 from the field in the opening 20 minutes, scored six points during a 15-1 Louisville spurt to open the second stanza, as her layup five minutes in gave the Cardinals their first lead, 37-35.
It was a back-and-forth tussle the rest of the way, with Louisville holding the largest lead, 58-52, after Becky Burke sank a three-pointer from the corner with 3 1/2 minutes to play.
Stevenson answered with a three of her own for the Sooners, and the teams traded free throws for a 60-57 score with 1:08 to play.
After unsuccessful possessions for both clubs, Courtney Paris scored to make it a one-point game and Oklahoma, which was appearing in its second ever Final Four after dominating the Big 12 Conference, was forced to foul with 7.6 ticks left.
After Bingham made the first and missed the second free throw, the Sooners raced the ball up the court. Stevenson was left open for a potential game- winning three but the ball went in-and-out as the buzzer sounded, giving Louisville the remarkable come-from-behind win.
Louisville missed its first 13 shots from the floor, and Oklahoma took advantage with baskets in transition and a three-pointer from Whitney Hand, the latter resulting in an 11-0 difference 5 1/2 minutes in.
The Cardinals managed to cut their deficit to six late in the half, but a 10-4 run to end the stanza had the Sooners ahead 34-22.