North Carolina guard Diamond DeShields (23) shoots between South Carolina's Asia Dozier, left, and Tina Roy (23) during their regional semifinal at the NCAA college basketball tournament in Stanford, Calif., Sunday, March 30, 2014.STANFORD, Calif. - Diamond DeShields escaped two close calls with injury to score 19 points, leading North Carolina one win closer to a sweet reunion with healing coach Sylvia Hatchell by beating top-seeded South Carolina 65-58 in the Stanford Regional semifinals on Sunday night.
Brittany Rountree converted a pair of free throws with 1:14 left and two more at the 36.4-second mark to help seal it for the No. 4 seed Tar Heels (27-9), who backed up their December victory against the Gamecocks with another on the NCAA tournament stage.
The Tar Heels will play in Tuesday night's regional final against second-seeded Stanford (32-3), an 82-57 winner on its home court against No. 3 seed Penn State in Sunday's first game.
Alaina Coates hit several key baskets down the stretch on the way to 22 points for South Carolina (29-5).