Cards upend Rutgers in Big East tourney

Angel McCoughtry had 20 points and a big strip at the end as Louisville upset No. 4 Rutgers 57-56 Sunday in the second round of the Big East tournament.

Candyce Bingham, who appeared to be fighting off leg cramps in the second half, added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals (23-8).

Epiphany Prince and Matee Ajavon each had 13 points for Rutgers (24-6), the defending tournament champion. Kia Vaughn had 12 points and seven rebounds, eight and five in the second half.

The game was tied at 51 with 3:31 left, and there were four lead changes before McCoughtry found Bingham underneath for a 57-56 lead with just under 33 seconds left.

Essence Carson missed a jumper with 8.1 seconds left and Chauntise Wright outbattled Vaughn for the rebound.

Rutgers got the ball back on a turnover on an inbound play with 4.4 seconds remaining. Prince dribbled up the right side of the court but McCoughtry got her hand on the ball as Prince tried a desperation shot in front of the Rutgers bench at the buzzer, as coach C. Vivian Stringer yelled for a foul call that did not come.

Louisville played a full-court pressure defense all night, forcing the Scarlet Knights into 16 turnovers and disrupting their offensive flow. The Cardinals, who also turned the ball over 16 times, outrebounded Rutgers 34-23, including 13-6 on the offensive glass.

But the game was played at the Scarlet Knights' pace. Rutgers has the league's top-ranked defense, giving up just over 51 points per game. Louisville, the No. 7 seed, came in averaging more than 76 points per contest.

McCoughtry, who averages just under 24 points per game, hit just 8-of-25 shots from the field, with Carson, the conference's defensive player of the year in her face for much of the game.

But she hit two big shots in a row down the stretch with defenders in her face, as she and Prince went back-and-forth giving their teams a lead.

There were 27 lead changes in the game, and seven ties.

Ajavon scored seven straight points to give Rutgers a 10-5 lead early, but she picked up her third foul with four minutes left in the half.

That forced the Scarlet Knights into a zone defense, and Louisville was able to crash the boards, getting 10 offensive rebounds by halftime. Rutgers went into intermission up 26-25.

The Cardinals will play West Virginia in Monday's semifinals.

Rutgers, which won the only other meeting of the season between the two schools, 70-57, had been considered a candidate for top seed in the NCAA tournament.