BOSTON — Duke's defense ganged up on the smoothest scorer in women's college basketball, shutting down Seimone Augustus and blowing LSU away yesterday to set up an all-ACC matchup for the NCAA title.

Mistie Williams had 14 points and nine rebounds to lead Duke to a 64-45 victory over the Lady Tigers in the tournament semifinal. Two-time Associated Press player of the year Seimone Augustus was scoreless in the first half, picking up her team-high 14 points long after it was no longer in doubt.

"It was a team effort defensively," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "And it really takes a team to defend Seimone Augustus."

The Blue Devils (31-3) used an 11-1 run midway through the second half to open a 48-32 lead and advance to the championship game against Maryland, which beat North Carolina, 81-70, earlier. Duke went 2-1 against the Terrapins during the season, losing in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

LSU (31-4) was just the seventh school to place its men's and women's teams in the Final Four in the same season. But, like the Lady Tigers, the men were blown out in the national semifinals, losing 59-45 to UCLA on Saturday.

One night after playground playmate Glen "Big Baby" Davis shot 29 percent in the LSU loss, Augustus went without a point or rebound in the first half. The nation's leading scorer with 23 points per game did not score until 17:39 remained in the game.

"That's not the motion offense that got us here," Augustus said.

MARYLAND 81, NORTH CAROLINA 70

Maryland took it slow, took it inside, and took all the fun out of the Tar Heels.

The Terrapins — the only team to beat No. 1 North Carolina this season — one-upped their own upset yesterday, beating the Tar Heels, 81-70, in the NCAA women's national semifinal.

The Terps did it their way: bumping feisty North Carolina point guard Ivory Latta, outmuscling the energetic, uptempo Tar Heels, and forcing a halfcourt game that wiped the smiles right off their faces.

In just four years under coach Brenda Frese, Maryland (33-4) has risen to stand among the nation's elite. The 33 wins is the most for any Maryland basketball team — men or women.

"They have the heart of a lion," Frese said. "They believe in each other ... I'm really proud of them."

The Terps dominated inside as they have all season. Maryland, which led the nation with an average rebounding margin of more than 12, beat North Carolina on the glass, 41-31. The young post players who made that happen — sophomores Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper — also asserted their strong scoring presence.

Harper had a career-high 24 points and Langhorne scored 23 for the Terps, who had beaten North Carolina, 98-95, in overtime in the regular season.

Maryland ran its halfcourt game to near perfection, getting the ball into Langhorne or Harper for basket after basket.

Erlana Larkins led the Tar Heels (33-2) with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Latta was banged up, knocked down and carried off at one point. She trotted back two minutes later but finished with just 14 points.

Associated Press writer Donna Tommelleo contributed to this report.