GREENSBORO, N.C. — North Carolina walked away from the Greensboro Coliseum with another Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship yesterday. Sylvia Hatchell is hoping her second-ranked Tar Heels will be back here in a few weeks to play for a trip to the Final Four.

Erlana Larkins and Cetera DeGraffenreid each scored 17 points to help North Carolina beat No. 12 Duke, 86-73, in the title game, giving the program its fourth straight championship while almost certainly locking up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Rashanda McCants and LaToya Pringle each added 16 points for the top-seeded Tar Heels (30-2), who became the first to win nine ACC tournament titles. North Carolina has won 12 straight and 21 of 22 games overall, a run that its coach hopes will keep the Tar Heels close to home for the NCAA tournament's Greensboro Regional later this month.

"In the ACC, our conference, we haven't lost a game this year and won the championship," Hatchell said. "I'm hoping all that will be taken into consideration."

It might seem a little early for Hatchell to start lobbying for seeding since the field won't be announced for another week. But considering how the Tar Heels rolled through the ACC, it's understandable that they already have turned their attention to winning the national championship.

Their only losses have come on the road to No. 1 Connecticut and No. 3 Tennessee, while they beat fifth-ranked Maryland in double overtime and earned a three-game sweep of the Blue Devils (23-9) to become the first team in school history to go unbeaten through the ACC regular season and tournament.

North Carolina shot just 39 percent, but finished with 26 second-chance points and 20 offensive rebounds to go with a 34-for-44 effort from the line. The Tar Heels took their biggest lead at 72-55 on DeGraffenreid's 3-pointer with about 7 1/2 minutes left, and Duke got no closer than eight points.

North Carolina had beaten Duke easily this season, winning 93-76 on the road before taking an 82-51 win in the regular-season finale.

"I was proud of our team's fight," Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "We have to take it up another level in terms of just playing together and getting to the basket hard to get to the free-throw line and those things."

TOP 25 RESULTS

No. 1 Connecticut 86, DePaul 68: Renee Montgomery had 19 points and Tina Charles added 16 as host Connecticut (30-1) routed DePaul (20-11) in the second round of the Big East tournament. Freshman sensation Maya Moore had 14 points and 15 boards for the Huskies, who reached the 30-win plateau for the third consecutive season.

No. 3 Tennessee 61, No. 7 LSU 55: Candace Parker hit a jumper with 1:57 left that put host Tennessee (30-2) ahead to stay, and the Lady Vols won their record 13th SEC title and third in four years by beating LSU (27-5). Parker finished with 28 points and Shannon Bobbitt had 12 for Tennessee.

Louisville 57, No. 4 Rutgers 56: Angel McCoughtry had 20 points and a big strip at the end as Louisville (23-8) upset Rutgers (24-6) in the second round of the Big East tournament at Hartford, Conn. Rutgers had the ball on an inbounds play with 4.4 seconds remaining, but McCoughtry got her hand on the ball as Epiphany Prince tried a desperation shot.

No. 6 Stanford 78, UCLA 45: Jayne Appel had 14 points and seven rebounds, and Candice Wiggins scored 13 points to lead Stanford (29-3) over UCLA (16-15) in the Pac-10 tournament semifinal at San Jose, Calif. The Cardinal will play in their seventh straight Pac-10 tournament title game.

Pittsburgh 64, No. 9 Notre Dame 53: Marcedes Walker had 18 points and 13 rebounds for her 52nd career double-double, most by any player in the conference, and Pittsburgh (22-9) upset Notre Dame (23-8) in the second round of the Big East tournament at Hartford, Conn. The Panthers used an 11-2 run in the second half to pull ahead.

No. 10 California 65, Arizona State 61: Devanei Hampton had 19 points and 16 rebounds to lift California (26-5) into its first Pac-10 tournament title game with a victory over Arizona State (21-10) at San Jose, Calif. Natasha Vital added 14 points and Ashley Walker had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Cal.

Xavier 63, No. 13 George Washington 59: Maureen Hester hit two free throws in the final seconds, and Ta'Shia Phillips had 22 points and nine rebounds as Xavier (23-8) moved into the Atlantic 10 tournament finals with a win over George Washington (25-6) at Philadelphia. Amber Harris added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Musketeers.

No. 14 West Virginia 64, South Florida 42: Olayinka Sanni scored 20 points and West Virginia (24-6) moved into the Big East semifinals by beating South Florida (16-15) at Hartford, Conn. LaQuita Owens added 14 points for the Mountaineers.

SMU 73, No. 18 UTEP 57: Brittany Gilliam scored 20 points and Sharee Shepherd added 17 as SMU (24-8) upset UTEP (27-3) to win the Conference USA tournament at Orlando, Fla. The victory sends SMU to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2000, and snapped UTEP's nation-best 23-game winning streak.

No. 24 Marist 83, Iona 63: Rachele Fitz scored 16 of her 20 points in the second half and Marist (31-2) beat Iona (18-13) in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title game at Albany, N.Y. Erica Allenspach scored 18 points as five Marist players reached double figures.

TOURNAMENT FINALS

Purdue 58, Illinois 56: Lakisha Freeman grabbed her own rebound with a second left and beat the buzzer with a 10-foot jumper, giving Purdue (18-14) a victory over Illinois (19-14) in the Big Ten tournament championship game at Indianapolis. The victory was only assured after a replay review.

San Diego 70, Gonzaga 66: Morgan Henderson scored 20 points, hitting six 3-pointers, and Kiva Herman added 16 to lead host San Diego (19-12) over Gonzaga (24-8) in the West Coast Conference tournament championship game.