Virginia

North Carolina is no longer invincible to Virginia. Chris Williams and Roger Mason Jr. scored 18 points each and No. 15 Virginia overcame a series of late runs by North Carolina and beat the visiting Tar Heels, 73-63, last night. "It was ugly," Mason said. "But we have a 'W' in our column and we're going to run with it. " The Cavaliers beat the Tar Heels for the third straight time at home, the first time since 1980-82 they've managed to do that. Virginia (16-6, 6-5 Atlantic Coast Conference)

She simply makes things happen. All-America guard Dawn Staley used her scoring, passing and defense yesterday to catapult top-ranked Virginia over No. 13 Vanderbilt and into the women's Final Four with a 70-58 triumph in the NCAA tournament East Regional final. Vanderbilt coach Jim Foster, a Philadelphia native who was head coach at St. Joseph's for 13 years, is all too familiar with Staley's game. With the score tied at 56 and six minutes left, Foster watched as Staley, a Dobbins Tech graduate, led a 14-2 Virginia run that ended the season for his Commodores (22-9)

When it comes to playing Virginia, the more things change for the Clemson Tigers, the more they stay the same. No. 18 Clemson has a new coach this season, a new offense and plenty of new players - and now another benchmark loss to the host Cavaliers. "They came in with the ranking, the unbeaten streak and all the hype, but I think people are starting to realize we're worthy of some respect, too," Cory Alexander said after he led Virginia to a 61-37 victory over the Tigers last night.

It wouldn't be an NCAA women's basketball tournament, it seems, unless Virginia and Tennessee met somewhere along the way. They will face each other again today (Channel 10, 4 p.m.), for the sixth time in the last seven years. But when this meeting is over, the winner at the University of New Orleans' Lakefront Arena will be called the national champion. Virginia (31-2), ranked No. 1 most of the season until falling to second the last two weeks of the regular season, earned its first title-game appearance by holding off pesky Connecticut, 61-55, in the first semifinal game.

Virginia has become the latest trustbuster in women's basketball. On Dec. 14, Tennessee brought down Texas' 40-game winning streak and virtual two-year monopoly of the No. 1 position in the weekly rankings. Six days later, coach Debbie Ryan's 7-0 Virginia team shot down No. 2 Louisiana Tech (8-1) by 77-66 in Charlottesville, Va. That win moved the Cavs up from eighth to fourth in the latest poll. "The Tech win had to be the most significant in our program from the standpoint that we had never played anyone that was ranked that high, let alone beat them," Ryan said.

Virginia is playing so well in the NCAA women's basketball tournament that it's not going anywhere. The Cavaliers will be staying home next weekend, not because they lost but because they're winning. They beat George Washington, 62-43, in a second-round game yesterday on their home floor in Charlottesville, Va., and advanced to the East Regional semifinals - also on Virginia's court. The Virginia-GW game was one of eight second-round games played yesterday, but was the only one in the East Regional.

HAPPY anniversary, Cavaliers! Joe Harris scored a career-high 36 points and host Virginia celebrated the 11-year anniversary of its last victory over a top-five team by doing it again, beating No. 3 Duke, 73-68, on Thursday night. Akil Mitchell added 19 points and 12 rebounds as he and Harris outplayed Duke's top twosome of Seth Curry and Mason Plumlee, giving Virginia (20-8, 10-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) its 16th consecutive victory at home. It came 11 years to the day since an 87-84 victory, also against No. 3 Duke.

Virginia's success in reaching the NCAA women's Final Four can be traced to the Cavaliers' 72-71 overtime victory over host Rutgers at the Bell Atlantic Tournament in December. In that game, sophomore guard Tammi Reiss made a desperation three-pointer from the corner at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. The Cavs had trailed the Knights most of the second half. In the extra session, freshman Dena Evans hit several three-pointers in the closing minute to give Virginia the victory.

Ridley High's Matt Blundin never has been one to back away from a challenge. It's simply not his nature. Two months ago, he was set to accept a football scholarship with Penn State. But at the last moment, the extensively recruited 6-7 quarterback instead chose to follow his heart and pursue a big-time basketball scholarship. He did it even though the interest in him in that sport wasn't nearly as widespread. And, of course, the skeptics were highly critical of the decision.

Virginia will put its pack-line defense on display for the nation Friday against a Florida team well-suited for attacking it. The 10th-seeded Cavaliers (22-9) have only seven scholarship players available, making it imperative for their slowdown game to keep the score low if they hope to beat the No. 7 Gators (23-10) at the CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Neb. Memphis-St. Louis. The Memphis Tigers (26-8) have the No. 8 seed and an advantage heading into a showdown with ninth-seeded Saint Louis (25-7)