European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 28, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 28 2007 stars and stripes Page 31 Pringle leads tar heels to Dallas regional final Mcaa women the associated press Dallas Latoya pringles mom was counting the blocked shots knowing her daughter needed three to set a North Caro Lina season record she had four by halftime and the tar heels pretty much had their spot in the regional finals by then too North Carolina went on a 225 surge while George Washington defensive Dynamo Whitney Allen was on the Bench in foul Trou ble Midway through the first half men Rode that Lead to a 7056 Victory sunday night in the Semi finals of the Dallas regional the to seeded tar heels 333 led by 14 at halftime fifth seeded George Washington 284 scored the opening Basket of the second half but got no closer trailing by As Many As 22 North Carolina is headed to the regional finals for the third straight year the tar heels will have a 12 showdown tuesday night against Purdue which advanced ear Lier sunday with a 7865 Victory Over geor Gia a Victory would give the North Carolina women a spot in the final four were Happy to be where we Are but we know we have our work Cut out for us unc coach Sylvia Hatchell said North Carolina has been knocked out by the eventual National Champion each of the past two years hat Hells club could be the ones cutting Down the nets this time the Way they counter the nations to scoring offence with a swarming defense the tar heels had 16 steals Many com ing Between Hal court and the three Point line to prevent George Washington from setting up its offence and out rebounded the colonials by 23 at halftime North Carolina Power for Ward Erlanna Larkins had As Many assists 6 As the entire George Washington team coach Hatchell wanted us to dominate from the beginning and that what we did said Larkins who finished with 14 Points six rebounds five steals and six assists Pringle had 16 Points and 14 rebounds plus four blocks giving her 116 for the sea son the 6foot3 Junior also is no 2 on the schools career list Likely to move up to the top spot late next season she gives us so much Hatchell said Shes a great shot locker and defensively Shes so Tough in there Shes just a really solid player Sarahjo Lawrence led the colonials with 23 Points before fouling out with left fans chanted her name As she went to the Bench covering her head in a Towel then sobbing into it Kimberly Beck had six Points five steals but also five turnovers while playing 40 minutes for George Washington they trapped when we got to Hal court and we  execute our offence Beck said George Washington never led the Colo Nials also had to work hard for practically every Point their first and Only fast break Points came with left when they Al ready were Down 20 Points we  take them out of what they wanted to do coach Joe Mckeown said i told them at halftime to get it Down to 10 and wed have a great Opportunity to win but Carolina makes you play fast and at their Pace it was a Tough end to one of the Best sea sons in school history George Washington tied the record for victories set by the 1997 club and was hop ing to break it by beating North Carolina to Advance to the regional finals a feat the 97 club pulled off both teams showed off their defensive in Tensity from the Start with George Washington forcing seven turnovers Early North Carolina countered by forcing two misses and three steals Dallas regional Purdue 78 Georgia 65 Katie Gearlds had 30 Points and nine rebounds to help Purdue overcome a big Early deficit Lindsay Wisdo Hylton had 24 Points on 8for12 shooting and nine rebounds while Danielle Campbell had 11 Points for pm North Carolina Forward Latoya Pringle 30 looks to take a shot Over George washing ton guard Sarahjo Lawrence 32 sunday Purdue which won its 10th straight game Gearlds connected on 10 of 16 shots including four three pointers Tasha Humphrey had 20 Points to Lead Georgia which was in the round of 16 for the fifth straight season Sakic reaches Milestone in critical win the associated press Vancouver British Colum Bia trailing by two goals with their playoff Hopes hanging in the balance the Colorado Avalanche never thought of giving up Brett Mclean scored his Sec Ond goal late in the second period and Joe Sakic tied it with his Sec Ond of the game Midway through the third period Mclean then capped the comeback with the Only goal of the shootout snap Ping a shot under Roberto Luon gos Glove for a crucial 54 win Over the Vancouver canucks on sunday night we Haven quit during this whole stretch and its not going to Start now Sakic said weve been Down before and Guys dont quit in Here the Avalanche improved to 1002 in their last 12 games to stay five Points behind Calgary for the final playoff spot with two games left against the flames we were definitely a Desper ate team tonight and that the Type of attitude we have to bring for every single shift Mclean said we executed Well and did the things weve done to get Back into this playoff race Jose Theodore playing his first game in a month after Peter Budaj was pulled in the first period stopped Trevor Linden Bren Dan Morrison and Daniel Sedin in the shootout to preserve his first win since feb 6 it was his Only real Busy stretch All night after coming in when Colorado trailed 31 Theodore faced Only four shots in the second and third periods combined As the Ava Lanche shut things Down defend Roundup sively meanwhile at the other end Mclean sparked the come Back by scoring in the final 2 min utes of the first two periods we really bottled it up and played Well defensively Sakic said and obviously Jose you can t give him enough credit he Hast played a lot lately and he was Good for us especially in the shootout Taylor Pyatt had two goals and Daniel Sedin and Jeff Cowan also scored for the canucks who lost for the first time in five games and failed to Clinch a playoff spot Vancouver did move into a tie with Minnesota atop the North West division and can still claim a postseason berth with a win in Colorado on tuesday it would have been Nice to win said Luongo who made 26 saves but failed Seal his first play off appearance in seven nil sea sons All in All we know Well make the playoffs but we just want to finish first in our division it was a night of milestones for both teams Sakic scored both his goals in similar fashion sneaking into the Slot to convert a pass from an Drew Brunette extending his Point Streak to six games seven goals and six assists and brunettes to eight one goal and 13 Sakic moved into a tie with former teammate Ray Bourque for ninth on the career Points list with 1579 and into a 15thplace tie with Dino Ciccarelli on the career goal list with 610 its an Honor to be with those Guys but theres a lot More important stuff right now and that for us to try and make the playoffs Sakic said Henrik Sedin had three assists for 63 this season moving one ahead of Andres Bourdais fran Chise record set in 197475 five years before Henrik was born it was a Long time Henrik said of the 32yearold record i think it will be something Nice to think Back on after the season and after my career Pyatt also registered his first Ca reer 20goalseason none of the achievements provided Consolation to canucks head coach Alain Vigneault in hoping there As disappointed or embarrassed As i am about this performance tonight he said flames 3 Blackhawk 2 roman hamrlik scored off a face off with left in the third period to snap a tie Kristian Juselius and Stephane Yelle also scored for visiting Cal Gary which won its third straight radim Wrbata and Denis Arkhipova scored for the Black Hawks losers of five consecutive Blue jackets 4 blues 1 at co Lumbus Ohio Fredrik Modin scored his 20th goal of the season and 400th Point of his for the Blue jackets Manny Malhotra added a goal and an assist for the Blue jackets who got 25 saves from Fredrik nor Rena in their third straight win Derrick Walser and Geoff Platt also scored and Jason chimera had three assists Doug weight scored for St Louis which has lost three of four a Buffalo new Jersey Atlanta x Ottawa Pittsburgh by rangers Tampa Bay 44 39 45 43 39 41 23 27 23 23 28 31 8 10 8 10 9 4 88 98 96 87 86 197 229 267 259 219 235 187 232 207 229 198 240 224 by islanders Montreal Toronto Florida Boston Washington 39 36 31 34 26 31 29 30 35 37 6 10 14 6 13 84 82 76 74 65 225 232 222 206 224 235 242 239 265 270 280 a Nashville a Anaheim Vancouver Detroit Minnesota Dallas san Jose 48 44 45 45 45 45 46 21 7 19 12 23 7 19 11 24 7 24 6 26 4 25 103 100 97 101 97 96 255 240 203 232 221 204 235 197 194 185 188 183 183 185 205 Colorado St Louis Columbus Edmonton los Angeles Phoenix 31 31 31 26 29 32 37 38 36 41 12 7 14 74 69 69 66 63 195 188 186 215 201 232 228 229 261 259 239 Eastern conference Western conference time loss or shootout loss division Leaden clinched playoff spot sundays games Pittsburgh 5 Boston 0 by rangers 2 by islanders l of y 3 Chicago 2 Columbus 4 St Louis 1 Colorado 5 Vancouver 4 so mondays games Anaheim at Detroit tuesdays games Pittsburgh at Washington Florida at Tampa Bay Boston at Ottawa by rangers at Montreal Carolina at Toronto new Jersey at by islanders Calgary at Minnesota Edmonton at Nashville Columbus at St Louis Phoenix at Dallas Vancouver at Colorado los Angeles at san Jose sunday penguins 5 Bruins 0 Boston 0 0 00 Pittsburgh 3 1 15 first period1 Pittsburgh Malkin 32 gon Char 2 Pittsburgh Cros by 33 Gonchar 3 Pitts Burgh Roberts 17 Crosby second Pittsburgh Malone 16 Staal third period5 Pittsburgh Crosby 34 Armstrong shots on Goa Boston 138829 Pitts Burgh 991028 Power play 0 of 5 Pittsburgh 3 of 6 goalie Boston Thomas 30264 9 shots6 Macdonald second Pittsburgh Fleury 36158 a17132 rangers 2 islanders 1 of by rangers 01012 by islanders 00101 second period1 by rangers Orr 2 a third ptrtod2 by islanders Yashin 15 Nylander 23 shots on Golanty rangers12108434 by islanders 13913035 Power play opportunities by rangers l of 7 by islanders of 9 goal Lesny rangers Lundqvist 34217 35 shots34 by islanders Dipietro 32199 a16234 Rames 3 Blackhawk 2 Calgary 1 0 23 Chicago 2 0 02 first Calgary Juselius 32 Ign la 2 Chicago Wrbata 12 3 Chicago Arkhipova 10 Seabrook third period4 Calgary Yelle 9 Phaneuf 485 Calgary hamrlik 6 Lombardi shots on goal Calgary 1210830 Chica go 914831 Power play opportunities Calgary 0 of 4 Chicago 0 of 3 goalie Calgary Kip Rusoff 37219 31 shots29 Chicago Khabibulin 23245 a10178 Blue jackets 4 blues 1 St Louis 1 0 01 Columbus first period1 Columbus Walser 2 chimera 2 St Louis weight 13 Metropolit 3 Colum bus Malhotra 8 second period4 Columbus Modin 20 Vyborny third period5 Columbus Platt 4 chimera shots on goals Louis 871126 Colum bus 713626 Power play opportunities St Louis 1 of 8 Columbus 1 of 3 goalies St Louis Bacashihua 152 26 shots22 Columbus Norrena 22193 a16007 Avalanche 5 canucks 4 so Colorado 21105 Vancouver 310 04 Colorado won shootout 10 first period Vancouver Pyatt 19 Sedin Colorado Sakic 33 Brunette 3 Vancouver Sedin 33 Skedin 4 Vancouver Cowan 7 Cooke Colorado Mclean second Vancouver Pyatt 20 Sedin 7 Colorado Mclean 14 third penod8 Colorado Sakic 34 Bru Nette shootout Colorado 1 Mclean g Hejduk Vancouver 0 Linden no Morrison no Sedin shots Ongoa Colorado 8129130 Van Couver 1322320 Power play opportunities Colorado 1 of 5 Vancouver 1 of 3 goalie Colorado Budai 13 shots10 Theodore 12141 first Vancouver Luongo 43206 a18630