OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The road to the Final Four can become a boulevard of broken teams (apologies to Green Day). Big 12 teams Texas, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M and Iowa State had their dreams of meeting in St. Louis end with losses at various stages in the bracket.

Top-seeded Oklahoma was the conference's last chance to reach the NCAA Women's Tournament Final Four. The dream for the Sooners remains because of a willful effort by Courtney Paris.

"She had that special sense of urgency that great players and seniors have," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said. "She did what great players do."

On the day that she became the first four-time All-American in women's basketball history, Paris delivered in a manner befitting the honor.

Paris stuffed the stat sheet to lead top-seeded Oklahoma to a gritty 74-68 victory over sixth-seeded Purdue in the Oklahoma City Regional final Tuesday night. The crimson-clad crowd of 11,529 in the Ford Center was most appreciative.

"I think we got here the way we've been playing and that's together," Paris said. "We were just having fun. We weren't up by 20 at any time but it felt like and I think that's the most important thing for us."

Oklahoma (32-4) will face third-seeded Louisville, the winner of the Raleigh Regional, in the national semifinals at 6 p.m. Sunday in St. Louis. Stanford faces undefeated Connecticut in the second semifinal.

Paris finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds, six blocked shots, three steals and three assists.

"I'm a senior, I don't get another chance to get to the Final Four," she said. "You want to leave everything on the court."

The Boilermakers (25-11) lived up to their nickname with a tough-as-nails effort. Purdue twice built eight-point leads in the first half and its aggressive offensive attack produced 12-of-12 free throw shooting.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma was, as former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson liked to say, "flustrated." The Sooners were 8-of-34 (23.5 percent) in the first 20 minutes and missed 10 shots five feet and closer to the basket.

"At halftime, Courtney said, 'Give me the ball,'" Oklahoma sophomore point guard Danielle Robinson said. "When you're the point guard, you gotta give them ball when they want it."

Robinson also had a significant second half. After missing six of eight shots in the first half, Robinson made four of her six shots and scored 17 of her 23 points after intermission.

Freshman Whitney Hand gave Oklahoma its first lead of the game when she swished a 3-pointer from the corner in front of the Sooners' bench with 15:25 remaining. Hand made another 3-pointer with 10:26 remaining to give OU a 42-38 lead. Purdue never penetrated the four-point edge.

"Whatever it is, when she makes a three, we feel like we're invincible," Coale said.

Purdue's Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton (20 points) kept making shots to keep the Boilermakers in the game. But the defense that was so solid in the first half was overcome by the Sooners' relentless mind set.

The Sooners made nine of their last 14 shots over the last 10 minutes and they needed every shot. Oklahoma didn't have any breathing room until the Paris twins teamed up for a key three-point play.

Courtney Paris dribbled across the lane away from the basket, then turned and found sister Ashley underneath. She scored, was fouled and made a three-point play to give the Sooners a 61-54 lead with 3:04 remaining.

"I thought it was a huge play," Courtney Paris said. "It was great for our momentum."

After a Purdue turnover, Robinson made two free throws 32 seconds later to make it 63-54.

"They got that four to six point lead and we needed a couple of stops to turn the tide," said Purdue coach Sharon Versyp, whose team shot 37 percent from the field and made 31 of 34 free throws. "We did not back down."

Neither did the Sooners. At halftime, Coale went to the locker room with her team trailing by five and thoughts of former OU football coach Barry Switzer.

"I remembered him saying that sometimes at halftime if you're not careful you can convince your team they can't win," she said. "We were playing great on defense. I knew there were a couple of adjustments we needed to make offensively. I was trying to infuse them with confidence."

A few minutes before tipoff, Coale stood in front of her bench. With arms folded, she squinted into the arena lights and looked toward the upper deck. A grin creased her face which had a "I can't believe this crowd" look. She said later she was taking a moment to soak it all in, to remember the moment.

After Robinson committed a turnover that ruined a fast break during the uneven first half, Coale sat back on her bench seat, hands clasped on top of her head, a "I can't believe this is happening" posture.

But after a had-to-have-it second half performance, Coale was at center court accepting the regional trophy and addressing the crowd with the public address microphone.

"For all of you, from the floor to the top row, we'd like to say thank you for sending us to St. Louis," she said.

As the Sooners cut down the nets, Fort Minor's "Remember The Name" pounded over the loudspeakers - 10 percent luck, 20 percent skill, 15 percent concentrated power of will, 5 percent pleasure, 50 percent pain and 100 percent reason to ... remember the game. And the name. Courtney Paris.

Dribbles
* The Oklahoma City Regional all-tournament team: Oklahoma's Whitney Hand and Danielle Robinson, Purdue's Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton and Lakisha Freeman. Oklahoma's Courtney Paris was named the most outstanding player.

* In four NCAA Tournament games, Oklahoma sophomore point guard Danielle Robinson is averaging 16.3 points per game. She's made 22-of-39 shots and is 21-of-23 at the free throw line.

* Oklahoma junior Amanda Thompson, slowed by a sprained foot and limited to six minutes in the Sooners' previous three NCAA games, played 12 minutes and scored five points. On consecutive possessions with the game in doubt, she made a pass that led to two Courtney Paris free throws and then scored on a contested 12-foot jumper. "She played with no fear," Coale said. "We get our toughness from her and she gave it to us when we needed it most."

* Oklahoma had a 39-32 rebounding edge with 19 of those rebounds coming on the offensive end. The Sooners only had a 13-11 edge in second-chance points.

* Total attendance for the Oklahoma City Regional was 21,872, the eighth-best total in NCAA history. Oklahoma City was the best-attended of the four 2009 regional sites and the OKC total was more than the other three regionals' combined attendance.

Big 12 women's Final Four teams
Oklahoma is the fourth Big 12 team to reach the NCAA Women's Tournament Final Four.