NEW ORLEANS - Turning the NCAA Women's Tournament New Orleans Regional final into a slog, Louisiana State -- owners of the nation's top scoring defense -- found a way to slow down the nation's top scoring offense.

In a women's basketball game pitting opposite styles, second-seeded LSU smothered top-seeded North Carolina, clamping down defensively for a 56-50 victory Monday night before a partisan crowd of 5,067 mostly home-state supporters at New Orleans Arena.

Securing their fifth consecutive trip to the Final Four in Tampa, Fla., this weekend, the Tigers prevented the Tar Heels from claiming their third consecutive trip, leaving them once again short of a coveted national title they thought was well within their grasp.

The irony of the Heels' offense sputtering at such a crucial time baffled coach Sylvia Hatchell.

"A team scores 56 points and beats us,"she said. "That's like a nightmare.

"I've been telling our players all along that the only thing that could beat Carolina was Carolina. We didn't get our offense going. We didn't fastbreak like we normally do."

The defeat, crushing to a second-ranked UNC team that spent an entire season fine-tuning its rollicking offense for a return trip to the Final Four, snapped the Heels' 16-game winning streak and handed them a loss for the first time in two months.

LSU, which took an 18-15 lead on a 3-pointer by Quianna Chaney at 8:47 of the first half and never relinquished it, held the Heels to the lowest overall scoring output of the season and fewest first-half points.

It was the first time UNC scored fewer than 60 points since a 56-50 loss in the 2007 NCAA Tournament semifinals against Tennessee.

Rallying from a nine-point deficit in the second half -- LSU's largest lead of the game -- the Heels twice pulled within two, sparked by senior forward LaToya Pringle, who scored 19 of her team-high 21 points in the period.

She scored 11 of those 19 points in the first 12 minutes of the second half and was the only UNC player to make a field goal.

Pringle's free throw with 6:06 remaining cut LSU's lead to 39-37, but a layup by 6-foot-6 All-America Sylvia Fowles and a 3-pointer by RaShonta LeBlanc put the Tigers back up 44-37.

The Tigers went 9-of-13 on free throws to close the game as the Heels frantically tried to keep pace.

Certainly, the loss came as a gut-wrenching blow to senior forwards Erlana Larkins and Pringle, two All-ACC first-team players who had poured their energy into a phenomenal season.

Playing poorly on offense in the end hurt.

"We played, excuse my language, like [expletive] on offense," Larkins said. "We didn't move the ball like we were suppose to.

"I thought at times we did a great job with getting LaToya the ball on the inside, but for the most part our movement is the enemy, and tonight we didn't move -- we stood still."

Larkins finished with five points and 11 rebounds, limited for the second game in a row. At the end of the game, standing in the paint, the 6-1 forward bent over and placed her hands on her knees, tired after doing her best to guard Fowles.

More, though, it was a time to reflect on a successful career that concludes with Larkins' name among the school's top 10 career all-time list in points, field-goal percentage and steals.

"We've meant a lot to Carolina basketball," Larkins said. "Overall, our career was very successful in terms of records and numbers and what we've done, ... but we still leave this program without a national championship, so that's the hardest part."

These two national powerhouse teams had never met in the NCAA Tournament.

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