Candace Parker yearns to win a national championship. Now she and Tennessee are just two games away from ending the Lady Vols' nine-year drought.

With Parker dominating at both ends and the talented Lady Vols getting contributions from almost everybody else on the roster, they rolled over Mississippi, 98-62, and into their 17th Final Four on Tuesday night at Dayton, Ohio.

"I really wanted to make it to the Final Four," said Parker, selected as the Dayton Regional's most outstanding player. "Tonight I wanted to do whatever I could for my team, whether it was playing defense or giving energy at either end. That was my goal tonight."

Ole Miss coach Carol Ross has been a head coach for 16 years in the Southeastern Conference, so she has intimate knowledge of almost all of Tennessee and coach Pat Summitt's six national titles. She said the current Lady Vols have what it takes to win the program's first title since 1998.

"Pat's the best at getting her team to postseason play," Ross said. "She had them ready to go. They looked every bit as good as any Tennessee championship team I've ever seen."

By winning the Dayton Regional, top-seeded Tennessee (32-3) moves on to play North Carolina in the national semifinals in Cleveland on Sunday.

LSU (30-7) and Rutgers (26-8) meet in the other game.

"I felt like this was our best game of the tournament, without a doubt," Summitt said.

North Carolina 84, Purdue 72

At Dallas: Ivory Latta limped off a few minutes before halftime, but returned to help Erlana Larkins lead a strong start to the second half that top-seeded North Carolina rode to a victory over Purdue in the finals of the Dallas Regional, clinching a spot in the Final Four for the second year in a row. Last year's title shot was ruined when Latta hurt her knee early in a loss to Maryland in the national semifinal. Now a senior who has vowed to do whatever it takes to go out with a championship, she'll have a few days to recover before facing fellow No. 1 seed Tennessee in Cleveland on Sunday. Larkins had a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds as the Tar Heels (34-3) set a school record for wins and kept alive their chances for a second crown. Latta had 21 points, her most this tournament. The Boilermakers end their season at 31-5.

MEN

NIT

West Virginia 63, Mississippi State 62

At New York: Darris Nichols hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lift West Virginia to 63-62 victory over Mississippi State in the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Nichols finished with 17 points and Frank Young added 16 to help the Mountaineers (26-9) advance to the NIT finals for the first time since winning the title in 1942. West Virginia had lost its last three appearances in the semifinals. Dietric Slater scored 18 points to lead Mississippi State (21-14).

Clemson 68, Air Force 67

At New York: K.C. Rivers scored 19 points as Clemson held on to beat Air Force and advance to the NIT championship. Trevor Booker added 13 points for Clemson (25-10), which will play West Virginia (26-9) for the championship Thursday. Clemson, which tied the 1986-87 Tigers for wins in a season, reached the NIT finals for the second time -- and first since losing to California in 1999. Nick Welch scored 16 points and Matt McCraw 15 for Air Force (26-9).

Notes

Bruce Pearl says he's happy at Tennessee and won't consider leaving now. The men's coach was contacted by Iowa athletic director Gary Barta, who got clearance the night before from Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton to talk to Pearl, a former Iowa assistant. Pearl told Barta he was not leaving Tennessee, and then he wanted fans to know. "I'm putting it out there just as fast as I can because I don't want it to be a concern of our fans, and I want to demonstrate my loyalty and my commitment to this program. I appreciate very much being here, so I don't want them to worry about me going anywhere," Pearl told The Associated Press. … Jim Boylen was introduced as the new Utah men's coach. He worked as an assistant in college and the NBA for 20 years, and comes to Utah and the Mountain West Conference from Michigan State of the Big Ten. … Niagara coach Joe Mihalich agreed to a multiyear contract extension, a reward for leading the Purple Eagles to their second NCAA tournament berth in three years. … Duke has given Texas permission to speak to Gail Goestenkors about replacing retired

Hall of Famer Jody Conradt as the Longhorns' women's coach, a Duke team official said. … Jeff Walz was hired as the women's coach at Louisville after spending the last five seasons as a Maryland assistant.