OKLAHOMA CITY -- Louisville's Schimmel sisters, Shoni and Jude, recall watching a movie called "Double Teamed" when they were in middle school. It was about identical twins Heather and Heidi Burge, who went to the Women's Final Four three times while playing at Virginia in the early 1990s.

The film is hokey, but it's still a sweet, triumphant story of the sisterhood and athletic success of real people.

"When we were younger, the movie seemed very realistic to us," Jude Schimmel said. "What they did was our dream, too."

Shoni added, "Yeah, that was us."

Sophomore Jude Schimmel, left, and older sister Shoni, a junior, combined for 39 points and six 3-pointers in Tuesday's win. Mark D. Smith/USA TODAY Sports

The Burges were 6-foot-5 post players and the Schimmels are guards. But they now have this in common: making it to the Women's Final Four. Louisville did that for the second time in program history with an 86-78 victory Tuesday over No. 2 seed Tennessee.

Louisville is just the second No. 5 seed to go to the Women's Final Four; Missouri State was the first, in 2001. That team was led by a dynamic guard, Jackie Stiles. This Louisville team also has great guard play, including that provided by the siblings from Mission, Ore.

Shoni, a junior, had a game-high 24 points Tuesday and was named the regional's most outstanding player. Jude, a sophomore, had 15 points.

Maybe there will be a movie about them someday. There has already been a documentary, "Off the Rez," which details how Shoni and her siblings moved with their mother, Ceci Moses, off the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon to Portland, where Moses took a job as a high school girls basketball coach.

The Schimmel sisters have become heroes especially to Native Americans nationwide, and this Final Four spotlight on them and Louisville will be a huge emotional point of pride for their many supporters.

"We're examples that you can get out there and do things," Shoni said. "You can leave the reservation if you want. You can believe in yourself. You can make it to wherever you want to be. You just have to set your mind to do it."

Where the Cardinals wanted to be this season was New Orleans and the Final Four. And they set their minds to get there even though they lost three standout players --Tia Gibbs (hip), Asia Taylor (hip) and Shawnta Dyer (knee) -- and had another, Monique Reid, who missed time with a leg injury and is at about 50 percent.

Jeff Walz also led Louisville to the 2009 Final Four, where the Cardinals lost to UConn in the championship game. AP Photo/Alonzo Adams

Louisville fell to Notre Dame by 24 points in the Big East tournament semifinals. But Shoni said that didn't dampen the Cardinals' confidence going into NCAA tournament play.

"Yes, we lost to Notre Dame. But who doesn't, right?" Shoni said of the Irish, whose only defeat this season was to Baylor in December. "We knew it was NCAA tournament time. Time to dance. That was when we started to peak."

Did they ever. The Cardinals beat Middle Tennessee and Purdue at home to advance to the Oklahoma City Regional, where No. 1 seed and defending champion Baylor awaited. After pulling off what many consider the greatest upset in women's NCAA tournament history and beating Baylor, the Cardinals' work still wasn't done. There was Tennessee, a program hungry to get back to the Final Four after what -- for the Lady Vols -- is an almost interminable absence; their last appearance was in 2008.

Louisville actually had been to a Final Four more recently, advancing to the NCAA title game in 2009, where the Cardinals lost to UConn. Cardinals coach Jeff Walz has talked a lot about how important it was to him to build a true program at Louisville -- one that could consistently contend with the nation's best. And he knew the Schimmel sisters both could help Louisville do that. But it meant getting them to relocate to Kentucky.

"They both made a big jump to come to Louisville, so far away from home," Walz said. "Because it's not the norm. They've grown as people."

Shoni and Jude aren't twins like the Burges, but they have that same kind of sixth sense about always knowing where each other is on the court. Almost to the point, they said, of feeling as if they really are twins.

But while they get along very well, their personalities are a little different.