The young girls clad in red leaned against the metal railing near courtside at the RBC Center and screamed shrilly each time the N.C. State Wolfpack made a good play, their voices as piercing as whistles, their enthusiasm as avid as any at a rock concert. Or, more appropriately, at a county-and-western concert, given the sparkling gold jacket, gold and black blouse, black pants and black high heels worn by Kim Mulkey, the Baylor women’s coach.

The crowd, listed at 5,227, about half-filled the lower section of the Raleigh arena to see the women from Triangle schools Duke and N.C. State advance in the NCAA tournament. That attendance was respectable, but hardly on a par with either of the other two women’s sub-regionals where ACC women’s teams competed on Tuesday night.

Maryland, the 2006 champion, went down in flames fanned by 29 turnovers before 7,257 fans at Hartford, Conn., after host UConn rallied to victory earlier in their doubleheader. At Pittsburgh, where the home-standing Panthers lost to Tennessee, top-seed North Carolina survived a tough challenge from Notre Dame before an announced crowed of 8,791.

One could argue that the Raleigh turnout was particularly disappointing, considering that the storylines involving the local teams were far more compelling than at the other sites.

Rumors swirl around Duke coach Gail Goestenkors, an attractive target for high-profile schools such as Texas and Florida that have coaching vacancies and big money to throw at the right candidate in order to bolster their women’s basketball programs. Goestenkors, 44, has done everything at Duke except win a national championship. Last year’s team got to the title game and led until the final seconds of regulation, only to fade fatally against the Terrapins.

Should these Devils, top-seeded in their region and top-ranked in the nation with a 32-1 record, capture that elusive championship, one wonders if Goestenkors will take the money and fastbreak elsewhere.

Judging by Duke’s performance against Temple, a championship showing is hardly assured. The Blue Devils were as sharp at times as a melting stick of butter, particularly post player Alison Bales and leading scorer Abby Waner, who hurt her ankle. The Devils made only a third of their shots in the second half. Lindsey Harding and Wanisha Smith had 11 turnovers between them as Duke had more miscues than assists. Still, the guards combined for 33 points and Duke gained a 62-52 victory over Temple.

“It was a very physical game,” Goestenkors said by way of explanation of her squad’s uneven performance. “This was a great game for us to have to play. We had to fight for what we wanted.”

Owls’ coach Dawn Staley, recently retired after an all-pro career in the WNBA, played at Virginia from 1989 through 1992. In ’91 Staley had 28 points to lead a Cavalier squad that, like Duke in ’06, squandered a lead at the last moment in the championship game and lost in overtime, in UVa’s case to Tennessee. Virginia has yet to win a national title.

Staley, whose teams won four of the last five Atlantic 10 titles, expressed pride in her squad but frustration at losing despite pulling within five points in the second half. “I’m really tired of coming up short all the time,” said the seventh-year coach. “We need to win. We need a big win.”

Beating a top-ranked team from the ACC, a league Staley called “by far” the best in the country, would have filled the bill. Instead, the big win went to N.C. State, seeded slightly higher than Baylor, the 2005 NCAA champs. The Wolfpack’s success, drawing inspiration from the very public battle waged by coach Kay Yow against recurring breast cancer, is another compelling, and very human, story.

The Wolfpack built an 11-point lead near the mid-point of the second period against Baylor, only to watch the Bears claw back to a tie at 61-61 with 5:02 remaining. Each team fumbled chance after chance down the stretch, the most stunning when, in a tie game, N.C. State guard Shayla Fields, a 79.1 percent foul shooter, missed both free throws with 19.8 seconds to go. “If I had to bet, I would have bet she would make those free throws,” said Yow, whose movement on the bench was limited until the game concluded.

But Baylor likewise failed to score on the last shot of regulation. Come overtime, the Pack got a back-breaking, redeeming 3-pointer by Fields, a sophomore from Salisbury, with 47.6 seconds left that sealed the outcome in a 78-72 victory.

Yow is undergoing debilitating but hopefully therapeutic chemotherapy treatments. But while she relies heavily on her staff, particularly associate head coach Stephanie Glance, the Hall of Famer remains a vital presence on the bench, at practice, and in the locker room. “There are more important things to Kay Yow right now than a basketball game,” Baylor’s Mulkey said.

Knowing the Bears would battle what she called N.C. State’s “intangibles,” Mulkey informed her team prior to the game “what coach Yow had meant to me as a player and as a coach, and to the women’s game.” Consequently, while few Baylor players knew Yow personally, she received hugs down the line as the teams exchanged greetings following the contest.

Back in the privacy of the locker room, Yow “looked like a little kid in a candy store” following the victory, said senior Ashley Key. The Pack feeds off her, and has become a tough, emotional bunch that now boasts a 25-9 record, most wins at N.C. State since a Final Four visit in 1998.

“I like players that are emotional every time the game’s on,” Yow said. “I want players to play with great excitement, great love for the game, and get into it.”

One week deep in NCAA competition, Yow’s squad remains very much into it, one of 16 women’s teams left standing, one of three from the Triangle, and one of four from the ACC.