NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 28, 1997

Mery Andrade

Wendy Larry

Clarisse Machanguana

Ticha Penicheiro

WENDY LARRY: Let me just say that this basketball team never ceases to amaze me. They continually find a way to win and when they go down 15, they don't die. They fight back, and then they have enough to go into overtime with two starters sitting on the bench, and the bench has the heart to love the battle and make it happen. And then you talk about a Stanford team that left everything out there. Truthfully, if Old Dominion had taken care of the ball in regulation, we probably could have won it in regulation but Stanford fought us off. And then we go to overtime, and we are here.

CLARISSE MACHANGUANA: Just a little bit weak and to stand in front of her and take advantage of my height and let her see the basket. She saw that and she went to take a dribble. I don't know if I jumped at the same time that she moved. I'm just glad.

TICHA PENICHEIRO: I think she made all the baskets in the first half and was unstoppable. I think Stanford was really getting the break and sometimes I had to go in the play and stop it and she was left wide open and followed. In the second half we knew and we talked about in the locker room, in order to stop Stanford we had to stop Kate Starbird, and if we had to win the game, we had to stop her and we did better in the half.

TICHA PENICHEIRO: I think the team got together. We just tried, you know, on the floor with defense and don't give them any open shots in transition. And somebody had to be in the face in order for you to get the baskets and be wide open. That's why she made so many baskets in the first half. In the second half, she just --

CLARISSE MACHANGUANA: Sometimes I have the mistake when my shot doesn't come naturally and I just focus on defense. At half time Coach Larry pretty much told me about my scoring and performance on the floor and she told me that the free throw area was wide open, and I had to do something. And I feel like I'm the second time to get the ball and put it in, and that's what I tried to do.

MERY ANDRADE: I was amazed but I always trust my teammates and one of the thing we make a big emphasis in practice is try to trust each other, and I just tell them that you guys can do it even without me, because in practice you guys play against us and still do good. So this team is not different from our practice. So you just got to go have a big heart.

TICHA PENICHEIRO: It was like once again, that luck is part of the game and has been on our side. And the players have a chance to shoot the ball and then make it, and we just happen to win the game. I had a shot and the game could be over earlier, if I miss a shot. Sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn't. I am just very excited that we won.

TICHA PENICHEIRO: The team played a great basketball game, not just me. I mean, it was a team effort and we knew we had to step up. I think we were not playing very good defensively, and in the past games everybody had to come ready to play. This was definitely a team effort and I think everybody did a great job.

TICHA PENICHEIRO: Just so excited to be here. This is everything that we worked since the beginning of the season. We sat down and said we have to go to the Final Four. We got to win the National Championship. This is a team goal and today I knew as a Captain, senior, point guard, that I had to be out there, and as good as my teammates are, they follow me. Before the game we were so excited in the locker room to have a chance to be here and play in the semifinal against Stanford. We were confident because we beat them before. We just played our game and we won.

WENDY LARRY: You know, I think that when I finally got a stat sheet, Stanford has thrown the ball away against Old Dominion, I think, perhaps more than they have against anybody else. Statistically, I see the number of points that we scored in the paint, it is unbelievable to me that we almost doubled the production of points in the paint against Stanford because I think their defense is outstanding. Let me say the effort that Clarisse made in the second half from the tip of the second half horn until the conclusion was just unbelievable. We said we had to get her to ball. If we could just get her to shoot the ball once and score, that she could really score for us. That's why we did it initially and fortunately, she scored and we were able to get her back into the flow.

WENDY LARRY: Not only scoring in the paint but being the force in the paint, what was a very fresh Stanford team with an awful lot of confidence. When they went on that long run, just to stay with them, with Clarisse really struggling, it was quite a credit.

WENDY LARRY: In the first half we didn't. Nyree was able to on the offensive glass and made a couple of great moves. In the second half we were able to get the ball with a short and post player so they had to defend the perimeter. First half they could sit down in the lap of our post players. Second half we got it in more from the wing and they weren't able to do that because it was a perimeter play.

WENDY LARRY: I think the most impressive stat about Natalie, she didn't turn the ball over once. We are talking about a young lady that really struggled early in the year and had a hard time getting regulated but has really started to work very hard in the weight room and changed her strength and her conditioning level significantly. I think she will have a wonderful career in Old Dominion.

WENDY LARRY: Find her because we lost her four times and she scored four open 3s. We had Mery Andrade play her and Mery is by far a defensive stopper. She is a very physical player, obviously, and I think that really distracted Kate a little bit because she was more concerned about protecting the ball. Ticha plays good defense but she contains more than pressure. She we gave Kate a little kind of a different look.

WENDY LARRY: These young ladies can step up and do a phenomenal job on getting over and talking to each other and fighting through. Now we got to a point where we switched pretty good and it is effective.

WENDY LARRY: Actually I stole the line. I said we could pack it up and go home and we had a great season. Or we could compete to go for a championship. I guess they wanted to compete and go to a championship.