NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 1, 2001

Niele Ivey

Muffet McGraw

Ruth Riley

Kelley Siemon

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: Well, it was a storybook season with a really happy ending, and I'm just so proud of this team and all they have accomplished this year. It's amazing how the last two games we have really shown our character and the senior leadership has taken over. I can't say enough about these three young women here, Kelley Siemon, Niele Ivey, Ruth Riley; they've done such a great job leading this team. They motivated them every day. They did the job in the locker room. They did the job on the court. I am just so proud and feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to coach them.

RUTH RILEY: As crazy as this might sound, I wasn't really nervous. I was in the same situation with Connecticut and did not pull through. I practiced since then, and today I was pretty confident in my shot, and I just got a lucky bounce and was able to pull through.

NIELE IVEY: I wasn't really hitting from the outside, but I have so many other things that I can do well, and I decided to try to do it on defense or penetrating and creating stuff around other players that were stepping up. Everyone contributed to it. I love passing before shooting, anyways, so that's good for me. But everyone contributed to this win, and I'm just glad to be a part of this program and this team.

RUTH RILEY: I thought my teammates were going to be looking for me and Coach always said "Just throw it up" and we practiced going after it. I just saw the ball going in the air. It was all heart at the end of the game, my teammates and myself, and I was just fortunate enough to catch it.

KELLEY SIEMON: The first one? I felt really confident, actually. I knew Ruth was going to hit both of them. I think from where I was -- where I was standing on the line, it looked like it was going in, so I saw the bounce and it was -- the momentum was going forward. So I actually wasn't worried. I know Ruth is a great player that comes through in huge situations, and obviously none more important than this.

RUTH RILEY: Lately in the last couple games, I have not played well in the first half and I felt like, you know, this is my last game, I was going to play and I needed to start the game strong. I just -- I know my teammates are looking for me and I was just, I guess, you know, just wanted to finish my career out on a win. You know, we were able to do that.

RUTH RILEY: It's kind of funny, what more fitting way to win the game with all of the hype about the State of Indiana and the movie Hoosiers, right? Somebody asked me what my favorite part of that movie was and I said when Ali (ph) hit throws two free throws and I just got put in the same situation. (Laughter).

KELLEY SIEMON: We knew we were going to double first, bringing -- whoever was bringing the ball in and that ended up being me. I was going to try to deny the in-bounds pass, and it ended up being Komara. We thought it was going to be Douglas. Somehow -- it is a blur to me, but somehow the ball got on and I know that somebody missed a shot -- (laughter) but that's all I know.

NIELE IVEY: I know we've been in this situation before, in the BIG EAST Finals, obviously, and I know personally, we went over this in practice at least a trillion times since that moment. So we knew we just wanted to keep the ball in front of us, you know, so we could contain whoever they were going to get the ball to. But we all thought it would be Katie Douglas, but it ended up being Komara, and I think everyone was trying to get a hand in anyone's face so it would be a tougher shot. So we did.

RUTH RILEY: I really wasn't playing defense on that last play. I was watching the free throw go in. I looked down the court and Camille Cooper was standing there wide open, and that was my man. I just got lucky that Katie missed a shot. (Laughter).

NIELE IVEY: I was glad it was Ruth on the free throw line. I know this is my hometown and everything, but I wanted to get the ball in Ruth's hands. I was just, I guess I was very confident for her. I would have stepped up and taken a shot. If they had fouled me, I would have hit mine, too. (Laughs). But it's just great to see Ruth on the line. She was having an awesome game. She dominates, as she does every game, so everyone is going to -- I have confidence in every person on that team, regardless, of anything that's going on in the game.

NIELE IVEY: I was playing very, very tender in the first half, and I really didn't get into the flow of the game, because I had the cast on my ankle, the tightest taping job ever. But it did the job. I just wanted -- maybe I probably was a little scared to not do it again or whatever. I've never been in that situation with an ankle sprain, but I didn't think about it after a while. After I got all the jitters out after the first half, I knew in 20 minutes the tape is going to be coming off. I just wanted to cut that net down at the same time. I'm just happy.

KELLEY SIEMON: I was looking for my double-double with turnovers, so I just threw the ball up. (Laughter). Ruth has amazing hands and great timing, and there were three people in there, but that was the game plan to go right into Ruth. So regardless of the people around her, I was just going to throw that ball up. She made an amazing catch and it was -- it was perfect.

RUTH RILEY: On the last play of the game?

RUTH RILEY: I was -- I'm not really sure, she just hit my arm going up. I guess that's just part of being in the posts; you expect that. I thought, you know, I was just fortunate enough to catch the ball, and I just wanted to attack and go at the basket. I didn't want to make a fade-away shot, and if I didn't make the shot, I would hopefully get fouled.

RUTH RILEY: I guess you could say I was in the zone for a little bit there. One of those shots went way off the back boards, so I kind of got out of it for a second. But I felt like -- you know, I felt confident and comfortable with the situation we were in. We came back in the Connecticut game. I felt like, you know, we've had the experience before, and, you know, we were all really focused on that game.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: No, I think they probably talked about it during that free throw, what we'll do if we are down one; what we'll do if we are down two. They gave us an opportunity to set up our defense, which I thought we needed, because we didn't do exactly what we wanted to do, but we were okay.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: We had been running it the whole game. We just flashed Kelley to the high post and tried to get her to make more of a shallow cut so that she is guarded, and we put the shooters on the wings and hope that they don't help off -- which they did, they helped off everybody, but I think everybody in the gym knew the ball was going to go to Ruth, and that's where it went.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: It was a great game for TV, and certainly an entertaining game to watch from our point of view. We've been in a couple of close games lately, so it was great for us to have that game that we could win the National Championship. But, I think that will be a game that we'll point to as one of greatest games, not that we have ever played, but certainly, the victory was most significant.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: Yeah, we were just trying to get them to get as close to the baseline to catch the ball so they had to go 94 feet. Our goal was not to let them throw it in long. So they took a couple dribbles and threw a long pass, which I think took a little time off the clock, but it seemed like an eternity to me.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I think personally, it is exciting to be part of a National Championship. And I think just having the chance to coach this team, it's been such a great season that I've enjoyed it so much. And I've gotten so much out of these seniors. I just wanted them to go out with a win. So I'm just so pleased for them. You know, career-wise, I think it is a nice thing to have on your resume. So, I guess it is a great thing for me, too.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I think all five of our seniors contributed tremendously to this program, in terms of the chemistry of the team, and I think that's why we were so successful because of our team chemistry. Obviously, having the National Player of the Year and Nation's Best Player Five-Eight and Under, I think we have a lot of talent and I think the chemistry was really what was the difference in the game.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I really don't want to think about that right now. (Laughter). Well, next season we are going to be a very different team and we're going to be very young. We have six freshmen coming in, but I think the people on the bench got has some great experience, Alicia Ratay, Jeneka Joyce, Ericka Haney, Barksdale, they are getting some quality minutes in a game of this magnitude. So I think that the bar has been raised and I think the freshmen coming in are going to have some very high expectations.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: She was very confident. Actually, we didn't really talk about the free throw. We just said: "When she makes these two, this is what we are going to do." I think we just went on the opinion that she was going to make both of them and we set up the press.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: Well, after the regional Final when Ruth was the MVP, we went into the press Conference and while we were sitting back, I said to Niele, "You're going to be the MVP of the Final Four," and she just kind of laughed. She played such a great game and to come home and that have kind of an opportunity to play in front of your own family and friends, and to play well and win, I don't think she could have scripted it any better.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: Usually we wait until about two minutes left to come out, but they were going to start the game without. So we wanted to be out there for the introduction of the starters. It was business as usual in the locker room. Kevin White came in and calmed me down. After he left, we did a lot of pacing.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: Like Niele said, we practiced that quite a bit since that game. We looked at a couple different things that we would do; so I felt like we were very prepared. I know the team was thinking that we are not going to let this happen again.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I was thinking "Hallelujah." We probably shot a few too many. We were just off tonight. We didn't shoot a lot of them. Ten is really not that many. But Alicia only had the one field goal, but that was huge. It was such a big shot for her to make, and she shot it with a lot of confidence. I was just pleased that she had the courage to take that shot.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: It certainly is a great game. I thought a very entertaining, particularly if you were a Notre Dame fan. To watch a game like that, had to be exciting, despite the turnovers. We had 15, which really isn't that many for us, but I think a very entertaining, great basketball game.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: The game plan every game is really going to Ruth, and we need her to get the other team's players to get into foul trouble. We like to get the bonuses as early as possible. When we earn the double bonus early on in the game, that takes a lot of pressure when you don't have to shot the one and one. I was disappointed we didn't use a little more ball fakes to get the ball to Ruth because they were sagging (ph) off Ericka and Kelley, but we were just determined and Ruth really wanted the ball. She was working hard to get it, so we continued to throw it in, despite the double team.