NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 29, 2002

Alana Beard

Krista Gingrich

Gail Goestenkors

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: I just give Oklahoma all the credit in the world. I thought they played an excellent game. They played the same way I've been watching them play on tape for the last week, and that they do a great job sharing the basketball. They played like a veteran team. Their seniors really made big plays, key plays. And I just thought they played a fantastic game. They're an excellent team. Obviously things didn't go our way. I give Oklahoma a lot of credit for that. I thought they played excellent defense. At the same time I think our youth really showed at times. But I'm very, very proud of this team, because they worked so hard and played with great heart and showed great character. We held together, we stuck together to the bitter end, and we always played hard. So this will be very valuable for us in the future and I'm sure we will learn a great deal from this game and from this experience.

ALANA BEARD: I don't think they did anything special defensively, it was on us. Offensively we didn't execute like we needed to. We missed easy lay-ups. It was a lot of little things that we did wrong and turnovers. Our turnovers led to easy baskets for them, but I don't think they did anything special defensively. It wasn't like anything we've seen before.

ALANA BEARD: I don't know. What do you mean?

ALANA BEARD: It's not like I was looking for more points. It's not anything they did. I give credit to Oklahoma, their defense was great, but I needed to get my teammates involved. It's not all about me, it's about the team.

KRISTA GINGRICH: Amazing growth. I believed Coach Goestenkors, when she was recruiting me, that we could have this opportunity. And to have two Final Fours in four years is an amazing accomplishment. Two games short, though. But I guess more importantly it's about the road to get here and the journey as you go. On the road that we've had ups and downs throughout the country and good times and bad. And I don't regret one turn on that road. So I'm just very blessed to have the opportunity to play at Duke.

KRISTA GINGRICH: I think when we made our run, we stepped up defensively and started getting stops. They were scoring basically at will at the beginning of the second half. So we knew we had to get stops in order to make our runs. We started getting stops and then we just executed a lot better offensively. We started running some screens for Iciss down low, to get on the block, and then some plays for Alana to post up, as well. But Hill put the dagger in us, I think, with that three. We didn't match up properly out of the break, and she nailed it. I think that was a big momentum swing for them.

ALANA BEARD: I think when we made our run we started to execute. We started to run through everything and get easy buckets. But after we cut it to two and they came down and hit a three, I don't know, we couldn't get the defensive stops. And we didn't execute as well during that time.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: I think Oklahoma did play very well together. You can tell they have four seniors on the floor most times and that they've played together forever. And it shows. I think our team plays very well together, as well, but we're relying on freshmen and sophomores for the most part. And you saw that, I think. We didn't make some of the smartest decisions that we've ever made and I think a lot of that had to do with just the experience. Like I said, I know we will learn and grow from this. But I think the bottom -- they're not more together than we are. No team in the country is any closer than our team, I will promise you that. However, their senior leadership really did show and the fact that they've played together for so long. Wynter and Currie -- Wynter played well, but some of the turnovers those two had and some of the decisions they made were freshmen mistakes. And I'm proud of them for playing hard, but it's an experience I think they had to go through so that next year they'll be a little bit more comfortable on the situation.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: I think we did, and they had players make big plays, and hit big shots like that, it seems like time and again I watched that happen. And that was, it was like a dagger for us to cut it to two and then have Caton hit that shot. You could just feel the momentum, because it took so much energy to get there and unfortunately then I think that was our big push, that was our big run, and they countered, which great teams do. They sustain runs, and they make a run of their own.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: Dales did what every team has done in the past month, is play off Monique, and make her hit the outside shot, and she did a good job at it. Caufield did a good job trying to limit Alana's touches. So they played the personnel. And I thought they did a good job with that. And that's what every team we faced has really tried to do. But I don't think Monique didn't really adjust to that the way she has in games in the past and she became a little bit frustrated and just didn't have one of her best games.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: Most definitely. And like I said, they play so well together, and they're one of the teams, I think Connecticut is another team, where they make the extra pass. So when you think you've got them stopped you really don't, because they'll make that one more pass that leads to a wide open shot; instead of getting a good shot, they get a great shot.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: I just said, you know, you played your heart out, that's all I would ever ask from you. And we'll learn from this, we'll grow and we'll be back.