NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 4, 2004

LaToya Davis

Shyra Ely

Pat Summitt

Shanna Zolman

LaTOYA DAVIS: Well the plan was to double Johnson. Once she got the ball in her hand and once we did that, we tried to contain her when she got it and then when we double-teamed her, Ashley was there to tip it and Shy made the play and I scored at the end.

LaTOYA DAVIS: They got the ball back and then when that happened I was thinking just try to contain her, not foul her and once she got the ball in, we double-teamed her and just tried to go for the steal and I think we did a very good job of doing that.

SHYRA ELY: It's funny we were talking about that in the locker room and I guess the way we feel is that we're supposed to be here, because we keep on finding ways to win. So I think we're just going to go off the momentum that we have now and just execute this next game.

LaTOYA DAVIS: We just tried to limit her touches. Because Seimone is a great athlete. We just tried to do whatever it took to stop her and I think we did it as a committee. And I think we did a very good job of doing that.

SHANNA ZOLMAN: Well it was very physical. And both teams were working real hard. Both offensively and defensively. But I think as you can see from the stats that we didn't shoot a very good percentage. That obviously has a toll on us. But we were able to come out with a win, that's what's important.

SHANNA ZOLMAN: Well in the time-out we were obviously told what we were going to be running out of bounds, and Coach told them I had to get open, so I tried to do that using the screens that they set and once I got it, I looked up at the clock and I should have shot it right away but I saw that there was two seconds left, when I look up and I tried to create somehow and give myself some space. Luckily the ball went in that time.

SHYRA ELY: We just wanted to get on the boards. Coach always says that defense and rebounding wins championships and that was definitely the main emphasis tonight. I wasn't really producing offensively so I wanted to do anything I could to help my team. So I tried to get on the boards and do anything I could to help. We rebounded as a committee tonight and that was definitely our goal.

SHYRA ELY: Well the plan was for me and LaToya to double. And I guess LaToya was running, I don't know she was running next to her and Ashley came from -- she was supposed to be guarding Seimone and came from -- I don't know where she came from, and trapped her. I was just in the right place at the right time I think I just grabbed the loose ball and I saw LaToya and I just passed it to her. But I was worried about LaToya getting the ball off. I was looking at the clock the whole time. But she got it off with like two seconds left, so it worked out.

LaTOYA DAVIS: I just wanted to just finish the play. I knew it was like a slow release, but I just wanted to make sure it went in.

SHYRA ELY: I guess it's just being aware of good players and their key players. We just really bought into what Coach said that last minute. We executed out of half-time out so it was chancy but at this point in the season you do anything you can to win, so I think it was a good call by Coach, and it worked out.

PAT SUMMITT: Two points. (Laughter.)

PAT SUMMITT: Most definitely. I thought what she would do, she can get from one end of the court to the other in about two and a half seconds. So we wanted to double-team Johnson and make someone else have to make that play. I thought option two would be Augustus. And so we double-teamed her, I think the experience of being in the regional championship and seeing Nicole Powell get a look at the basket late because we didn't double, we instead put someone on the ball. I said if I'm ever in that situation again, we double-team. So we double-teamed. I thought Augustus was coming up to get the ball and it looked like to me she was going to screen. But Johnson actually I thought walked and mishandled the ball, and when she went to get rid of it, that's when Ashley got a piece of it. I think because Augustus was coming up to set that screen, it brought Ashley up, so really we had three people on the ball and we got a steal and obviously we were fortunate enough to hit LaToya for the lay-up.

PAT SUMMITT: Well I probably should talk about my lack of ability to coach the first 20 minutes. But we struggled tonight offensively. I thought that their defensive pressure really bothered us and unfortunately we didn't have a great inside game going for us. We quick-shot the ball. I just thought that we were very impatient. We got frustrated and then started fouling. So now we're down. At half-time we talked about the fact that we have got to outscore them by 7 in the second half. And we said we're fortunate. We could be down 15. But our defense on Seimone I thought and on Johnson was pretty solid. And on Hodges. They were the big three that we thought we had to affect offensively. A second half I thought our switch to the zone broke their rhythm. Once they started to find the soft spot, which was in the high post, and as well as the baseline, we had to go back. We had to go back to our man. And I just thought that we made enough defensive plays and then we got on the offensive glass. That to me is pretty much what happened. And obviously we made a few shots along the way. Zolman made a big one for us.

PAT SUMMITT: Not in 30 years. So I got a whole lot of games to look at. How many post-season games I got? 101? Well I would say out of 101, the last three have been the toughest.

PAT SUMMITT: Seimone was coming in playing so very well. And made big shots tonight. But we wanted to switch the back-screen, down-screen action. And we wanted to help on all of our curls. And I thought we just for the most part did a nice job. Ashley was on her some, we kept size on her. Because Tasha and Ashley were usually switching and then if they rescreened we would switch back. I intended to put LaToya on her, but I thought Butts did a nice job and I thought our post reacted to where she was on the floor. She got loose a couple times obviously in the zone, but man to man, we at least made her work for her shots.

PAT SUMMITT: Well, they called one, and the team was standing there looking at me. And I said, we are going to call a time-out. I want to see their alignment. But we're definitely going, I had already written double on the board. We're definitely going to double Johnson. So go out and tell the official we want a time-out after we see what they're in and before they hand them the ball. So we got the time-out. And then we talked about our strategy specifically. They knew they were going to double. They knew they were going to double Johnson. And then they knew Ashley was going to take Augustus for the size factor. And I actually thought about putting someone long and leaving their post player open. To have to bring it up the floor. But main thing was not let Johnson beat us full court.

PAT SUMMITT: Well, she's a great penetrator. I thought she had her way early of going right on LaToya Davis. And I thought LaToya did a better job in the second half. I would have to look at the tape and see if the injury was the factor or if we played better defense. And really got over her right hand. That was our strategy. But I thought she had some good looks. And missed some easy ones in there. But she's a heck of a competitor. I know at the beginning of the second half I thought she looks like to me she was limping a little bit. But she's so hard nosed she was going to stay on the floor. And she continued to get other people the ball.

PAT SUMMITT: I tell you, I think everybody's out to prove I was right. Fortunately we survived. So we're still here. But I've said that all year. I said there would be upsets at every round. I believed it. And here we are and obviously at the Final Four and you see a game like this, an opponent that we won against by 23 points, but I knew that anyone that believed that that was the type of game it was going to be would be wrong. I thought this game would go, as I said, to the last couple minutes. And it was decided obviously very late. That's typical of the women's game and we have seen a lot of these close games in pose season.

PAT SUMMITT: They have low blood pressure and my blood pressure right now, you would not even want to check it. I think it's that they have been in these situations. When you have been in overtime as many times as we have been in overtime, and you've been in the late game situations, they were very calm. Even in the last time-out they were very calm. So when players will take in that information and they believe that they're going to go make the play, we just didn't make the plays offensively, so we put ourselves in a position by not having the composure in our half court offense but fortunately we came up big and had good decisions on the defensive end.

PAT SUMMITT: Well, Sue and I have been friends for along long time. And obviously when you compete like this, it's the teams competing against each other. I think the biggest disappointment was that Sue couldn't be on the sideline tonight. Obviously I know she's still very proud of her team and she should be.