NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 31, 2000

Helen Darling

Andrea Garner

Rene Portland

Lisa Shepherd

COACH RENE PORTLAND: All of us involved in Lady Lion basketball would like to congratulate the University of Connecticut and wish them the best in what will be a great basketball game on Sunday between Tennessee and Connecticut. We wish Connecticut and Tennessee also the best. We feel tonight that there was a hard-fought game for about approximately three minutes, and we got it back and the last seven minutes they really just pulled away, for whatever reason. They did a terrific job on the boards. Tonight they really attacked us in the paint, and most of their points in the second half came from in the paint area, and it was a great game up until that time. But I think our players played hard, and the experience of being here at the Final Four is a positive one for the program.

HELEN DARLING: Why would you think it was frustrating for me?

HELEN DARLING: I don't think it was very frustrating at all. It was just -- it was just an off-night for me. It there was nothing I can do about it but continue to play hard. I think that's what I did and try to pick it up defensively and create some turnovers. Offensively, I wasn't playing well and you have those nights sometimes.

ANDREA GARNER: For a while we scored, they scored; we never got any good stops down on their end where we could take the lead. They kept coming right back at us and we just kept playing point-for-point, and you can't do that. You know, you can't win games like that. We had to get some defensive stops and we just didn't get them when we needed to.

ANDREA GARNER: It is great to be back here. You have a great crowd. You know, all my family, all of the people from Penn State, they came down, the Penn State alumni from Philadelphia. It was just a great crowd. You know, we had a lot of people here supporting us and for me it just got me really excited. I think in the beginning I really had to calm myself down because we tried to do so much for the people that are watching. It was just, it was great for me. Even though we didn't win, I'm very proud of our team and just to be able to get here is an accomplishment in itself.

LISA SHEPHERD: I think they did a really good job. We worked on practice, trying to get the back doors, and their pressure D was very good. I think we could have did a better job of maybe getting open a little bit more.

ANDREA GARNER: They have great post players, and they are deep in their post area. We are used to being physical. You know, I don't know, there's nothing that we've never seen before. They just really go deep in their post and they can get a fresh pair of legs out every couple minutes if they wanted to. I think that was probably one of the biggest things, but we are used to a physical game, and we play in the Big-10; it's always physical in the post area, and it wasn't anything we haven't seen before.

COACH RENE PORTLAND: I think there were times when we set things up. In the beginning, I think we broke their press and then we were a little helter-skelter; so I guess it was at their pace. The majority of the game, certainly the last seven minutes certainly was at their pace. Obviously, we looked tired and they were just running right past us at that stage of the game; they pounded inside. That's the pace they like to play at. We were successful doing what we were doing for 33 minutes of the game.

COACH RENE PORTLAND: Same thing they brought to the table in the first half. Rashana is such a great rebounder for us, and she makes things happen. She has some blocks and she has developed a real nice jumper. Just a matter of getting her more minutes and more time, which is ahead of her. Katrena stuck to the game plan tonight somewhat. Sometimes she takes off on a planet of her own. She was attacking. We needed to attack their defense and try to get them off us and we did the best we could.

COACH RENE PORTLAND: I think Andrea answered it best. We got it within four, and at halftime we walked in the locker room and said, "Okay, it's not double digits." We got it to nine; we scored on the last play. There was some momentum going into halftime. First five minutes, we came out and played relatively strong, efficiently the first three minutes, and they came right back and did their thing. But we got it to within four and then we just matched buckets. And I don't know if this is the most points we've given up this season, but it would have to be in the top of that, and I just don't -- our defense just broke down immensely.

COACH RENE PORTLAND: I think it's really exciting when you walk in the locker room. Certainly there were tears and some thank you messages from our senior players to the younger players and also some messages from our seniors to the younger players about now you've been here, now you've seen it. And we do have so many of our players returning next season. Rashana and Katrena will jump into spots for us. We feel our recruiting class is extremely strong, but getting to the Final Four has made two of my assistant's jobs a whole lot easier. They will be able to recruit very, very well in the upcoming season of recruiting. We've already got a verbal commitment from a junior. So the future of Lady Lion basketball is very, very strong and a lot has to do with the senior class.

COACH RENE PORTLAND: You expect anything at this stage of the game. We were a little frustrated by some of the physical play, but, you know, it was consistent. You have to go right back at them, and they just did a real good job of being consistent in that area.

COACH RENE PORTLAND: I think their defense was very, very good, but their rebounding situation was tremendous. We went into this game thinking, you know, last few games we have rebounded very, very well. Their second attempts were very, very strong. They went to the bucket. They were -- we were not checking out as well as we were, and previous games -- and Geno's correct; to us, rebounding is the answer to everything. And to them that gets their fast break started and they like to press when they shoot 49 percent, that gives them a whole lot of opportunities to press.

COACH RENE PORTLAND: We only played eight people. I was a little surprised about that because everybody keeps talking about eight, nine, ten, but if you look, their starters played a whole lot of minutes tonight. It's war time, and you go with the people you want to be in your fox hole with. Their dunk kids go in the post position and do a nice job, but their guards stayed on the floor for a whole long time. And I think tonight he was -- he didn't have to be that deep. He stuck with the starters, and the starters are the ones that took him to the Championship game.

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