NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 26, 1999

Leon Barmore

Monica Maxwell

Amanda Wilson

COACH LEON BARMORE: I've been here to the Final Four several times and a lost some very disheartening games. And did not play particularly well, which we didn't like. But the one thing I think is very important is the fact that our players realized that we have had a tremendous basketball year. The seniors, especially, have been to the Sweet 16, the Elite 8, but they did not win the big prize. Our basketball program is sound, it's very good, and I am very proud. I will not let them hang their head.

COACH LEON BARMORE: Well, we tried adjusting -- let me compliment Purdue. I don't think there's any other team that we've played this year that had their lead cut to three like theirs did and keep their composure and pull back away. They made the big shot. They executed well. You saw a team tonight in Purdue that was a team. They were a team. They executed and they were much, much better defensively than I thought that they were. They proved to me that they belong. They proved to me that they could very easily go out there and win the national championship. I compliment them and wish them well. Stephanie White-McCarty, she made a couple unbelievable shots. She just knocked them down. She had the kind of game that when you have, you are probably going to get your team over the hump in this kind of game. I know she was certainly the star of the game.

COACH LEON BARMORE: I thought Monica Maxwell, she was really playing very hard. She was our go-to player early. She stepped up, and Amanda got in foul trouble. And Amanda and the Monica. They really carried the team on their shoulders from the Penn State game on, and went to the West Coast. And without these would players we would not be in the Final Four. They stepped up big against LSU and UCLA. This team has been on the road a long time. I would not come close to making an accuse. This team has been away from home a long time this year. These kids deserve a lot of credit, especially our seniors, especially these two right here.

MONICA MAXWELL: It was great playing Stephanie again. I think Steph and Ukari are great players. They showed that tonight. They really carried their team and made the big shots when they need the. I think their chances of winning the national championship are very good. Duke is a very good ball club, but I think Purdue, I think their chances are good. I'm sure they feel the same way.

AMANDA WILSON: We were just trying to get ourselves back into the basketball game, trying to win. I think that we stayed focused, and it just got to a point where just like Max and Coach said, there were points they just made the big shots to put us away, and I think we never gave up. That's what our thoughts were coming into the second half. I think we played the best we could play. I think we played good all year, just like Coach said.

COACH LEON BARMORE: That's a very good question, and I came close to putting her back in. But I knew that we had been a team that could come on late if I put her back in and we could steal and run and which we did. I did not want to put Amanda back in in the first half and maybe get her third foul and fourth and then make a run and not have her. But I think I handled it in a way that was the best at the time. Good question.

COACH LEON BARMORE: They didn't make all couple big shots. I think at that particular time, the one play that really messed us up was when we threw the ball away and Steph stole the ball. I think it went from 3 to 5 to like 7, something like that. That was probably the play of the game and bad, bad play, to be honest with you.

COACH LEON BARMORE: Yeah, yeah it was. We felt like we had the better bench. And could continue to work hard and press and run and wear them down. I knew we weren't going to wear them down. Then they have that -- when they he run their slow pattern offense. But anyway, I was not expecting the bench, to be honest with you, to play that well. It's the sign of a team that's growing. It's the sign of a team that's progressed during the year. A much better basketball team than when we played them in December without question. I wish them well. They are very good.