NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 28, 1999

Gail Goestenkors

Hilary Howard

Michele Vangorp

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: Just give all the credit in the world to Purdue. I thought they did an excellent job; especially defensively on us. Caused us a lot of problems. Very disappointed for our team. You know, we've come such a long way, and we've been playing our best basketball. So it's disappointing that your last game is not even close to being one of your best games. So I feel very badly for the players, because they have worked so hard and we've come so far. This is certainly not the way, you know, we envisioned the end of the season, but it's been a great season. It's been a wonderful journey and I'm very proud of my team.

HILARY HOWARD: I think it was a little bit of everything. I give her credit, because she is a tremendous defender. But I think a lot of it was just nerves and our offense got stagnated. We were just standing. And maybe I got a little out of control.

MICHELE VANGORP: Well, I don't think really anything too special. I think we didn't execute on our offense. I don't think I got myself into a position where I was real either visible to my teammates or accessible. So I don't think it was anything in particular they were doing. I think it was more I needed to make myself more accessible to my teammates.

HILARY HOWARD: They were switching on screens, and a lot of times we weren't open when we were used to being open. And we just didn't make the adjustments. They play good pressure defense. We've seen that before. But, unfortunately, we just didn't adjust to it.

HILARY HOWARD: Obviously Michele is our go-to player; so we were looking inside, and I guess maybe we did get too stuck on that. Because I feel like we did get some open looks that we either passed up or just didn't take. You know, the game just wasn't going well. And we lost some confidence because nothing was running smoothly for us.

MICHELE VANGORP: Well, obviously if you watched us at all during the season, execution is what got us here. And obviously we didn't do any of that today.

HILARY HOWARD: We were a little tight in the beginning. The first half was not a pretty half of basketball. A lot of turnovers. I don't know what I attribute that to; nerves, just being anxious to play. Unfortunately we stopped doing the things that got us here. We didn't execute.

MICHELE VANGORP: Extremely elated. Of course we feel disappointed and crushed. No, we're happy we lost. Yes, we're obviously disappointed.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: Well, they do a great job of getting to the freethrow line. They really attacked the basket. And, you know, it was to their advantage. Once again, they got to the freethrow line.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: I thought that they might press us, but not as much as they did. And I thought we would just -- I thought we would handle it better. Because Tennessee has pressed us, Old Dominion has pressed us. The last few teams were very athletic teams that pressed us. But we handled it. I thought they did a terrific job of keeping the ball out of our guards hands. Obviously that was something I didn't do a very good job getting our team ready for that, because it took about 15 seconds for us to get into our offense. So they did a great job.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: Nerves. You know, everybody was missing shots. We were definitely turning the ball over. And, honestly, before the game, I thought we were ready to play. I thought we were relaxed and focused and we had one of our best warmups of the year. But when you look up, I think it hit a lot of the kids when they sang the national anthem and they are looking up at the flag, and all of the sudden they realize, hey, this is a big deal. And the crowd was really into it. And I just didn't think that we responded well. I know that Purdue was tight in the first half, because both of us were so much better than what we played in the first half.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: We were switching defenses to try and keep them a little bit off balance. And it was very successful. We played a 1-3-1 on them on a made basket. We played man-to-man on a missed basket. But we switched one through four. So we had four players, everybody but Michele VanGorp, was switching on all screens. So that also looked like a zone, because of all the switching. And I think you're right, I think it frustrated their guards are used to getting in and getting into the lane and scoring. We had some really good double teams inside, some great help. But they did a much better job in the second half. And our defense really broke down in the second half, unfortunately.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: Well, we were at the bottom of the ACC. You know, we were last in the ACC. And I don't think we were A very well respected program, overall. We've come a long way. I told the team after the game we have had a wonderful journey and they have set a new standard for Duke womens basketball. We have raised the bar. And now every year our goal is going to be to vie for the ACC and the National Championship, and we have got to bring some players in again that are going to help get us back here.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: No. I think Rochelle played pretty well, actually. She got some boards for us. And she played good defense for us. Those are the two things we need her for. She's not a shooter. But I thought she played all right. Hilary I know was very disappointed in her game. She is usually a tremendous leader for us. And just tonight was not her night. And we had a couple other players, Georgia Schweitzer in particular who has been so tough for us that really struggled tonight. And that, I think, caused some of the other players to lose their confidence when they see their leader, and they see one of our leading scorers struggling a little bit. I feel very badly for both of those players, because they are such great players. And I know they didn't want to end the way they did.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: We ran the same defense in the second half that we ran in the first half. The first half, when they separated, we got great help, great rotation. In the second half our help was very -- it wasn't there in time. And Ukari, because she is so quick, you've got to have early help. And it wasn't there. I think it hurt us also because Georgia was struggling so much. I had to take her out. And now, all of a sudden, it changed. The people that are in there together most of the time, Rochelle got more minutes. Lauren Rice was playing defensively at the 3 for us. That's not real good. We struggled. That's the best thing I can say.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: Not really. They are such a close team. And I recall, you know, when Ukari had the death in her family and she went to Penn State, and I watched that tape a couple of times, how they rally for one another. And I thought that was a rallying point. I remember when it happened and there was a time, you know, where I could talk to the team and I talked to my assistants, and I said, okay, it's going to go one way or the other. And they tend to rally for one another. And I think that's exactly what happened.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: Her outside shots weren't falling tonight the way they were the other night. You know, great players find a way to score. And she is one of the few players that is a complete player, which she can hit the 3. Or she has such great quickness and a tremendous first step, she can get to the basket. I thought earlier in the first half she was looking for a shot a little bit. But she is going to figure the game out. She used her quickness, her speed, her athleticism and really got to the basket.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: They did the same thing. They all started taking the ball to the basket. Again, we did a good job in the first half. But in the second half I think they were just a little more determined. And we didn't do as good a job defensively. I think it hurt us, too, with our foul trouble. Nicole started to back off just a little bit, because she wanted to try and stay out of foul trouble the second half. But, you know, a couple of times they just jumped over us. And Nicole in there, they are smaller, and just didn't do a pull up jumper from ten feet, which they got great looks at the basket. Our goal was to really keep them on the outside, and we didn't do that in the second half.

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: I think Hilary hit it on the head. They switched on all screens. We haven't seen that in a long, long time. Really, since the Carolina game. And in the Carolina game we handled it very well. You just make reads. And tonight I think we just weren't ready for it and we didn't do a good job with it. You know, it took us out of the game. We were kind of stagnant watching each other when actually you need to have more movement than usual.