NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 29, 1997

Mery Andrade

Stacy Himes

Wendy Larry

Clarisse Machanguana

Ticha Penicheiro

STACY HIMES: We stayed in the locker room for a while after our game. We got to see a bit of the first half. I think there was about ten minutes left. It was kind of hard to watch, talking to family and fans. But when we got back to the hotel, we watched the end of it, and Holdsclaw carried Tennessee in that game. She carried the weight on her shoulders and had a great game. She can do that, and has the ability to take over a game like that. And we have to be able to shut her down.

COACH LARRY: You want me to answer first? I think Pat just does a really tremendous job getting her teams prepared for post season play and through all the obstacles that particular team has had to overcome, she still has the ability to find great chemistry among the ones that are remaking. She got, I think, Abbey Conklin playing extremely well. Chamique, obviously, played on another planet last night. But there are other people that just played their role so effectively, not just on the offensive end. Kyra does a great job defensively and has great minutes out of Tiffani, who is playing some of her best basketball.

TICHA PENICHEIRO: I think they are more confident. I know sometimes to get the team together, and Tennessee this year, they had a lot of losses. I think they got back together and I think they played exceptionally well and more confident. The post players stepped up big time because Chamique was trying to do everything by herself and she has the help of her teammates, and that's good for the team. Basketball is a team game and she is playing really well right now.

MERY ANDRADE: I think so.

MERY ANDRADE: Yes. Defense to me is very important. Especially to play such a good player as Chamique. I respect her offensive game. But I trust my defense, too. So, it will be a pretty good challenge.

COACH LARRY: You mean Stanford.

STACY HIMES: I think it gives us confidence knowing that we beat them. So, obviously, we know it's possible to beat Tennessee. But I think they were two different basketball teams from what we met before, and I think that especially being at this level, playing for a National Championship. Both teams will be playing with all their hearts, and I think that it's going to be a great matchup. Both teams will come in with confidence. Tennessee is playing very well and we had a great game last night. I mean, we just got to go out and play.

STACY HIMES: It does seem like a long time ago. I think our games in the tournament, we learned a lot from our games in this tournament. We have come out with some ugly, ugly wins, and we have learned a lot. Our bench has stepped up tremendously in games where maybe our highest scorers haven't been scoring that much. We have come out winners and our defense has had to carry us. Obviously our defense creates our offense. Turnaround, our offense hasn't worked that well for us but our defense won us games and shows us how important it is. I mean, we have learned so much in this tournament.

COACH LARRY: I think we are very blessed because we just don't have one. We have several that play extremely well together. At any given time somebody else has driven the ship for us. It hasn't been the same pilot every time. Obviously Ticha is very important to our basketball team. She quarterbacks us. But I think that there are several other people, and most of whom have joined me here at this table, that on any given night have been the difference in the game.

COACH LARRY: She is so mature for her age as far as basketball is concerned. She comes across as being a humble individual but she takes it to stuff, an incredible level both inside and out. She is very, very fluid in the perimeter and very powerful in the paint. And she seems to have great work ethic. I think the sky's the limit for Chamique. I think Cheryl Miller, in particular, when she initially came into the collegiate ranks, just really brought a lot of attention to her game. And I think Chamique is certainly in a class very, very similar if not even more impressive.

COACH LARRY: I think when you have an opportunity to be a part of a National Championship run, you experience something that's just kind of second to none. The feeling that you get when you accomplish that kind of goal is something that you remember forever. And I know when I took a head coaching position, one of my goals that I wrote down in a long term sense would be to have an opportunity to share that type of feeling, that type of exhilaration with some of my own players. To give them that type of enjoyment and satisfaction. And so that's been in a long term goal for a very long time. I hope some day we will have that opportunity to share again.

COACH LARRY: We have pretty good mutual agreement now. We can still go head to head with one another. But it is not a screaming match by any means. I have a great deal of confidence in Ticha and makes good decisions most of the time. And I think that for the most part she is capable of really making the critical decision on the floor.

CLARISSE MACHANGUANA: I don't know about destiny but I don't believe in fighting. But if the team keeps on fighting, they will lose somewhere.

COACH LARRY: Well, this isn't something new for Old Dominion. When we won championships back in '79 and '80, Inge Nissen was our first international prize, a great player that came out of Denmark. We were very fortunate when she was in a major recruiting battle with a number of programs but we were fortunate enough to entice her to Norfolk. At great fit for the international player. We don't bring them into a program and isolate them from the international flavor, if you will. NATO is in Norfolk. We have one of the largest Naval installations in Norfolk. The World Trade Center is in Norfolk and we have a masters and doctorate in international relations. So there are over 300 countries represented on Old Dominion's campus as far as the student body is concerned. We wanted to make sure we brought people from foreign countries that were comfortable, and vice versa. We have been fortunate that we found some not only great basketball players but most importantly some very, very good people.

TICHA PENICHEIRO: I just had a good team in the three years of my life playing at Old Dominion. It is unforgettable. I think there is more to come and I love my teammates, my coaching staff. I think it was a blessing for me as well as Old Dominion. It doesn't matter if friendship is universal and it doesn't matter where you are from. I think we get along just fine on and off the Court. I am blessed that I'm here.

COACH LARRY: As a peer and certainly a colleague, I have the utmost respect for Pat Summitt and what she can year in and year out do with her program. She got great administrative support. She has an incredible staff who year in and year out allowed Pat Summitt to coach some of the best players in the country. When you establish that type of a dynasty, basically, and then put one of the best coaches in the country in the program, only good things happen. They just continue to be one of the premiere programs.

COACH LARRY: I'd say it was even before the season. I believe that we could actually be sitting here today when we lost to Virginia in the Sweet 16 because I have never seen a basketball team have such tremendous conversation about setting goals in the locker room post defeat. Just hearing that kind of discussion and the emotions that were spilled out in that locker room, you know, I believe with the leadership with Stacy and Clarisse and Ticha can provide for this basketball team, that anything would be possible.