NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 31, 2000

Tasha Pointer

Shawnetta Stewart

C. Vivian Stringer

COACH C. VIVIAN STRINGER: I thought it was a very good defensive game. On our part, you could probably tell if and when we missed assignments -- I'm sure that were Pat could tell the same, it would have been nice if we had been able to execute better today. That speaks more to Tennessee's defense; it was aggressive. And I thought we were a little impatient. But I was extremely proud of our team and the way these young ladies came to play. We played hard, kept coming back at them. We just were missing some shots, actually some pretty good shots, and unfortunately, someone has to lose, and we did not come here to be the losers. I did feel that we could have beaten Tennessee, but Tennessee is great, they are good, they are capable of playing the way they need to play at that particular time. I mean, so, I think that's what continues to give them the position that they deserve. So that's why I will keep on saying Tennessee in the breath of National Champions. There's something very special about that team, but there's something very special about these young ladies who started the journey four years ago. They realized their dream, and to come into Philadelphia and actually play in this Final Four, I just wish we could have been a little more calm, just a little more calm right -- a little bit earlier, because I think that we could be smiling right now. We just had some situations where passes were made; we didn't move on them or found ourselves tentative. Again, that's attributed to Tennessee defense. Those turnovers were converted into points. And we felt that as we looked at it, Tennessee didn't get the shots on our defense. They had the same opportunities, which on our side of it, is inexcusable because we didn't block out; we were trying to rebound with them and we know better. So that's probably one of the things that hurts. We don't worry about anyone else's determination of anything so much as what did we need to do them. You know, we did, but there will probably be some area of the game always that coaches as well as players will be able to look at and say, "we lost it here"; "we lost it there." If I had to point to something, I would say probably second opportunity, chance points; that was the biggest reason that we find ourselves talking here right now. But I'm sure that we'll be back and we'll play tough. We'll have to come to St. Louis, hopefully.

SHAWNETTA STEWART: You know, I'm glad that our team got to this point. I wish we could have got a little farther. I think we played very well. We played, you know, with our chest sticking out and we wasn't going to back down to nobody. That's the type of attitude we have. I mean, this whole experience has been great. I'm glad I had opportunities of experiencing such a deal like this in Philadelphia, in my hometown. But obviously, you're only here for one reason, and that's to win the whole thing, and, you know, that was our goal. I'm very disappointed, but at the same time, I'm very happy that I got a chance to play on this team. This coaching staff has been terrific, and just the players, sharing experiences with them. You know, I couldn't ask for a better team than this one. If I had to make my decision all over, you know, it would be the same thing, so, you know, I'm glad the way my performance has been all year, and my career as a whole. I think Coach Stringer has built me up at as the type of player that I am, and I was just telling her, she's the coach that drove me every day in practice, and she just really brought the best person and player out of me. Although we lost, I got a sense of fulfillment within myself; that I have been a success story, because, you know, I didn't have to choose this way to go. But just with the backing of my parents and my brother and, you know, and these guys right here. Without them, you know, there wouldn't be no Shawnetta Stewart. I'd just like to thank them, and that's basically it.

SHAWNETTA STEWART: It was just the play that happened on the floor just before I fouled out. You know, I really can't tell you, you know, the feelings that I was feeling that last moment, but I'm quite sure when, you know, a couple days go past, this whole experience, I'll just look at it and take it for what it's worth, but it's hard to describe in words, you know, the last final moment of your career. But I'm happy to move on. I think I've got bigger and brighter things ahead in my future, but nothing can take this appearances away experience away from me.

TASHA POINTER: I think Tennessee's press is just like ours; they trap. I think that we were impatient at times and they just capitalized off our mistakes.

TASHA POINTER: I wouldn't come back if I wasn't optimistic about returning. I think that's every player's dream, to continue to achieve greater things. Last year we made it to the Elite 8 and my dream was to come to the Final Four and try to win the National Championship. I think the seniors are the people who actually made Coach Stringer's vision come true because they bought into it first; and after they bought it first, they helped recruit us. The good thing about -- people always say that Coach Stringer and her staff are great recruiters, but they are great people in general and the student athletes that they bring in are great recruiters as well. The seniors helped sell me on Rutgers' program, the academic side of things. And yes, we're going to miss them because they helped out in ways that you can never imagine, just taking the burden and stress off the coaches, but not only the coaches and the underclassmen, just showing us the way. Because when they first came in, they didn't really have guidance or leadership besides the coaches, and they were the leaders as far as my junior class. And I think myself and my junior class have to carry that torch as well.

TASHA POINTER: I think that we turned the ball over probably two or three straight times and they got the opportunity to capitalize off it. The game of basketball is all about spurts, and if you get your spurt at the right time, then you're fine. And I think that we started committing fouls or something like that, and they just hit -- they made like -- 22 or 29 freethrows or something like that. That's a lot, you know what I'm saying. In the second half I'm pretty sure they made -- what I think Randall only missed one or something like that. You can't win like that. You can't win with them at the freethrow line, and that's not getting to the freethrow line as well.

COACH C. VIVIAN STRINGER: I don't like the idea of one step at a time. You know, in that case we shouldn't even have shown up and just come on up here and see how long we can make this game last and just go home. So I have tremendous respect for the Tennessee program. Like I said before, with Pat and the great program that it is, I just am impatient because I just don't believe that we have to go through those steps. I just felt like this was the moment, this was the time. And yet, I guess nature tends to have its way. And I look at some teams and come in and they just get it, they just do it. They show up, get theirs, and they are gone; you never hear about them again. I didn't know why we couldn't be that team, especially because we've given so much hard work, as all teams do. I don't know, I'd like to hope that like everything else, we have each year taken one provision, but we are missing some major players. You know, I've just felt that now was the time. You know, maybe next year it might be at -- the strangest times that might be. Maybe we'll be free and not be tight and just go ahead and play our game. You know, because aside from the fact that Tennessee did play well, we were also a little tight, and I don't think that Tennessee was. Maybe their normal tightness, but heck, after all this is how many times for them in the Final Four. And even if some of them had not played, the truth of the matter is that they know they do play. For us, I can't tell you enough, but that we seem to remember well, we seem to learn very well, and we've taught ourselves a lot of things that we don't let happen again. So maybe we just had to come to the Final Four to know the next time, the next step, and what can I say, I don't know.

COACH C. VIVIAN STRINGER: Each of them have their own personalities. And I have felt that at each Final Four, we really did have a chance to win; so I can't say that. It seemed to be a lot more things were going on. I don't know, I sort of knew that, you know, there would be a lot of pressure pulls on you here and there. It almost seemed like the game itself was incidental compared to what everyone else is here for. And quite honestly, we are very tired. We never felt like we ever settled down. We got in here at the last second and we've been hopping ever since then. So lacking sleep and not feeling totally prepared, I don't know what I would do differently right now, but I bet the next time we come close to this, we'll be a lot more settled and maybe we can get somewhere where we don't have the telephone and all those other things. Tennessee is probably a little used to that and probably a little more organized. I thought that we were just exhausted.

COACH C. VIVIAN STRINGER: Well, I was more disturbed with us, not with Kara, I didn't anticipate that we could do that. She does -- she shoots it real well, and when you shoot it in that range -- she's smart. I really give her a lot of credit. But I was probably more disturbed with the way we came in and I just thought that we for the first however many minutes did not play like we were capable of playing because even as we were making mistakes, they weren't scoring as effectively. But Kara Lawson, she's a big-time player. She has a strong body to penetrate well. She hurt us. She hurt us a lot, she just did. But no one should be penetrating our zones, period. No one, and that means Kara as well, and she did and that's a real credit to her.

COACH C. VIVIAN STRINGER: Well, you know, the truth of the matter is that if you hit the shots, half the shots that we had, if they didn't get the second opportunities, I don't know how many points, but I get bet you it might not seen have been double digits. The shot opportunities that we were getting were the second opportunities. It was our fault, because, I mean, what makes us think that we're going to go in there and jump on them. They are much bigger than us. What I was disturbed about was us just not addressing the fundamentals of the game, we were staying down, did a good job of eyeing and knowing where people are, but there's no way in the world that you can -- you force an error, force them to shoot and turn around, watch it come out and get a second. They were getting opportunities underneath the basket, and I was very angry about that and wanted us to make it very clear that we heard that by attacking the boards at the beginning, and I thought that we did. I thought that Tennessee did step up the pressure, and then we hesitated. We just hesitated with passes that we should have made, and it ended up having turnovers and then they came back down and ran. And like Tasha said, the game is won or lost in spurts. They knock it off 3; next thing you know, they are up. And the bad part about it is probably in all of our hearts, not being foolish, you know, this was the best chance in the world, because one, it was in Philadelphia; hits close to home. You can't say there was a sea of orange or anything like that. It's probably that mental side that we have not gotten over the hump about. And so until we really handle that side of it, and when we handle that side of it, the other part of it will be fine. That's the more difficult part. And I should point out, though, there's a whole lot of teams that are making their first time here, that I think would have a most difficult time against anyone, needless to say, Tennessee, in this setting at the Final Four. If it's just a neutral setting, maybe we're talking about something different. But I'm proud, and I just remember one thing, this team does learn very well and we do remember, and hopefully at the next time we have an opportunity to play that game, we can represent ourselves better than what we did tonight.

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