NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 26, 1998

Kristen Gillespie

Todd Lickliter

Chasity Melvin

Kay Yow

COACH KAY YOW: Well, NC State Wolfpack Women are really excited to reach the Final Four. It pleases me most of all because of having been at NC State for 23 years and having coached for 33 years. To be associated with this particular, it is such a hard working team and they have such great chemistry. And I think they know how to focus. And they know how to go about giving their best on the court. And they represent all the fans that followed us all the years, and all the former players. So it's just a tribute, not only to this team, but to everybody that's been a part of the program. And I'm just really honored and feel really grateful to have players, as the people they are as well as the athletes. So, we're excited is an under statement.

COACH KAY YOW: I think experience and tradition always helps. But we just have come out of an East Regional with two powers, ODU and Connecticut, whom we had to beat to get to this point. And I think we understand that experience can give them a little bit of an edge in that we know we have to give a little bit more. We're going to have to make up for that in perhaps some way. And we're going to have to mature quickly. And it's the kind of thinking that is in our mind that's really important. And I think that we're trying to approach this as we approached sub regionals and the Eastern Regional. We know we have to be focused,, we know what we have to do. And I think the key for us is just to keep our mind on the things that we need to focus on and not get distracted by anything. Our focus needs to be on our system, what we do, our scouting report and what we know we have to do. If we let our mind drift from that over to Louisiana Tech or something about them, we're in -- that would cause some problems for us. But we've already had to do that with Old Dominion and Connecticut. So, I think we know how we have to focus on what we have to do. And we cannot get distracted about any of the other things. If we just go out and we play our best, if our best is good enough, then we'll win the game. If it's not, then we won't. It's just that simple. And that's what we want when the game is over, just to know that we've given it our best.

TYNESHA LEWIS: Well, the Maryland game was very devastating for me, personally. I have to say, it's been the worst loss in my short career in college, in high school and AAU. We found out that we definitely need each other, and we need to go down together, just play as a team. No matter what happens, we have to stick together. That's the difference between the Maryland game and now. We play together from the time the buzzer goes off until the end.

CHASITY MELVIN: My most exciting moment was getting the police escort over to the hotel, just because we received a police escort at my high school championship game, and it was just -- just brought back great memories. But, also, when we arrived at the hotel, the people there were fantastic. And it was all overwhelming. But I just never had that feeling before, and it's a feeling that I can't really explain.

TYNESHA LEWIS: It's been a lot of them. But at the regionals, my hotel had a Ping-Pong table, and that was great. Every night after the game we had a Ping-Pong tournament. I never won one of those tournaments, but it was great fun when we were playing it. It's just everything about it; just the game of basketball really excites me. It really doesn't need a title, it's just that I'm having a great time right now.

KRISTEN GILLESPIE: I think for me is when we were walking through the tunnel before practice and when I stepped on the court, this has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. I always watched the Final Fours. And I just can't believe that we're here and we're having an opportunity to play for a National Championship.

COACH KAY YOW: I think most of the people that know me know I'm an eternal optimist, and that I just had faith and believe that every team I coach can do this. And we worked really hard to get it done. I've never thought about it not happening. I've only thought about it happening, and waited for the time and for the team that we could work together and really get it done. So I've had other teams that I felt could have done this. Not a lot of them, realistically. But I've had a few that I really thought had the talent and ability to do this. And it really pleases me about this team because I think more than anything else, as I said earlier, they have talent. But they just have a great work ethic and they really enjoy the game of basketball. And over the years, people today are in the game for a lot of different reasons. I really feel fortunate to be with a group of people who they love the game. They just love to play it. And they love to continue learning how to be better and to keep refining their skills. As I said to them, we've all had this dream of being in the Final Four, and the dream has become a reality for us. And it's above and beyond my expectations. It's everything and more than I thought it would be. And this team is everything and more than I thought they would be. So they're a good match.

COACH KAY YOW: Well, I think with the perimeter push, to tell you the truth, we may start the game one way. But it doesn't mean that we would stay that way. For example, we hadn't even made a final decision on exactly who will start on which player. And oftentimes when we go in, we don't -- we don't always matchup point guard to point guard, 2 for 2, 3 for 3. The coaches like to give it a little more time before we make a final decision on that. And, honestly, when we get into the game, these players are really great about seeing like we might need to make a switch or change or some minor changes in what we're doing. We really work together well on things like that. So only reason I wouldn't want to do that is because it might not be that way when we start the game tomorrow.

COACH KAY YOW: We have a lot of pride in the ACC. We think we have a lot of great teams in the conference. We're really grateful being in the conference. We think they have prepared us for a lot of things. As a matter of fact, there's a number of things we faced in the Sub Regional and Eastern Regional that we really felt the ACC had prepared us. North Carolina has a lot of quickness and athleticism. Duke has a very balanced inside and three point shooters on the perimeter. Maryland plays a particular style. Every team, it seems, as we played them helped to prepare us for the post season playoffs. And it's hard for us to meet a team in post season that we can't put to other teams or ourselves to understand what we're facing and what we really need to do. So to have three of us get to the Elite Eight, and all of us have a chance to get in the Final Four. I thought North Carolina gave a valiant effort for most of the game against Tennessee. And Duke played hard. Maybe not as good all the way around as we've seen them play some games this year, but they did a great job in post season play. So we think it's helped us being in the conference.

COACH KAY YOW: Well, Louisiana Tech has a really -- they're a sort of a combination of maybe a lot of teams, because they have great quickness and speed at their guards. They have a point guard -- we have a player that's sitting out at NC State who transferred there this year, and their point guard on Louisiana Tech's team is a lot like the transfer that's sitting out that's been practicing with us this year. They have a very similar style game. So we've been going against her. And as soon as we saw Tech play, we knew that this girl is really good, and we can equate her to this player on our team. I think some players from North Carolina, Maryland has a very athletic and quick team, like really strong bangers inside and a lot of quickness on the perimeter.

COACH KAY YOW: Well, that always makes it harder, because every person has to have a great defensive game, as we talked many times. One great player can't stop another great player one-on-one. We have to have great team defense. We have to have help from everybody on every play in the game. So we know we can't leave somebody and sort of cheat over here, because they're solid over there. We know we've got to play heads up on every player on the court. But we have to be ready to help and we have to fly around on defense to make the plays.

CHASITY MELVIN: I think it all started in preseason with Charles Stephenson, our strength coach. He started getting us prepared. We worked really hard on preseason, running 17's and lifting weights, and I think that carried on throughout the season. Kristen and myself were here this summer with a couple of players, and we worked really hard on the off season. We just kept that up throughout the rest of the year. And Tynesha and I have had one on ones after practice. She's trying to get me prepared. I haven't won yet, but I'm not allowed to go inside, though. And we shoot free throws. We all -- we're all just together on the team, whoever wants to go shoot, we work with each other well. And -- but it's just starting in preseason, we kept that work ethic up.

CHASITY MELVIN: I don't know if that's been announced yet.

CHASITY MELVIN: Well, I think my teammates will be able to help me with any of the distractions. They always get on my case if I'm not in the game, especially Tynesha Lewis and my roommate, of course. So I'm not really worried. I'm not really worried about distractions.

COACH KAY YOW: This is right at the top for me. NC State is my home, the Division I school I've been with my whole career. I was with a smaller school five years, coached in high school for five years, been in the State of North Carolina all my life. And I couldn't be happier. There's not a place I'd rather be right now than right here with these players at this tournament. It's just we have an opportunity -- it's a challenge to us. I thrive on challenges. So this is a challenge. But I see it more as an opportunity. And so I am very happy. And I like the way this team approaches competition. They can have a good time, they can celebrate, but they understand when we have to get focused and when we have to be really serious and get down to business and do what we do best.

COACH KAY YOW: We have to have a great defensive game. We understand that. Louisiana Tech is a great transition team. They're a great penetrating team. They score inside. We have to have a great defensive game and we have to get on the boards. We have to battle with them on the boards. And then on the offensive end, we've got to take care of the ball, really make good decisions on shot selection and concentrate on the free throw line.

TYNESHA LEWIS: I personally feel like she's the best coach in the country. You couldn't ask for anything more. She puts God first, and that's the kind of woman I want to play for and do anything for. She would do the same for us. So to get her here where she's never been before, it's not just important to her, but it's important for me to be able to give her something back. Because she's given us a lot throughout my freshman year here. It's been rough, it's had some ups and downs, but I could always turn to Coach Yow and talk to her about anything. So that's been important to me.

CHASITY MELVIN: I think we believed it from the beginning. We were real excited about playing at home. We came out really focused and we decided that we were going to take it one game at a time. Every girl on the team has stepped up. And we just believe Coach Yow when she told us we could do it. She's a great coach. She tells us what we have to do as far as defensively and offensively, and we know it's up to us to go out on the court and execute that. If she keeps telling us the right things and we keep executing, I think we'll be okay.

CHASITY MELVIN: I always take basketball seriously. All my coaches can tell you that the biggest problem that I had was that I came from NC State to be a good player instead of coming to become a great player. And that's the difference right now between myself, and I see that Tynesha, she came in wanting to be a great player, and I remember myself coming in wanting to be a good player. Back home people would say I played at NC State and did pretty well. And Coach Yow has stayed with me and been on my case, and she's just really tried every year. And all my coaches in the past have tried every year to tell me I could be that great player. And in the back of my mind I just never really believed it. And last year -- starting last year I kind of increased my work ethic for the coaches and my teammates. And this summer when we talked, this past summer when Coach Yow and I talked, I told her I would give everything that I could for her. I think I've done a lot of maturing, and I just -- I'm so happy that Coach Yow believed in me. And I'm glad that I can step up for her, and I'm glad I can step up for my teammates.

COACH KAY YOW: Well, I was Pat's assistant in '83 for the World Championship Team and then in '84 when she was Head Coach for the Olympics. I was one of her assistant coaches at that time. That's when I really got to know Pat. It was very interesting because Pat and I didn't know each other personally, but she selected her assistant coaches, and for whatever reason she selected me as an assistant coach from some of the teams. I had coached for USA Basketball in the past. And it was in those two summers, working closely with her, that we developed a personal relationship. Pat has done everything in basketball. She's coached an Olympic team, she's won a gold medal there, she's won all, what, five National Championships, been to the Final Four so many times. She has to go down in history as the greatest women's basketball coach. I can't think of why that wouldn't be the case in her wins and losses. So I couldn't say enough about the job that she's done in basketball. She's done a fantastic, fabulous, outstanding, awesome job; incredible, really. So I've said this many times. For me, personally, if I hadn't gotten to a Final Four ever, I will have had a very full career for me, because it's watching Chasity Melvin mature, other people develop. It's seeing them get direction and making a contribution to society and in life that enriches me. To be here alternative a Final Four is icing on the cake. And it does thrill me to be here, and I worked every year to get here, every year. But I'm happy. I'm thrilled to be here and I'm thrilled that -- for Pat that she can be here again.

TYNESHA LEWIS: I know they're great guards. I like everything about their game offensively and defensively. LaQuan Stallworth she's attempted three, three pointers this year, she's a penetrator, breaks down the defense, and Tamicha, great shooter, pull up, everything, she's got it. She can shoot the three, she can penetrate, she can pass. It's just another challenge we have to make. Facing teams in the conference, Lord, the Maryland guards, we had some challenges in the ACC, so hopefully if we have fun and we do what we need to do, things will fall into place.