CLEVELAND — Rutgers hit 8-of-10 three pointers in the first half to take an 18-point lead and never looked back, as the Scarlet Knights handed LSU its fourth-consecutive Women’s Final Four loss, 59-35, on Sunday at Quicken Loans Arena.
Rutgers’ lights-out shooting was only matched by their half-court defense which held the Lady Tigers at bay in every aspect. The Scarlet Knights advanced to face the winner of North Carolina and Tennessee in Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. National Championship game.
After pounding another Big East team, Connecticut, to get to the national semifinal, LSU (30-8) trailed early and never found an offensive spark. All-America center Sylvia Fowles was held to the second-lowest scoring game in her 109-game career, just five points.
Fowles was frustrated by several defenders throughout the evening, while the Lady Tigers were unable to hit the perimeter shots that fell against UConn last week in Fresno. Both she and long-range threat Quianna Chaney were 2-of-10 shooting.
LSU finished only 14-of-53 shooting, while Rutgers’ 10-of-20 shooting from three-point range was nearly enough to beat the Lady Tigers on this evening. The Scarlet Knights finished 20 of 51 (39.2 percent).
Rutgers (28-7) didn’t allow an LSU player to score in double figures, as point guard Erica White led LSU with nine points on 4-of-10 shooting. Freshman guard Allison Hightower had seven, while Chaney had six points.
Rutgers’ guard Matee Ajavon scored 14 of her 16 points in the first half including four three pointers. Fellow guard Essence Carson scored 15 before leaving the game early in the second half with leg cramps.
The duo was more than LSU could handle in what proved to be a game decided in the first half.
It was all Rutgers in the first 20 minutes, as the Scarlet Knights hit 8-of-10 three pointers in the opening 20 minutes and left LSU in its wake. The long-range prowess was coupled with a packed-in defense against Fowles that limited the 6-6 center to 1-of-5 shooting and two points.
Ajavon hit her first three pointer along with a three-point play to put the Scarlet Knights up 6-0 in the opening moments. Three pointers by Zurich and Carson pushed the Rutgers advantage to 12-2 before the first media timeout at 15:04.
With four players packed into the paint against Fowles, White hit an 18-foot jumper to cut the lead to 18-9 midway through the half. However, it was the last time the Lady Tigers were within single digits.
Zurich answered with a free-throw line jumper and Carson hit Rutgers’ sixth three-pointer to expand the lead to 23-9. White scored a pair of dribble penetration layups to bring LSU within 10, 25-15, with 6:20 left in the half.
However, Carson scored seven points and Ajavon added the other five to spark a 12-1 Rutgers run that included consecutive three pointers with less than two minutes on the first-half clock. Rutgers led 37-16.
Chaney was able to nail a second-chance three pointer, but LSU trailed 37-19 at the half — its lowest first-half output of the season.
After cutting the lead to 12, 39-27, in the first six minutes of the second half, the Lady Tigers went without a basket for more than eight minutes. Though Rutgers didn’t match its first-half performance on the offensive end, its defense was more than enough to milk the clock and earn a spot in its first National Championship game.
In the loss, LSU set a few inauspicious Women’s Final Four records including fewest points scored (35), lowest field-goal percentage (26 percent) and fewest combined points (94).
An Interview With:
THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with a opening statement from Coach Starkey and then take questions for the student athletes.
COACH STARKEY: Well first thing I would like to do is congratulate Rutgers. I thought they obviously had a game plan that was very well executed, let the kids play hard.
Obviously I hurt for our team and our fans and our administration. But I couldn’t be more happy for somebody like Coach Stringer, who I have a great respect for a long time and realize tomorrow or Tuesday will be the first time that she will have a opportunity to play in a championship game and that’s a good thing. I’m extremely proud of our kids. We talked about a couple things in the locker room. The most important was they didn’t need to judge themselves based on this one outing. That they need to look at the entire body of work.
I told them that you don’t have to win championships to be champions. And in my eyes they’re champions. We talked a little bit about the Apollo 13 movie that we used for motivation, and even with that, their goal was to go to the moon and I guess ours was too but what sometimes things happen and change and the crew was supposed to bring the ship back safely.
And I thought that’s what our team did. I thought we brought our program back to LSU, we have accomplished a lot of things and we have done it in a positive way and I’m extremely, extremely proud of them.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes.
Q. Sylvia, Coach Stringer did pay you nice compliments and said that she feels that you’re the best center in the country. I imagine you don’t feel quite like that tonight. What did they do to you to take you out of your game and have you had a game that you can recall that was like that?
SYLVIA FOWLES: Not taking anything from Rutgers defense, but I don’t feel that they, I don’t feel that they had to do much. I just think I had a sluggish game from the get go and couldn’t get in rhythm and I couldn’t do anything to help my team out from the jump ball.
Q. Erica, they made a lot of shots early. They made a lot of shots with hands in their face. They made a lot of 3s. Were you guys you were out there, it wasn’t like you didn’t get out there. What does that do to a team? I don’t want to say does it deflate you or does it have at least a momentarily depressing effect or did you guys just play through that?
ERICA WHITE: A we just tried to play through it. And our saying tonight was we want to keep an even keel and don’t know any negative emotions. If they hit a shot with a hand in their face you just say good shot. And you just come out and try to run the offense. And I commend them, they hit tough shots tonight.
Q. Sylvia, you said you couldn’t do anything from the get go from the jump ball, it looked like you were still kind of tying your shoes when the jump ball went up and it was like that almost set a whole mood for the team maybe she basically took that jump ball without any opposition, were you kind of not ready, not into the game the way you thought you would be?
SYLVIA FOWLES: I was into the game. Just couldn’t get into a rhythm.
Q. Sylvia, how physical was Kia Vaughn against you and how much did they surround you with extra players?
SYLVIA FOWLES: Kia Vaughn is a tremendous defensive player. She gave her all and she did all she had to do to keep me off the box and keep me off the boards. And about doubling and triple teaming, what are, but it really don’t matter. I saw that all year and it didn’t play a big effect.
Q. Erica, after all you’ve been through since March 8 or March 9, do you think it finally caught up to you, all the emotions that have been going through your head that all of a sudden after playing so well to this point that it all caught up to you you just came out and played plat flat?
ERICA WHITE: I don’t think so. We didn’t play our best tonight and they shot the ball extremely well and I think that’s what happened here tonight and nothing else.
We just had a bad game. And it happened at the worst possible time. But I don’t think we have anything to be ashamed of and I told my teammates, you know, people will say LSU has gone to the Final Four four years in a row and have lost, but we’re getting to the hump, so the fact that we can’t get over the hump, I think we should be proud of getting here and we definitely have nothing to be ashamed of.
Q. Erica, a couple of the stats that are obvious not in your favor in this game, obviously the shooting, and then Rutgers out rebounded you guys. Could you just talk about those two things and what was going on during the game.
ERICA WHITE: Rutgers hit tough shots. They hit shots with a hand in their face and I commend them for that. They shot the ball extremely well tonight. We definitely had our nights like that, not tonight. But when a team’s shooting the ball that well, there’s pretty much nothing you can do. We tried to contest it and I think we did that. They just hit the tough shots. They out rebounded us and we wanted to own the paint but we obviously didn’t do that. And yeah, I just commend them, they played well tonight.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you to both our student athletes. We’ll take questions for the coach.
Q. All the screens they were able to set with their big people outside it made it really tough for your defenders to get around. What did you try to do to combat that or to adjust to that. But even when you got a hand in their face they were still hitting them.
COACH STARKEY: I want to go over a couple things first, because I think it’s really important along those lines. I think that one of the things that got us off to the bad start was our game plan. And I’m responsible for that.
One of the things we wanted to do is we wanted to play inside out on screens and take the dribble penetration, the paint away. So in playing that way we allowed them to get some open looks early that I didn’t think were contested and they weren’t contested because we weren’t trying to contest them.
They came out and hit those shots early and it gave them some confidence.
After that they were hitting some tough shots. One of the things that they did bother us with was the ball screen plays up top. Early on we were sliding through and I thought we made a adjustment to trap and I thought we hurt them a little bit, but obviously the damage had been done.
Q. What do you think happened to Sylvia?
COACH STARKEY: That’s a good question. Every now and then Sylvia gets frustrated. She doesn’t hit her first shot or she doesn’t get a call or and sometimes for whatever reason it’s difficult for her to play through.
She’s done that in the past. She doesn’t do it nearly as much as she used to. And I think that’s a positive thing.
But obviously the goal next year I would think would be for her to work through that on a consistent basis where it never affects her.
Q. Did Rutgers do anything different defensively against her that you hadn’t seen or anything or just did it better?
COACH STARKEY: Nothing new at all. They played man to man. They blocked off our four player which was either Ashley Thomas or Porsha Phillips and doubled her up and we probably have seen that nine out of ten times when we play. And I thought they did a good job of it. I don’t think we were necessarily mentally sharp in terms of what we needed to do offensively. When teams play us like that we need to reverse the basketball a little bit more and get a few more people some touches, make them guard us. The best possession for us was the first possession of the second half when we told our kids that we wanted five passes and two ball reversals. And we did that and we got the dump into Sylvia and she got the lay up. It was just a little frustrating that we didn’t try and go about that a lot more often.
Q. What’s next for you? Did you say good bye to the players or how does that work with the head coach not being here and you not being interested in the job?
COACH STARKEY: I haven’t given much thought obviously to that. My next thing is to go back to the hotel and pack and get on the plane with the team tomorrow. I did tell the team that if I never coached again that I was thrilled that this was the last team that I coached. And if I coached for 20 more years, I would never forget what they had accomplished.
So I think that’s important for them to know. And I don’t know what’s ahead for me. But I was tickled to death to be a part of them. I told my high school coach was here tonight and I made the comment to him that I didn’t take them to the Final Four, they took me. And there really is a lot of truth to that. I’m awful proud of them.
Q. The fact that you have everybody or LSU has everybody coming back next year, how do you think this team will remember tonight and use it as motivation?
COACH STARKEY: Let me tell you something. This was a great thing I thought. It was a very emotional locker room. Every kid was crying. And this is the fourth Final Four we have been to. We have lost three previous Final Fours and I never seen a tear in there. This team really cared about each other. I think they were not just crying for themselves, but crying for each other. And I think it will be a great motivational factor for them. I think you’ll see that they will have a great off season, Sylvia leaves on Friday for Italy to go work with USA Basketball. We, there’s a lot of great things in place at LSU from our strength program to our trainer and these kids, they’re wonderful. They’re going to work hard. I think that obviously this team’s best days are ahead of it.
Q. The question was asked of one of the players, do you think that at times like this it can be a relief to finally be done or do you think any of that factored in the way you guys played tonight?
COACH STARKEY: No. I don’t think that factored into it at all. I really think that we came out and played poorly on a night against a good opponent who played extremely well.
I think if there was relief that it was over, the locker room wouldn’t have been emotional, there wouldn’t have been all those tears. I think it hurt and I think that’s a good hurt. I’m glad they hurt. I think that’s important in terms of them being competitive and being able to take that next step. I think this team is more prepared to take the next step than any team that we have had prior.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much.
COACH STARKEY: Thank you.
LSU Lockerroom Quotes
Junior Forward Ashley Thomas
On LSU’s game plan:
“Our original game plan was to take away the paint first, but they were hitting from the outside, so that wasn’t the case. The second half I think it was a little more even but it was a little hard to get out of the hole.”
On confidence coming in and thinking this time would be different than previous Final Four trips:
“Of course we’re disappointed but a lot of teams don’t even get to this point so we take pride in the fact that we did get here. But, only four teams are left and you can’t have a bad game, there’s no room for error – everybody’s trying to get to that last game.”
On the frustration getting to this junction of the Final Four again:
“It’s somewhat frustrating but like I said, just to know we were able to get here when nobody thought we would advance far in this tournament at all. So to get this far and overcome the adversity that we have, you still have a sense of pride in your program.”
On how they came into the game playing their best:
“It’s kind of frustrating because you want to go out and play the same basketball you’ve been playing. You don’t want to change anything but a lot of times I think we went away from the things we were doing well earlier. We kind of put the ball on the floor more than we needed to, knowing they would get a hand on it. We just came out and tried to run our offense as much as we could but we would get open shots and they wouldn’t fall.”
Junior Guard Quianna Chaney
On recapping the game:
“They came out and did what they had to do. They knocked down some shots that we didn’t think they would knock down and we just could get it back together after that. We didn’t get a good look on the offensive end and didn’t get the boards we needed to get.”
“We just didn’t come out and knock down our shots and play our game – that could have put us back in the ballgame.”
On the outcome being similar to the Duke game in 2006:
“We are sad, but we did get back here. A lot of people didn’t think we would do that. We are very proud of that.”
“They were just able to get open and knock down the shots that we thought they would miss.”
On LSU’s fourth-straight semifinal loss:
“It’s a tough loss but we’ll take a couple of weeks off and we’ll get back at it.”
On coming off two solid wins:
“We had two solid wins but we just weren’t able to carry it on to Cleveland.”
On the game in general:
“We’re going to be down but eventually we’re going to have to get over it and look forward to next season. We’re all coming back with a couple of good freshman coming in. We’re just looking forward to next season and what we have in this room.”
On whether she thought LSU could come back:
“We believed we could have come back in the game but we just didn’t execute on offense and they were getting
second-chance points. We were giving them more than one shot on the offensive end. It just didn’t work out for us. Rutgers just came out hot and we dug ourselves a hole. They have very good shooters and we didn’t expect them to come out that hot and knock down those shots.”
Junior Guard RaShonta LeBlanc
On the overall game:
“First of all, Rutgers played a great game. They came out hot and we struggled a little bit on the offensive end. They ran a good offense and we suffered for that. We dug ourselves a nice hole in the first half and we couldn’t get out of that hole.”
On Rutgers’ shooting:
“We had to battle back, but like I said, we dug ourselves a hole that we couldn’t get out of. In the first half, Rutgers came out hot. I think they were 8-for-10 in threes in the first half.”
On Rutgers’ defense:
“For me personally, I think it was a lot of stuff that we didn’t do. I don’t think we ran a good offense. I credit their defense that got a lot of hands on the ball. They did a lot of things on the offense end, like getting offensive rebounds and second-chance points that we didn’t do. We didn’t block out.”
On the last four years:
“We’re happy to be here but it is frustrating being here three years and not getting past the semifinal game to get to the championship game. For my teammates it’s very hard and tough on us.”
On Sylvia Fowles:
“Kia Vaughn did a nice job and did what she had to do against Sylvia. She was able to stop her.”
On next year and a new coach:
“It’s going to be nice to get all of us back next year with some pretty good freshmen. I’m just looking forward to next year and whoever it is, I’m sure they’ll do a good job.”
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
FRESNO REGIONAL CHAMPION (30-8)
(Ranked No. 12 by AP and No. 11 by USA Today/ESPN)
Records: 30-8, 10-4 SEC
NCAA TOURNAMENT RESULTS: First Round def. No. 14 seed UNC Asheville 77-39; def. No. 11 seed West Virginia 49-43; def. No. 10 seed Florida State 55-43; Regional Final def. No. 1 seed Connecticut 73-50; lost to No. 4 seed Rutgers 59-35
LSU NCAA Notes
? LSU is making its fourth consecutive and fourth overall trip to the Final Four and is the only team to have lost all four semifinal games.
? LSU is just the fourth school in NCAA Women’s Basketball history to reach four-straight Final Fours, joining Tennessee, Louisiana Tech and Connecticut.
? The Lady Tigers also reached the Final Four in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and with today’s loss is 0-4 in the semifinal contests, losing to Tennessee (52-50) in 2004, Baylor (68-57) in 2005, Duke (64-45) in 2006 and Rutgers (59-35) in 2007.
? This is LSU’s ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, its 17th overall appearance and the Lady Tigers sport a 32-16 record.
? This is the 15th time the Lady Tigers are in the tournament as an at-large selection, they are 28-14 in those tournament games. They have secured an automatic berth only twice (1991, 2003).
? LSU is in the tournament as a No. 3 seed for the second time (2000). The Lady Tigers are 7-2 in the tournament as a No. 3 seed. Their lone loss came against UConn (73-50) in 2000 in the regional final.
? Rutgers is LSU’s third Big East opponent in this year’s NCAA Tournament. They defeated West Virginia and UConn en route to the NCAA semifinals.
? LSU has had three different head coaches in its four trips to the Final Four, Sue Gunter, Pokey Chatman and Bob Starkey. Chatman served as acting head coach in 2004 while Starkey is serving in that same capacity this year.
LSU Team Notes
? With their 30-8 record, the Lady Tigers have reached 30 wins for the fifth time in program history. LSU has recorded at least 30 wins in each of the last three seasons and four of the last five.
? LSU’s roster has no seniors, its starting lineup consists of four juniors.
? LSU’s 35 points is its lowest of the season and second-lowest in school history (33 vs. Vanderbilt, Jan. 22, 1995).
? LSU’s 26.4 (14-53) shooting percentage is its lowest of the season, previous .276 (16-58) vs. South Carolina.
? Rutgers leads the series with LSU 4-1.
? For the first time this season no LSU players scored in double figures.
? LSU’s 19 first-half points ties a season low, they also scored 19 in a 61-44 victory over Louisiana Tech.
? The Lady Tigers 16 second-half points was a season low, the previous low was 21 at South Carolina.
? The 24-point margin was LSU’s largest margin of defeat of the season, previous was 10 at Vanderbilt (Feb. 22).
? LSU’s 16-point first-half deficit was the second lowest of the season for the Lady Tigers, they trailed by 17 at intermission in their 77-74 loss at Ole Miss.
? LSU’s 12 points in the paint were a season low, previous low was 14 at Georgia.
? The Lady Tigers’ .300 (3-10) shooting percentage was the second-lowest of the season, previous low was .222 (2-9) versus Louisiana Tech.
? LSU was out-rebounded for just the eighth time this season when Rutgers hauled down 44 to the Lady Tigers’ 33.
? LSU is now 3-4 when trailing at the half.
? In the first half, 10 of LSU’s 19 points came in the paint while only two of Rutgers’ 37 came in the paint.
? Rutger’s 37 first-half points were the second-most points allowed by LSU this season, one behind Ole Miss’ 38.
LSU Individual Notes
? Sylvia Fowles was named a 2007 Kodak/WBCA All-America honors on Saturday, March 31.
? Fowles’ five points were a season-tying low (5 vs. Tulsa) and it was only the second time this season that she was in single digits in both scoring and rebounding (5 points, 7 rebounds).
? Fowles’ career totals now stand at: 1,626 points, 1,209 rebounds, 252 blocked shots and 62 double-doubles.
? Fowles is just the second player in LSU history with at least 1,600 points, 1,200 rebounds and 250 blocked shots.
? Fowles’ two blocked shots moved her past Tennessee’s Sheila Frost for eighth-place on the SEC’s career blocked shots list.
? Fowles’ seven rebounds were her fourth-lowest out put of the season.
? Junior guard Erica White score nine of LSU’s 19 first-half points, but was held scoreless in the second half.
? With her nine points, White led LSU in scoring for the fifth time this season (Baylor, South Florida, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Rutgers).
NCAA Tournament Notes
? LSU’s 35 points are the fewest points scored in a NCAA semifinal and Final Four game.
? LSU’s 16 first-half points are the second lowest in a NCAA semifinal game and Final Four game.
? LSU’s 19 second-half points are the third lowest in a NCAA semifinal game and fourth lowest in a Final Four contest.
? LSU’s .264 (14-53) shooting percentage is the lowest in a NCAA semifinal and Final Four game.
? LSU’s .300 (3-10) free throw percentage is the lowest in a NCAA semifinal and Final Four game.
An Interview With:
THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with a opening statement from Coach Stringer and then we’ll take questions for the student athletes.
COACH STRINGER: Wow. That’s the best word to describe what’s happening right here. I am so proud of these young ladies. The great effort. You didn’t see a fight. We talked at the beginning about only believing what only believing in what we know. And I think that through the course of this year we were a team that had faith but we also believed because of what we saw.
We had an opportunity to play before great crowds and against the No. 1 and No. 2 team in the country. And some of the most difficult situations. How could this be any more intimidating than this opportunity. So we took this more as a opportunity. No one expected us to be here. But the long story short is that the people of the state of New Jersey, these players first believed in themselves and as a result I thought that we executed extremely well, focused on the defensive side of it and didn’t really read any of the hype.
We’re happy to be here. That’s why I’m so very proud of each and every person here. And just continue to keep the ball rolling. So I guess we’ll see you all of you guys here on Tuesday, right?
THE MODERATOR: Let’s take questions for student athletes.
Q. Kia, you essentially muscled Sylvia Fowles into irrelevance tonight. Can you talk about from the opening tip you were on her right away. Could you talk about what you were able to do?
KIA VAUGHN: I just basically played her well. Tried to be tough with her. She was a strong body and I just tried to physically make her move and keep her a away from the basket as far as I possibly could.
Q. Essence, could you talk about the development of your offensive game, you worked on your jumper over the summer and what really worked and what really got that thing going for you and when did you maybe during the season feel that confidence?
ESSENCE CARSON: Well, I really didn’t take the time to work much on my jumper over the summer. And I got to apply what I worked on during USA basketball. And I played another summer league as well. And with that experience in summertime it really helped me out. It’s one thing to practice it but once you get to use it in a real game situation that’s when you really gain the experience and learn how to use it effectively. And that just really helped me throughout this entire season. It’s really helped my team out that we do have balanced scoring from four or five positions.
Q. Essence, can you just describe what happened to your leg in the second half and are you okay for Tuesday?
ESSENCE CARSON: I’m perfectly fine. It was a cramp. Typical of athletes. Just a little dehydration. But I’m all fine and dandy now. Walking around and running on it. So I’ll definitely be ready for Tuesday.
Q. Was it your right leg?
ESSENCE CARSON: My right quad.
Q. How much of the game plan was to shoot like that from outside or were the shots just kind of falling and were you surprised at how many went down?
MATEE AJAVON: I think it’s just it was just there. We didn’t plan to like shoot 3s. The shots were there. Which opened up for the inside. So they just went in.
Q. Kia, could you sense how frustrated Fowles got in the first half?
KIA VAUGHN: I really didn’t try to feed into that. That’s her problem or anything else. She stayed calm to me when I watched her. I just tried to do and maintain what I was doing. And at that I was watching help and everything else. But she’s still good, I’m not taking anything away from her.
Q. Essence, Coach Stringer is in the Hall of Fame and this is the first time she’s gotten this far. Can you talk about what it feels like to get her here?
ESSENCE CARSON: It feels great.
Q. Second time. Sorry.
ESSENCE CARSON: Well, that’s okay.
(Laughter.) It feels great to have gotten this far. But you can’t give up. When you’re this close, why just settle for this. We have worked so hard this entire season. We have come from nothing and basically built our foundation from scratch. And to give up now would just fall short of what she’s really trying to achieve. Especially this year with this team. We’re just going to keep on believing. There’s one more game left.
Q. For any of the players. Coach talked a lot the other day about belief. And a lot about where your journey has taken you this year. But with full benefit of hindsight, if I would have told you when you were 2 4 that four and a half months later you would be in the national championship game, would you have believed it?
MATEE AJAVON: Honestly, no, we wouldn’t have. We probably would have looked at you like you’re crazy. But like you said, it was just belief in us, just believing in ourselves, the coaches always believing in us and just applying what we learned in practice to the court. So I think that’s basically where it came from. And I give a lot of thanks to the coaches who have been doing a remarkable job of preparing us mentally and physically for what we’re going through now.
Q. Kia, you looked into the in the first three or four times where Sylvia touched the ball today you just absolutely put the body on her, took her off her feet a couple times. And it didn’t get called. Did you feel that the officials were letting you two play and letting you the word was used “muscle her” before. Have you ever muscled somebody like that off the floor? And not gotten called for a foul?
KIA VAUGHN: I didn’t realize I lifted her off the floor. I’m sorry.
Q. Kia went out with her second foul nine minutes into the first half. E, who is the leading scorer, goes down seven minutes in into the second half. Why did none of that matter tonight?
MATEE AJAVON: Because we prepared for these things in practice. You got to be prepared for it all. And no matter who is on the floor, you got to have everything has to flow. So I think that the coach he’s did a great job substituting and knowing who to put in at certain times.
Q. Essence, and Mat, that point in the first half there was last five minutes of the game where it was score, 55, turnover, score again, 55, turnover, or a missed shot for them. And I think you guys had pulled away at that point. And LSU just didn’t know what to do. Is that the point at which you guys thought, okay, this is we’re going to go to the national championship game?
ESSENCE CARSON: Not at all. Because LSU, they’re a great fighting team.
At this stage, in the post season, you can’t declare victory that early. Especially in the first half. They’re there’s still 20 plus minus left. And, I mean, if we were in that position we would definitely wouldn’t give up. We would keep fighting, keep fighting, keep surviving. Until our hearts pounded out of our chest.
So we knew that they were coming back in the second half and they would be very strong and try to come out really intense. And they did come out second half pretty strong. And we knew it wasn’t over until it was over until that horn went off.
Q. For Mat, I noticed you were the fourth leading 3 point shooter on the team. Did you have you ever had a game like this before and what was going through your mind when your shots were falling?
MATEE AJAVON: I’m not sure if I had a game like that before. It was just in the flow of the game. My teammates did a great job of recognizing that I was hitting the shots and passing it back to me. So I just give a lot of credit to my teammates.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. We’ll now start with questions for Coach.
Q. When Kia went out at 11:22 to go in the first half, Sylvia only got one shot. What did you tell Rashidat? What were your instructions to her?
COACH STRINGER: Well, if you noticed even we only have 10 players but we have been using all 10 of those players and each person has had a game where they have made a huge difference. They have had significant minutes. So it’s not a front. Just to go ahead when we have got a 10 point lead or whatever, Rashidat has been in games where she’s had to make a difference. So we were trying to tell her at the beginning, you don’t have time for a 30 second, you’re trying to find yourself and someone picking up a foul or have somebody get the rebounds they’re not supposed to. See yourself through every move that Kia is involved in and that time will come. Because I only anticipated playing Kia about three to five minutes if she didn’t pick up a foul and taking her out. So that Ra got a feel for how the game was being played to the inside any way, so Ra knew that. So when it happened, it’s like a relay, this is the opportunity that you’ve been waiting for. So step in and let’s go. You got to cover it, you’re not missing a beat on this. The same thing, Mat was a little rattled at the beginning and we needed to bring in
What’s interesting about that is they’re freshmen, you know. But they seem to be oblivious. We haven’t really pounded it into their heads this the Final Four, my God, it’s the Final Four. We just tried to deal with the game in a technical sense. We understand history, that we are fourth seed. We’re not supposed to be here. No one expected us to be here. That’s all right with us.
What we’re looking to do is to feel good about ourselves. And so, you know, when Brittany was able to step in there and spell Mat for a couple minutes, she got a chance to talk to her, settle her down. So that gave me a good sense. Now Brittany is ready. Now we put her back in but then of course E goes down.
For some strange reason in years past I have been in, you know, games that lead to a Final Four and you’ve got a loss of crucial player and your whole team tends to reflect those minutes that that player has been gone. But what’s interesting about this team is that, as Mat said, they really believe and know that they’re a team. They’re not individually looking for accolades as you can see we got none. The only thing that we’re looking for is a respect well, that’s true. All you have to do is look at that. That tells you something right there. But all you have to do is recognize that we’re just playing together as a team and one person asked, well, what makes us so dangerous, is I don’t know if it was going to come from E or if it was going to come from Mat or from Brittany. You don’t know where it’s going to come from. They have functioned all year long doing bad and doing well or doing good and doing, good and bad. But they have done it together. So.
Q. Can you go back to ’82 and think about what it was like back with Cheney State back then, and did you think it would take 25 years to get a shot at another, to play for another national championship and can you just describe the feelings now reaching the championship game as opposed to then?
COACH STRINGER: Well, I think that if anyone were to think that of how long anything would take when you’re trying to excel at those levels, I don’t think that we could probably make it. I think that but because each year I really love what I do in coaching and I look at it from a technical sense of considering where the players are and molding them into the players that you hope them to be, that the years kind of pass.
No, I didn’t think about 25 years. I do know this, my heart was broken when I did have to make substitutions, much like what happened with Kia. And as I shared with some you, when I took my 6 4 out I had to bring in a 5 11, and the meantime the game was against Louisiana Tech. It was the first championship that the NCAA put on. I was bringing a 5 11; they were bringing a 6 2, Dennis Rodman’s sister who was mad she was coming off the bench, so you know it was just rough.
So this was nice it was a different feeling. I really have confidence in all the players and I don’t know why other than the fact that as I said to some of you, really do believe that our steps are in order. I do believe that this is the team of destiny and there’s a sense of calm. I was really nervous and anxious. I had been very, very calm. Sometimes I have to ask myself, what the heck am I doing? You know. And it’s almost as though I’m free to coach and I feel very good about it. I feel very good about the coaches that are around me. I feel good about the players that are there. And as you know, Rutgers athletics, our football team had such great success, and our so many of our other programs and I just wanted to carry that ball and we know that it’s about hard work. I think I saw with the guys what they went through, the football team, and we knew what we had to do and our men’s basketball team, too, and we believed it. Gymnastics and every other aspect of soccer, everything that is about Rutgers, we want the people throughout the country to know what it means to come from New Jersey and to a great extent both New York and New Jersey are combined, joined together forces, and we really do feel as one. This team is real proud of the fact that our governor was here, the president of our university. Of course our athletic director was here, but our football and basketball coaches were here. That spoke volumes. So many of the fans that are here and perhaps they’re the only people that believed in us. We’re grateful. We appreciate that. We just want to make everybody proud and we’ll continue to work hard.
Q. Coaches make plans but players have to execute the plans. And have you seen two players, your two posts ever do as solid a job as those two? You don’t ever completely stop Sylvia, but I’m guessing that that’s as stopped as she got this year.
COACH STRINGER: Let me ask you this. Where are you from?
Q. Cleveland.
COACH STRINGER: Cleveland. Okay. But your observations are very good. Because I’m going to tell you something, not only that, not only that, I thought that the key to that believe it or not was Heather Zurich. Heather recognized who she was playing, and she basically stepped to the four player and then backed off and that made a difference, you see, because in order for Sylvia Fowles to get into what she likes to do best, as all of you know, is that hook shot. But in order to have a hook, you have got it’s got to be extended to the outside. So that the recovery was back down to the inside. So that took away that.
I don’t think maybe she has worked this hard to get that because she wanted that but in the meantime Kia kept pushing her up she caught her high in the lane and kept her up. So that goes without saying that’s perhaps something that you didn’t see. Or know.
LSU is as good a team as I’ve seen all year. And Sylvia Fowles is the best center in America. Period. We were on high alert and I didn’t know that we were going to do this good a job. We did. But I can honestly tell you that I just know that this team as a whole executed the way that they did.
And what I’m most impressed with Kia about is that normally Kia gets a little anxious when she gets in the post position, especially with a shot blocker that’s as intimidating as Sylvia Fowles was. So my mindset was to give her lead passes so she didn’t have to do anything other than to take it to the hole. No reads, no nothing. Catch it and make the pass that will lead her to the basket. But I was stunned because Kia not so much stunned. I should say it like this. I am so proud of the continued development of each and every player including Rashidat, each and every they’re so young that they grow and learn every day. What was very significant for me was to see her catch it, keep it tight, look over her shoulder, not get anxious, and hold the ball and in a controlled position. And then go up over the top of her and take that shot. Or be able to bounce the pass back out. So there was a lot of growth that we saw today.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you for joining us, we’ll see you to tomorrow.
COACH STRINGER: Thanks, every one.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
Rutgers Lockerroom Quotes
Freshman guard Epiphanny Prince
On whether she still feels like a freshman:
“No. From day one, coach told us that there was no room for freshmen on this team. So, we can’t say we’re freshmen, we’ve got next year. She always tells us that the time is now. So, we’re just trying to embrace it.”
On what this win means to the program:
“This win means a lot for the university and for Coach Stringer. This is something she’s been trying to do for a long time now and hopefully we can come out and play hard and get it for her.”
On team shooting well:
“Everyone just felt it. Everyone was in their own zone. They were taking their shots and when we were finding each other they were taking their shots and they were hitting them.”
On ease of victory:
“We just wanted to come out and play defense. We got the stops. You can’t blow a team out unless you score too and today everyone was on fire.”
Sophomore forward Heather Zurich
On holding LSU to the lowest point total in Final Four history:
“Our offense comes from our defense. We know (Sylvia) Fowles is a great post, so we just tried to put as much pressure on her as we could and made sure we always had two people on her to make everyone else shoot the outside shot. We had to rebound and play defense. That was the key for us tonight.”
On the quick start by Rutgers:
“We were hitting shots. I think we were like 80% in the first half from three-point range. With the three, you live by it or die by it. We knew in the second half if our shots weren’t falling, that we couldn’t always be going for that. So, we tried to get some penetration inside and get some points off rebounds. Kia (Vaughn) stepped up inside and that was basically it.”
On the team’s many freshmen:
“From the beginning of the season, coach said freshmen are sophomores and sophomores are juniors. Juniors are seniors – that’s just how it’s going to be. They’re not babies anymore. They stepped up tonight and they all played a great game. We don’t see them as freshmen anymore.”
On what this means for Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer:
“This is everything to coach. We want to do this for her. To get her a National Championship, that would be the ultimate. We’re doing everything for her. This is all about her.”
Junior guard Katie Adams
On how it feels to a part of something special:
“It is just amazing. It is just a dream come true. I have always wanted to be a part of something big like this and I am very happy. All the hard work paid off that we not only put in during the off-season but even the progression and the strides we have made throughout this season have made us a much more complete team.”
On why she chose Rutgers:
“It was definitely Coach Stringer and the team as a whole. It felt just like a family when I visited. Coming from Utah, the East Coast is like night and day. The style of basketball is more up tempo and more aggressive. I like the faster pace of play and I like to get after it. Even the lifestyle is more frantic and I like that. There are a lot more people in New Jersey and that excited me.”
Freshman center Rashidat Junaid
On the defensive efforts of the Rutgers post players:
“We knew coming in that Sylvia (Fowles) was one of the best players in the country and our goal in the post was to not let her get the ball, to limit her touches to keep her from scoring. We also knew we had to box out to limit her rebounding because we knew she had been averaging in double figures.”
On advancing to the championship game in her freshman season:
“It feels great. I had the chance to guard one of the best post players in the country right now and I think I did pretty well.”
On her excitement entering the championship game:
“I definitely won’t be able to sleep tonight. I couldn’t sleep last night. This is an unbelievable position to be in.”
On her preference of facing either North Carolina or Tennessee in the championship game:
“I don’t really have a preference for who we face. They are both great teams and we will be happy to play either one.”
Freshman Guard Brittany Ray
On executing the team’s game plan:
“We couldn’t miss in the first half. It was spectacular. We just went out and executed coach’s plan. We boxed out and made sure we packed it in on Sylvia Fowles. That’s what we did. We executed. We got our offense from our defense. It was a great game overall; we executed our defensive and offensive game plans to the utmost, to the epitome of what she asked for. I am excited that we won.”
On shooting well:
“We were just shooting. Everybody was confident in their shot tonight. I think that is why we were hitting our shots. We were just confident and let everything flow. ”
On playing well
“What can I say. We were just hitting all of our shots. They’re a great defensive team. I acknowledge that they are a great defensive team. They were ranked number one in the nation. We just came out to play today. Just like our coach tells us everyday. Take it one game at a time. Just play and defense wins games. That’s what we tried to do.”
GREENSBORO REGIONAL CHAMPION (27-8)
(Ranked No. 15 by Associated Press, No. 18 by USA Today/ESPN/WBCA)
Record: 27-8, 12-4; automatic bid from BIG EAST Conference; No. 4 seed
NCAA TOURNAMENT RESULTS: Defeated #13 seed East Carolina, 77-34; #5 seed Michigan State, 70-57; #1 seed Duke 53-52; #3 seed Arizona State 64-45; #3 seed LSU 59-35.
NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES
? Rutgers wins its first-ever Final Four game and advances to its first NCAA national championship game in its second appearance at the Final Four. In their only other Final Four contest, the Scarlet Knights lost to Tennessee, 64-54, on March 31, 2000 at the First Union Center in Philadelphia. RU also moves to 29-17 (.630) all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
? As a No. 4 seed, Rutgers matches the Final Four record for the lowest-seeded team ever to reach the NCAA national championship game (Western Kentucky ? 1992; Louisiana Tech ? 1994). No team seeded lower than third has won the national title, with North Carolina (1994) and Tennessee (1997) the only No. 3 seeds ever to hoist the hardware.
? On Tuesday night, Rutgers will look to become the third consecutive first-time NCAA champion. Baylor (2005) and Maryland (2006) earned their first national championships in women’s basketball the past two seasons.
? Rutgers is the first team to advance to the NCAA national championship game after a 2-4 start since Western Kentucky in 1992. That year, WKU defeated Missouri State, 84-72 in the national semifinals before bowing to Stanford, 78-62 in the title game at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
? Rutgers has a chance to become just the fourth NCAA national champion with less than 30 wins in a season, and the first since 1997, when Tennessee went 29-10 on the way to winning the title in Cincinnati (the only other time the Final Four was played in Ohio). Other national champions with less than 30 wins in a season were: Southern California (29-4 in 1984) and Tennessee (28-6 in 1987), with the latter setting the mark for the fewest wins ever by an NCAA champion. UT’s .743 winning percentage in 1997 also remains the lowest by a national champion.
? Rutgers has led by double figures in four of its five NCAA Tournament games this year. The lone exception was the Greensboro Regional semifinal vs. top-seeded Duke, when the Scarlet Knights never led by more than four points (6-2, 13:39 1st half) in a 53-52 victory over the Blue Devils.
? Rutgers set a school record for fewest points allowed in NCAA Tournament play. The previous standard came on March 20, 2005, when the Scarlet Knights downed Hartford, 62-37 in the opening round of the Philadelphia Region at Storrs, Conn.
? Rutgers has won 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament games and is 18-1 (.947) all-time when limiting its opponents to less than 60 points. The only time the Scarlet Knights have lost a defensive struggle in the NCAA Tournament was the 2005 Philadelphia Regional final (59-49 vs. Tennessee). This year, RU has held all five of its NCAA Tournament foes to less than 60 points, allowing an average of just 44.6 points per game.
? In its last three games, RU has averaged just 11.3 turnovers per game. For the season, the Scarlet Knights are averaging only 14.3 giveaways per contest, while forcing 16.9 opponent turnovers per game.
TEAM NOTES
? Rutgers improves to 2-7 (.286) all-time against Southeastern Conference schools in the NCAA Tournament. The Scarlet Knights are 0-5 vs. Tennessee (1992, 1998, 2000, 2005 and 2006), 1-1 vs. Georgia (win in 2000, loss in 2003), 1-0 vs. LSU (2007) and 0-1 vs. Vanderbilt (1990).
? Rutgers rises to 3-5 (.375) all-time when playing in the state of Ohio. Tonight’s win is the first for the Scarlet Knights in the Buckeye State since Jan. 3, 2006 (64-51 at Cincinnati), with the only other Ohio win for RU coming on Dec. 1, 1999 at Ohio State by a 46-35 score.
? RU’s 10 three-point field goals were two shy of its school-record mark, set back on Dec. 7 in a loss at DePaul. The Scarlet Knights went 12-31 from the three-point line in that contest.
? During the past two seasons, Rutgers is 45-1 (.978) when leading with 10:00 remaining in the game. The only loss in that time came earlier this season (Jan. 21), when the Scarlet Knights lost a 53-50 decision at 15th-ranked Louisville.
? Rutgers moves to 9-1 (.900) this season when guards Matee Ajavon and Essence Carson both score in double figures. The only time the Scarlet Knights lost in such a situation was Dec. 7 at DePaul (an 87-73 setback), when Ajavon was in just her second game back after a preseason leg injury.
? Rutgers’ eight first-half three-point field goals tied a season high, previously set at DePaul on Dec. 7. However, the Scarlet Knights’ .800 three-point percentage was NOT their best in the first half this year ? RU was 3-3 from distance in its Greensboro Regional final win over Arizona State on March 26.
? For the sixth time this year, Rutgers scored more points from the three-point line (30) than from the paint (10). The Scarlet Knights are 4-2 in such games, including NCAA Tournament wins over Michigan State and LSU.
? Rutgers has held 16 opponents this season to less than 50 points in a game, going 16-0 in those contests. The Scarlet Knights also have held six opponents to less than 40 points, including two in the NCAA Tournament (East Carolina – 34 points; LSU ? 35 points).
? Rutgers held a 37-19 lead at halftime, and as it turned out, the Scarlet Knights didn’t need to score another point, with the RU defense limiting LSU to a season-low 35 points for the game.
PLAYER/COACH NOTES
? Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer is the first women’s basketball coach ever to take two different schools to the NCAA national championship game. Stringer piloted Cheyney to the first-ever NCAA title game in 1982, a game won by Louisiana Tech, 76-62 in Norfolk, Va. Stringer is making her fourth Final Four appearance, having also reached the national semifinals with Iowa (1993) and Rutgers (2000).
? Stringer also is the fourth basketball coach ? men’s or women’s ? to lead two different schools to the NCAA national championship game. On the men’s side, Frank McGuire (St. John’s – 1952, North Carolina – 1957), Larry Brown (UCLA ? 1980 [later vacated], Kansas ? 1988) and Roy Williams (Kansas ? 1991 and 2003, North Carolina – 2005) are the only mentors to pull off this feat. Of those three men’s coaches, each won titles at their second school only.
? Freshman guard Epiphanny Prince already has set a Rutgers record with 15 steals thus far in the NCAA Tournament. Current teammate Matee Ajavon held the previous mark of 12 thefts in 2005 (four games).
? Prince has 89 steals this season, the seventh-highest total in school history. With two thefts tonight, Prince passed Denise Kenney (1976-77) and Liz Hanson (1995-96), who each logged 88 steals in a season.
? Although standing just 5-foot-9, Prince has been a rebounding force for Rutgers in the past two games, grabbing a combined 19 boards in wins over Arizona State and LSU.
? Prior to the NCAA Tournament, Prince had been credited with more than five assists just once this season (8 vs. Florida on Nov. 18). She has logged six assists in two of her last four games (vs. Michigan State and LSU).
? Sophomore center Kia Vaughn is closing in on the Rutgers record for rebounds in a single NCAA Tournament run. Vaughn currently has 37 boards through five games, with Sue Wicks holding the high-water mark of 39 caroms in 1987 (three games).
? Vaughn moved into fifth place on the Rutgers’ single-season rebounding list with 326. With four boards tonight, she passed Terry Dorner (1981-82) and Regina Howard (1986-87), who had 324 caroms apiece.
? Vaughn blocked two shots tonight, giving her 91 rejections this season and pulling her within six blocks of Sue Wicks’ single-season school record (97 in 1986-87).
? Sophomore forward Heather Zurich tied her career high with six rebounds, a mark she reached twice previously (vs. Mississippi on Dec. 12 and at Syracuse on Feb. 14).
? Junior guard Matee Ajavon has 83 points through Rutgers’ five NCAA Tournament games. The Scarlet Knights’ record for points in one NCAA Tournament is 96 by Cappie Pondexter in 2005 (four games).
? With 16 points this evening, Ajavon moved into 18th place on the Rutgers career scoring list with 1,211 points, passing Patty Coyle (1,209 points from 1978-82).
? Ajavon tied her season high with four three-point field goals (at Notre Dame on Feb. 24). However, her .800 three-point percentage was not a season best. In fact, she has been perfect from long range three times this year ? 2-2 vs. Pittsburgh (Jan. 6), 3-3 vs. Providence (Feb. 20) and 2-2 vs. DePaul in the BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinals (March 4).
? Ajavon took over sole possession of seventh place on RU’s career steals list with 214, one more than C’ta Mitchelson (1989-93) and Cappie Pondexter (2002-06).
? Junior guard/forward Essence Carson tied her career highs with three three-point field goals made and six three-point attempts, marks she had set four other times (all this season).
MISCELLANEOUS
? Rutgers is aiming to become the third different BIG EAST school to win an NCAA title, following in the footsteps of Connecticut (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004) and Notre Dame (2001). Among its current membership, only the Big 12 Conference has had three different schools win a national championship ? Texas (1986), Texas Tech (1993) and Baylor (2005), although both UT and Texas Tech were members of the Southwest Conference at the time of their victories.
? RU is the third different BIG EAST school to reach the NCAA national championship game, joining Connecticut (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004) and Notre Dame (2001) in that group. Other conferences that have sent at least three different current members to the NCAA final include: Big 12 (Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Baylor), ACC (Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, Maryland), SEC (Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn) and Big Ten (Ohio State, Purdue, Michigan State).
? In each of its six previous trips to the NCAA national championship game, the BIG EAST representative has come away victorious. No other conference, in its current configuration, has an undefeated record in NCAA title contests.
? BIG EAST teams now have won five consecutive head-to-head matchups with SEC squads in Final Four competition. The last time an SEC school downed a BIG EAST institution at the Final Four was 2000, when Tennessee ousted Rutgers, 64-54 in Philadelphia. The Lady Vols fell to Connecticut, 71-52, two nights later in what was the start of the current BIG EAST win streak.
? Rutgers’ lone NCAA team championship came in 1949, when the Scarlet Knights’ fencing team shared the title with Army. The RU women’s basketball team did win the 1982 AIAW championship (defeating Texas, 83-77 in the final at The Palestra in Philadelphia), which was played opposite the first-ever NCAA Tournament.
? Rutgers played in front of the largest crowd in program history this evening, with a capacity crowd of 20,704 on hand at Quicken Loans Arena. The previous attendance record for a Scarlet Knight women’s basketball game was 20,060 for Rutgers’ national semifinal game vs. Tennessee on March 31, 2000 at the First Union Center in Philadelphia.
? Prior to this evening, Rutgers has never played a game in the month of April. The Scarlet Knights’ latest game on record had been its 2000 Final Four game vs. Tennessee, which was played on March 31.
? Rutgers won its first BIG EAST Tournament championship this season (55-47 vs. Connecticut), and earned its first postseason conference tournament title of any kind since 1994, when the Scarlet Knights claimed the Atlantic 10 crown (79-71 vs. George Washington).
? Nine teams with red as a primary uniform color have advanced to the NCAA national championship game (Southern California ? 1983, 1984, 1986; Georgia ? 1985, 1996; Stanford ? 1990, 1992; Western Kentucky ? 1992; Texas Tech ? 1993; Ohio State ? 1993; Oklahoma ? 2002; Maryland ? 2006; and Rutgers ? 2007). Of that group, USC (1983, 1984), Stanford (1990, 1992), Texas Tech (1993) and Maryland (2006) went on to win the national title.