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By ANTONYA ENGLISH
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 1, 2001
COACHES: Notre Dame -- Muffet McGraw (321-117, 14th season; 409-158 overall). Purdue -- Kristy Curry (54-14, second season).
KEY PLAYERS: Notre Dame -- Ruth Riley, C, 6-5 Sr. (184. ppg, 7.7 rpg); Alicia Ratay, G, 5-11 So. (13.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg); Kelley Siemon, F, 6-2 Sr. (11.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg); Niele Ivey, G, 5-8 Sr. (11.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg). Purdue -- Katie Douglas, G/F, 5-11 Sr. (15.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg); Camille Cooper, C, 6-4 Sr. (14.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg); Shereka Wright, F, 5-10 Fr. (9.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg); Kelly Komora, G, 5-7 Jr. (9.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg).
SERIES HISTORY: Purdue leads 9-3. In their most recent meeting, the Boilermakers lost to Notre Dame 72-61 on Dec. 9.
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Notre Dame defeated Alcorn State 98-49, Michigan 88-54, Utah 69-54, Vanderbilt 72-64 and Connecticut 90-75. Purdue defeated UC Santa Barbara 75-62, LSU 73-70, Texas Tech 74-72, Xavier 88-78 and Southwest Missouri State 81-64.
WHAT PURDUE HAS TO DO: Dominate the boards and play the same tenacious defense against Ivey and Ratay that it did against Jackie Stiles. The Boilermakers' two freshmen, Wright and Shalicia Hurns, had big-time performances in the semifinal, particularly on defense. They'll need to step up one more time because Notre Dame's guards, combined with Riley inside, form one of the most formidable inside-outside combinations in the country.
WHAT NOTRE DAME HAS TO DO: Make sure Purdue doesn't have the dominating rebounding performance that it had Friday night. If Purdue dominates the glass, that means Riley most likely is in foul trouble or being outplayed, and neither is a good for Notre Dame. Riley will have to keep Cooper contained inside, which may prove to be the biggest battle of all. Meanwhile, Notre Dame needs to prevent Hurns, Douglas and Wright from getting the type of easy, driving layups that killed SMS in the semifinals.
-- Compiled by Antonya English.