Information director keeps
hair
By Doug Healey, Paul
Trembacki, Anne McLaren, and
Kyle Charters
The Purdue women's basketball team received some
extra motivation on the flight to Alabama for regional action.
Sports information director Kathleen Offer told
senior Katie Douglas she would shave her head if the team made it to
the Final Four.
"She made me pinky swear," said Offer.
However, Offer has her hair for now. No one reminded
her of her commitment since the Boilers beat Xavier Monday night, advancing
to the Final Four for the second time in three years.
"I looked at Katie after the game and I was surprised
she had forgotten," Offer said.
Offer said that even though it would be fun for
the team to do, the Boilers have other more important things on their
mind.
"I think they would like to, but there's a lack
of time," she said. "My not having hair is low on the priority list.
I'm just really excited for the team."
Whether it will get done is still in doubt, but
Offer said if it's going to get done, she will not be the one doing
it.
"I am not going to shave it myself, so if they
want to do it, they can," she said.
Not done yet
Purdue is having fun celebrating its Final Four
berth, but in no way are the Boilers finished winning.
Purdue advanced to the third Final Four in school
history by defeating Xavier 88-78 Monday night. The last time the Boilers
made it to the Final Four was in 1999 when they won the national championship.
"We're not satisfied and complacent about getting
to the Final Four," senior Katie Douglas said after the Boilers' win.
"We still have that national championship experience. We still have
that desire and that heart that we displayed (Monday night). We want
to go out and make some noise in St. Louis."
The Boilers (30-6) play Southwest Missouri State
(29-5) at 7 p.m. Friday in St. Louis. No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 Notre
Dame match up in the other semifinal at approximately 9:30 p.m. The
winners meet Sunday night for the national championship.
Trifecta
Purdue is the first team to make it to the Final
Four three times with three different coaches.
Lin Dunn (1994) and Carolyn Peck (1999) coached
the Boilers into the national semifinals before Kristy Curry did so
this year.
However, Curry wants to do what the other two didn't
— take the Boilers back.
"I’m going to work as hard as I possibly
can from the start to put them in position to be successful," said
Curry.
Douglas said the team has always had confidence
in the administration at Purdue.
"No matter who they brought in, we were comfortable
and confident in their decision for the leader of our program," Douglas
said. "I know Camille (Cooper) and I are happy to have a coach for two
years in a row."
Cooper said, "There’s been ups and downs,
but I don’t think it’s been a struggle. We’ve had different
transitions but we’ve remained and we’ve pulled together.
I just credit my teammates for sticking together and believing in each
other. We all have the same goal of winning so things work out pretty
well."
Tickets sell out
Tickets for the Final Four games in St. Louis are
sold out. Tickets were $100 for all three games.
About 19,600 tickets for the event got distributed
for the event last summer. Small allotments of tickets went on sale
Tuesday at each of the four participating schools.
Ticket brokers are reportedly selling tickets for
as much as $1,900.
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