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Weekend Update 3/30/2001	5 day quick link 3/29 \| 3/28 \| 3/27 \| 3/26 \| 3/23

Liz Nicol/Senior Photographer

BEAR HUNT Senior Katie Douglas drives the ball down the court while Southwest Missouri State's Jackie Stiles chases. Douglas had a game-high 25 points to lead Purdue to a 81-64 victory Friday night in the Final Four in St. Louis. The Boilers advance to the NCAA championship game on Sunday night.

Rebounding pushes Purdue to title game

By Anne McLaren
Assistant Sports Editor

ST. LOUIS – A total domination of the glass helped Purdue to advance to Sunday's national championship game.

Third-seeded Purdue (31-6) beat fifth-seeded Southwest Missouri State (29-6) 81-64 Friday night in the Savvis Center. The Boilers will play Notre Dame, which beat Connecticut, 90-75 Friday night in the second semifinal, despite being down 49-37 at halftime. Purdue and Notre Dame tip off at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in a game televised by ESPN.

"It's every coach's dream to have a chance to play for the national championship," said coach Kristy Curry. "I'm so very, very proud for everyone at Purdue and our entire Purdue family, because it's going to be a special day for us to lace up our shoes and play for the one that matters."

The Boilers outrebounded the Lady Bears 47-29, including 21-8 on the offensive glass.

"Their post play made a major difference because of their great rebounding," said SMS coach Cheryln Burnett. "And certainly, Katie Douglas – we didn't stop her all night."

Douglas led all scorers with 25 points and also pulled down seven rebounds. She scored three more than her All-American counterpart, SMS' Jackie Stiles, who scored 22 and finished as the all-time leading scorer in women's NCAA history with 3,393 points.

Three other Boilers were in double figures. Senior center Camille Cooper finished with a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) despite being in foul trouble.

"Everyone was crashing the boards and we knew we would have to continue to outrebound them and it paid big dividends," said Cooper. "We got second and third opportunities and it really helped out on the offensive end."

Junior guard Kelly Komara added 13 points and freshman forward Shereka Wright contributed 11. Fellow freshman Shalicia Hurns led all players with 12 rebounds, to go along with nine points.

"We emphasized (rebounding) a lot in the scouting report," said Hurns. We knew that would be an advantage because they are such a perimeter team. We have a nice balance of inside, outside."

Purdue held an early 5-2 advantage before SMS scored nine straight points to take an 11-5 advantage. The Boilers then went on runs of 16-6, 14-1, and 10-0 to take a 47-30 lead into halftime. Douglas scored 12 points in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting.

"I really wanted to be aggressive from the get-go," said Douglas. "I think that helps me throughout the game; if I'm aggressive at first. I was hitting some shots tonight, which is good.

Douglas hit just 3-of-13 shots against Xavier in the Mideast Regional semifinal.

"I really wanted to come out and be a spark and be the aggressor," she said.

"Katie Douglas is an amazing player," said SMS forward Tara Mitchem. "It was a total team effort tonight that we wanted to stop her, and unfortunately our defense just wasn’t there."

In the second half, the versatile Douglas took over the point guard position.

"Coach Curry switched me to the point," said Douglas, "which was fine because I'm comfortable playing there. I've played there throughout my career. I think it was a good decision, because coming into a trap, as a bigger point guard, I could see over the traps and obviously we got it inside and were successful."

NOTES: After sitting out since tearing her anterior cruciate ligament in her knee against Iowa on Jan. 4, sophomore center Mary Jo Noon logged two minutes after Cooper fouled out. Noon attempted one shot and collected one rebound. Noon redshirted the 1999 season when Purdue won the national championship; Friday night was her first Final Four action.

PURDUE 81, SW MISSOURI ST. 64

SW MISSOURI ST. (29-6)

Mitchem 4-9 2-2 11, Deer 4-7 0-0 11, Rante 2-3 0-0 4, Stiles 7-21 8-9 22, Campbell 1-3 0-0 2, Kiss 0-0 0-0 0, Vincente 3-8 2-5 8, Busbey 1-1 0-1 2, Kadic 0-0 0-0 0, Hohenberger 0-1 0-0 0, McMorris 0-0 0-0 0, Cavey 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 24-56 12-17 64.

PURDUE (31-6)

Hurns 4-8 1-2 9, Wright 4-9 2-4 11, Cooper 7-10 2-4 16, Komara 3-13 6-8 13, Douglas 8-15 6-9 25, Hicks 0-1 0-0 0, Parks 2-4 0-0 4, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Crawford 1-4 1-2 3, Langston 0-0 0-0 0, Noon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-65 18-29 81.

Halftime–Purdue 47, SW Missouri St. 30. 3-Point Goals–SW Missouri St. 4-11 (Deer 3-5, Mitchem 1-3, Stiles 0-3), Purdue 5-11 (Douglas 3-5, Wright 1-2, Komara 1-4). Fouled out–Campbell, Cooper. Rebounds–SW Missouri St. 29 (Rante 5), Purdue 47 (Hurns 12). Assists–SW Missouri St. 14 (Vincente 3), Purdue 11 (Komara, Wright 3). Total fouls–SW Missouri St. 23, Purdue 15.

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