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Hoosier teams prepare for Final Four

Liz Nicol/Senior Photographer

HUGS AND SMILES: Senior Katie Douglas hugs assistant coach Kerry Cremeans after the Boilers' win over Xavier Monday night. Douglas and the Boilers are hoping for more hugs and smiles this weekend..

By Kyle Charters
Senior Writer

ST LOUIS — The NCAA women’s Final Four might be in Missouri this year, but tonight’s semifinal games should feel more like Hoosier Hysteria.

That’s because two teams from Indiana make up half of this season’s Final Four.

Purdue (30-6) plays Southwest Missouri State (29-5) in the first semifinal at 7 p.m. in the Savvis Center while another Hoosier school, Notre Dame (32-2), takes on Connecticut (32-2) in the second. The winners meet for the NCAA Championship on Sunday. All games are being televised by ESPN.

"I think it speaks volumes for Indiana basketball," said Purdue junior Kelly Komara, a native of Schererville, Ind. "To have two teams from the same state in the Final Four really contributes to how much Indiana basketball has come along in the last few years. It has been a tremendous thing for Indiana basketball."

Five Boilers are natives of Indiana — Komara, senior Katie Douglas (Indianapolis), senior Candi Crawford (Fort Wayne), sophomore Mary Jo Noon (Clarksville) and freshman Shalicia Hurns (Indianapolis). Notre Dame center Ruth Riley, a Macy native, is the only Irish player from Indiana.

"I guess I might be a little biased on (my) opinion," said Riley, who was named player of the year on Thursday, "but I think it says a lot for the type of players that do come out of Indiana, if you look at the players on Purdue’s team and the people who are on our team. It’s just exciting. There’s a lot of tradition that goes on with Indiana basketball and it’s represented here."

Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said she has had great success recruiting players from Indiana.

"We are excited about the way high school basketball is going in Indiana," said McGraw. "It’s a great state for basketball."

All six Indiana natives in tonight’s game know a lot about that basketball tradition. Besides playing high school basketball in the state, they were also selected as Indiana All-Stars after their senior seasons. Douglas and Crawford played with Riley on the 1997 all-star team. Komara, who is an Indiana Miss Basketball award winner, played on the 1998 squad with Noon, and Hurns starred last summer.

"It’s a true example this week, how Notre Dame and Purdue are in the Final Four, to show you what kind of tradition that we’ve had the past couple hundred years in Indiana," said Douglas. "It has something special — until you experience it, a lot of people don’t know about it."

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