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

Stopping Lady Bears' leader was top priority

By Kyle Charters
Senior Writer

ST. LOUIS – Before their semifinal game against Southwest Missouri State, the Boilers said they just wanted to be able to slow down the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer.

Purdue succeeded with that on Friday. The Boilers held Lady Bear senior Jackie Stiles to 22 points - nine below her average - on 7-of-21 shooting as third-seeded Purdue beat fifth-seeded Southwest Missouri State 81-64 in the NCAA tournament semifinals. The Boilers advance to play Notre Dame for the NCAA Championship on Sunday.

Liz Nicol/Senior Photographer

WE'RE No. 1: Cheerleader Zac Hillyard, a senior in the School of Technology, motivates the Purdue crowd at the Final Four pep rally on Friday.

Purdue freshman Shereka Wright, an athletic 6-foot-1 forward, spent most of Friday chasing the 5-8 Stiles.

"I just really wanted to contain her and make her work," said Wright, who had 11 points and six rebounds in the win. "That was the whole concept behind guarding Jackie Stiles because you’re not going to stop her, you’ve got to contain her. I think contesting all her shots and the team defense ... was the difference for us."

Stiles scored seven of her team’s first nine points to start the game, but the Boilers, who constantly rotated on defense, held the senior scoreless for the rest of the half.

"They did a great job defensively," said Stiles, an All-American who averages 30.6 points per game. "(They) made our team work for everything and made me, as an individual, work for everything, work every time I caught the ball."

Although Stiles was primarily guarded by Wright, other Boilers also contributed. Purdue senior Shinika Parks, who is shorter but more physical than Wright, also spent a lot of time guarding Stiles.

"That was a great combination," said Parks, "because (Stiles) had to adjust to whoever was guarding her. Sometimes even Katie (Douglas) was on her. So she really didn’t know what to expect coming down the floor. If she knew anything she knew she had to work hard to get her points."

Like in the first half, Stiles started the second half strong. She scored her team’s first 10 points to help Southwest Missouri State pull within 11 after trailing by 17 at the half. But Stiles scored only five points during the next 16 minutes.

"They made me work so hard in the first half, that in the second half I sort of just ran out of gas toward the end," said Stiles, who scored 3,393 points in her career. "I didn’t quite have my legs under me."

Stiles may have been tired in part because the Boilers guarded her everywhere she went on the court. Curry wanted her team to start guarding Stiles as soon as she crossed the halfcourt line.

"The No. 1 thing we did against Jackie was stop her in transition, and I think that’s where she has been so successful in the past is getting a lot of transition buckets," said Curry. "She got a couple ... (but) I thought the kids did a nice job in transition and tried to shut down everybody else around her."

Wright thought that stopping Stiles from getting easy transition baskets was a key to the game.

"We wanted to guard her as soon as the ball got on the court," said Wright. "That was the whole game plan."

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