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Friday, 3/30/2001	5 day quick link 3/29 \| 3/28 \| 3/27 \| 3/26 \| 3/23

Boilers battle Bears tonight

By Anne McLaren
Assistant Sports Editor

ST. LOUIS — Coach Kristy Curry didn't want to reveal how she plans to defend Southwest Missouri State's Jackie Stiles, but the Boilers do plan on playing team defense tonight as they take on the Lady Bears in the Final Four.

Purdue (30-6) and SMS (29-5) face off in the first semifinal game at 7 tonight in the Savvis Center in St. Louis. Connecticut (32-2) and Notre Dame (32-2) tip off at approximately 9:30 p.m. in the second semifinal. Both games will be televised by ESPN. At 8:30 p.m. Sunday, the winners will meet for the NCAA Championship.

SMS is led by Stiles, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women's history with 3,371 points. This season the 5-foot-8 guard is averaging 30.6 points per game.

In the tournament, teams have had problems defending Stiles, who scored 41 points against top-seeded Duke and 32 points against sixth-seeded Washington in the West Regional games.

"Everybody wants to talk about Jackie Stiles," said Purdue junior guard Kelly Komara. "But I think the reason that Southwest Missouri State is here is because so many people concentrate on Jackie Stiles that they forget that there's four other people on the floor. They're the ones who really kill you."

The Lady Bears' five losses this season were to Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Drake, Western Kentucky and Northern Iowa. In those five losses, SMS gave up 81.2 points per game, much higher than its season average of 66.0. Stiles averaged 31 points per game in the losses, but the rest of the team's production dropped to 43.2 points per game, from 52.8.

"I think if you focus too much on Jackie, you are in for a long night," said Curry. "She is going to get her (points). Certainly we would love to hold her under her average. Are we going to be able to do that? We're not sure. We're going to roll up our sleeves and play great team defense. That’s why we're in St. Louis — because of great team defense."

Liz Nicol/Senior Photographer

LOOK, MA, FREE STUFF: Kelly Komara displays her Final Four T-shirt and hat after the Boilers beat Xavier Monday night in Birmingham, Ala. Tonight Komara and the Boilers face Southwest Missouri State for the right to advance to the national championship.

The Boilers' numbers hold a similar story. Purdue's six losses were to Louisiana Tech, Notre Dame, Louisiana State, Iowa (twice) and Penn State. In those six losses, the Boilers allowed 74.7 points per game, compared to a season average of 62.1 points per game. Offensively, Purdue scored just 66.8 points per game in the losses, down from 76.3 points per game on the season.

"We feel like we always have to play team defense," said SMS coach Cheryl Burnett. "It is going to take another great team defensive performance now."

Both teams hope to contain the other team defensively while exploiting it on the offensive end.

"Southwest Missouri State is a great team, but I feel that Purdue is a great team also," said Komara. "It's going to be a war. It's two teams that play very, very hard. It's just going to be back and forth, back and forth. Whoever wants it more is going to win this game."

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