February 12, 1999
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Nobody expected much of a game from Ukari Figgs, not after all she'd gone through in the past week: her grandmother died on Tuesday, she spent two days in Kentucky mourning with her family and took a taxi to the basketball game Friday night.
But Figgs stunned her teammates - first by deciding to play, then by scoring 21 points and handing out four assists as No. 2 Purdue beat No. 15 Penn State 76-74 in overtime to clinch the Big Ten title.
"My grandma's passing was tough for me, but I know she wanted me to play," said Figgs, who had to take a three-hour cab ride from Pittsburgh after her connecting flight to State College was canceled.
"We wanted to win this game not just to win the Big Ten championship, but for Ukari, because it took a lot for her to come up here," said teary-eyed teammate Stephanie White-McCarty.
Katie Douglas also had 21 points, including the winning layup with 10 seconds left in overtime and a tying shot with three seconds left in regulation in helping Purdue (22-1, 13-0) win its school-record 20th straight game.
"She's got a lot of confidence in herself in that position," Purdue coach Carolyn Peck said. "She's a gamer. Katie's willing to do whatever her team needs her to do."
Penn State coach Rene Portland was less-than-thrilled by the final shot.
"We let Douglas go left," she snapped. "That amazes me. That's the only arm on her body. We didn't play a good basketball game, but we were still in it. We got ourselves in a position for overtime, but we didn't take care of the little things."
White-McCarty, who was in bed with a fever earlier Friday, added 17 points as the Boilermakers defeated the Lady Lions for the fifth straight time.
Purdue, leading the nation with a 40 percent 3-point shooting average, missed 10 of 12 3s in the second half. The Boilermakers hit just 32 percent overall in the second half.
Andrea Garner led Penn State (18-6, 10-4) with 13 points, including a jumper in the lane with 12 seconds left in regulation that give the Lions a 66-64 lead.
But Douglas dribbled in, spun and made a 10-footer to send the game into overtime.
"The thing I was most impressed with about the team was their heart," Peck said. "They came out and played extremely hard for each other."
Center Camille Cooper sat out 14 minutes of the second half with four fouls, but scored four of her 13 points in overtime for Purdue.
Garner also had 10 rebounds. Helen Darling and Shawta Vanzant each had 12 points.
The Lady Lions took a 64-59 lead with 1:47 left when Darling scored inside, then made two free throws. Douglas made a layup, and Figgs hit three free throws after being fouled behind the 3-point line to tie it at 64-64 with 34 seconds remaining.
Figgs had missed five straight 3s early in the second as Purdue went nearly eight minutes without a basket.
Penn State slowly built a 56-48 lead with 8:25 remaining, but Purdue rallied. White-McCarty made a 3 and two free throws to key an 11-2 run that gave Purdue a 59-58 lead.
Figgs hit four 3-pointers in the first half and led Purdue with 14 points, but Penn State countered with 11-for-15 free throw shooting to stay within a point at halftime.
Figgs won't have the chance to savor the conference title. She has a flight back home to Georgetown, Ky., on Saturday morning. She has asked her team to sign a Purdue basketball T-shirt, and she plans to place it in her grandmother's coffin before the funeral this weekend.
"It means a lot to me, but it also means a lot to the team," Figgs said.
By DAVID KINNEY
Associated Press Writer