SAN JOSE, Calif. -- After a short hiatus from Final Four participation, Georgia has reason to believe it could again become a regular at the event.
The Bulldogs, who lost to Duke last night, 81-69, have been to five Final Fours and made it in 1995 and 1996. They came here with a team that will have nine of its regulars returning for next season, including all of their top scorers from last night -- Coco and Kelly Miller, Tawana McDonald and Deana Nolan.
"We have great players returning, and great players coming in, so we're looking forward to coming back here again," Coco Miller said.
McDonald was encouraged by her performance against Duke All-America center Michele VanGorp. A freshman who was sidelined with a knee injury for the first 10 games of the season, she had 14 points and nine rebounds.
"It was a confidence-builder, coming to the Final Four, playing against an All-American and not getting embarrassed," she said.
Long-distance record
Duke's nine three-pointers in last night's first game set a record for a national semifinal, topping the mark of seven, established by Stanford in its 1995 game with Connecticut and matched by Connecticut the next year against Tennessee.
Nicole Erickson's four three-pointers for Duke tied a semifinal record shared by six other players, most recently Monica Maxwell of Louisiana Tech in last year's semifinal against North Carolina State.
Late arrivals?
In the first West Coast Final Four in seven years, the San Jose Arena was about three-quarters full at the start of the Duke-Georgia game, though both contests were billed as sellouts.
None of the four schools used all of its optional 700-ticket allotment, though all sold the required 200 seats. Tennessee, which had expected to be playing this weekend for a fourth straight title, purchased more than $50,000 in tickets, and its fans were seen through town yesterday attempting to unload their seats.
All-America choices
Tennessee senior Chamique Holdsclaw was named to two prestigious All-America teams this week.
Holdsclaw, the consensus national Player of the Year, was one of three Lady Vols to be named to the 10-player 1999 Kodak All-America team. She was joined by Tennessee sophomores Semeka Randall and Tamika Catchings, Connecticut sophomore Svetlana Abrosimova, Colorado State senior Becky Hammon, UCLA junior Maylana Martin, Georgia's Kelly Miller, Duke's VanGorp, Purdue senior Stephanie White-McCarty and Louisiana Tech senior Amanda Wilson.
Pub Date: 3/27/99