SAN JOSE, Calif. -- After four years of turmoil, three different coaches and more than a few setbacks, Purdue guards Stephanie White-McCarty and Ukari Figgs thought they had the market on disappointment cornered.

And with the top-ranked Boilermakers trailing by five at halftime of last night's national championship game, scoring fewer points in a half than any other team in the 18-year history of the women's Final Four, it may have occurred to them that all of their suffering would be for nothing.

But the two seniors persevered through the hard times and sparked a furious run out of the locker room following intermission to give the Boilermakers a 62-45 win over Duke and the school's first national championship.

Figgs, who had 24 points in Purdue's semifinal win over Louisiana Tech, had a game-high 18 points, including the Boilermakers' first two baskets of the second half, and the go-ahead basket with 12: 58 left, earning Most Outstanding Player honors for the Final Four.

And White-McCarty, a 5-foot-11, All-America guard from West Lebanon, Ind., provided the emotional spark, scoring 12 points and limping back to the bench after she sprained her left ankle with 4: 01 to go when she landed on the foot of Duke's Lauren Rice after releasing a shot.

The Boilermakers (34-1) finished the season with a 32-game winning streak and sent their coach, Carolyn Peck, off to the WNBA's expansion Orlando Miracle with an NCAA women's title, the first ever in college basketball for an African-American coach, male or female.

Purdue, whose 17 first-half points were the lowest ever scored in a half of a national championship game, came out of the locker room on fire, outscoring Duke 15-8 over the first 6: 30 of the second half, led by Figgs, who drove past Duke's Hilary Howard and scooped in the go-ahead basket.

From there, the Boilermakers broke open what had been a closely contested game and won going away.

The loss ended a dramatic run by Duke (29-7), which had beaten three-time champion Tennessee last Monday in the East Regional final to turn the season on its ear and clear a path for Purdue, which beat Tennessee in its season-opener to serve notice that it would be a force to be reckoned with.

Purdue's win also spoiled Duke's effort to become the first school in NCAA history to have both its men's and women's team win national titles in the same season. If a championship is to come to Durham this year, the men's team will have to earn it tonight in St. Petersburg, Fla., over Connecticut.

The game's first eight minutes won't make many highlight reels, as the teams alternated missed shots and turnovers. After Duke's Peppi Browne sank the game's first basket 21 seconds in, the Blue Devils didn't score for another five minutes, until Browne, a 5-11 junior and Silver Spring native, hit a baseline jumper with 14: 19 left.

But the Boilermakers didn't have much scoring success, either. White-McCarty and Camille Cooper hit jumpers in a 45-second span near the 17-minute mark, then Purdue didn't score for nearly five minutes, until White-McCarty got a lay-in off a steal with 12: 38 to go in the half to tie the score at 6.

Sensing the need to get points on the board, Duke coach Gail Goestenkors elected to leave Nicole Erickson in the game after the 5-6 senior picked up her second foul with 15: 59 to go in the half. Her faith was rewarded when Erickson, a career 40 percent three-point shooter, hit a three from the right wing with 11: 30 to go to give Duke its first lead at 9-6.

After White-McCarty scored on a pretty spin move, VanGorp put back a missed shot to keep the Blue Devils ahead by three with 9: 57 left. But the Boilermakers hung close. White-McCarty drilled a jumper from the left wing and Cooper hit the first of two free throws to tie the score again at 11 with 7: 23.

On the play, VanGorp picked up her second foul, and Goestenkors lifted her for reserve forward Rochelle Parent as the Blue Devils went with a small lineup for the rest of the half, with no player over 6 feet.

But Purdue couldn't capitalize, as it didn't hit a basket for almost seven minutes. Neither White-McCarty nor Figgs scored in the final six minutes of the half, and White-McCarty, a career 81 percent free-throw shooter, missed the front end of a one-and-one with 6: 30 to go.

The Blue Devils, meanwhile, were starting to connect, as senior point guard Hilary Howard sank a three-pointer with 3: 09 to go in the half to extend Duke's lead to five at 16-11. And Parent, usually known for her defense, scored the Blue Devils' last six points -- on a putback, an off-balance jumper and two free throws -- in the final two minutes of the half.

Still, as the Blue Devils took a 22-17 lead to the dressing room at halftime, the teams had combined for the lowest point total in a half of a championship game, supplanting the record of 50 scored by Auburn and Louisiana Tech in the 1988 final, and Purdue's 17 was the lowest by a team, beating Auburn's 22 in that game.

Duke Min FG FT R A PF Pts

Browne 31 2-13 1-2 5-9 0 2 5

Schweitzer 18 0-3 0-0 0-4 1 3 0

Vangorp 32 7-10 1-2 2-5 0 4 15

Howard 35 3-7 0-0 0-3 2 2 9

Erickson 37 3-9 0-0 0-2 4 5 8

Parent 21 2-3 2-2 2-5 4 3 6

Rice 20 1-5 0-0 1-8 0 3 2

Black 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Gingrich 5 0-5 0-0 0-0 1 1 0

Totals 200 18-55 4-6 36 12 23 45

Percentages: FG--.327, FT--.667. 3-point goals: 5-21, .238 (Browne 0-1, Schweitzer 0-1, Vangorp 0-1, Howard 3-6, Erickson 2-6, Rice 0-4, Gingrich 0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 2 (Vangorp, Rice). Turnovers: 20 (Schweitzer 6,Howard 4, Browne 3, Rice 3, Erickson 2, Vangorp 2). Steals: 2 (Rice, Vangorp).

Purdue Min FG FT R A PF Pts

White-McCarty 36 6-17 0-1 0-1 2 3 12

Duhart 37 2-3 1-2 2-5 2 3 5

Cooper 36 5-9 3-6 2-7 0 3 13

Figgs 40 5-15 8-9 0-3 1 1 18

Douglas 36 3-9 6-8 2-5 2 3 13

Crawford 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Young 3 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 0

Komara 8 0-0 1-2 0-2 1 0 1

Totals 200 21-55 19-28 25 8 14 62

Percentages: FG--.382, FT--.679. 3-point goals: 1-13, .077 (White-McCarty 0-4, Figgs 0-5, Douglas 1-3, Young 0-1). Team rebounds: 8. Blocked shots: 3 (Duhart, Cooper, Douglas). Turnovers: 8 (Figgs 5, Douglas 2, White-McCarty). Steals: 7 (Figgs 3, Duhart 2, Douglas, White-McCarty). Halftime: Duke 22-17. Technical fouls: None. A: 17,773.

Pub Date: 3/29/99