Women's Basketball to Take on #8 Penn State in Championship of Duke Classic

Duke Women's Basketball Classic

#8 Penn State (3-0) at #25 Duke University (3-1)
November 28, 1999 4:00 p.m.
Cameron Indoor Stadium/Durham, N.C.

Quick Facts

Duke in the Classic...
Appearances (12) 1988-99
All-Time Record 21-2
Percentage - .913
Overtime Games 0-0
Consecutive Wins: 15
Titles: (9) 88, 89, 92-98
Finals Appearances: (12) 1988-99

Duke to Take on #8 Penn State in Championship of Duke Classic...
The #25 ranked Duke women's basketball team take on #8 Penn State in the 12th Duke Women's Basketball Classic championship game on Sunday in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The consolation game will begin at 2:00 PM with Florida A&M versus St. Joseph's and then Duke versus Penn State in the final at 4:00 PM.

This will mark the eighth season the Duke Women's Basketball Classic will benefit the Durham Ronald McDonald House. As with each Classic, this year's event is held with two records in mind --one, breaking the attendance record and two, breaking the record for donations to the House.

Duke will be going for their eight consecutive title on Sunday and their 10th overall title. Duke vs. Penn State... Duke & Penn State will be meeting for the first time ever on Sunday. Penn State advanced to the championship game with a 96-64 victory over St. Joseph's on Saturday. In the game PSU's Lisa Shepherd scored a career-high 31 points, hit a career-high 6-of-7 treys, dished out five assists and pulled down five rebounds. The 11 three-pointers by Penn State tied a school record. PSU had five players in double figures points (Maren Walseth 10, Andrea Garner 15, Katrena Carr 12, and Helen Darling 10).

The Lady Lions are coached by Rene Portland in her 20th year at Penn State (439-151).

Saturday's Result vs. Florida A&M
Duke cruised to a 93-38 victory over Florida A&M to advance to their 12 straight championship appearance in their own Duke Classic. Junior Georgia Schweitzer continues to lead the way for the Blue Devils as she scored a game-high 16 points. Freshman Michele Matyasovsky scored a career-high 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Duke shot a season-high 51% from the field. Freshman LaNedra Brown scored seven points in her first game of her career and Janee Hayes added a career-high 10 points off the bench.

Probable Starters... No. Name Ht. Yr. Pos. PPG RPG APG 10 Peppi Browne 5-11 Sr. F 11.5 6.0 3.8 4 Rochelle Parent 6-0 Jr. F 5.0 7.0 1.0 40 Lauren Rice 6-1 Sr. C 9.0 5.3 3.0 23 Georgia Schweitzer 6-0 Jr. G 17.0 3.3 3.8 41 Michelle Matyasovsky 6-1 Fr. G 10.3 4.0 1.3

Key Reserves... No. Name Ht. Yr. Pos. PPG RPG APG 3 Sheana Mosch 5-10 Fr. G 8.5 2.8 1.3 21 Krista Gingrich 5-9 So. G 5.3 1.5 2.3 42 Janee Hayes 6-0 So. F 4.0 2.0 0.0 25 Missy West 5-10 Sr. G 2.5 2.0 1.0

Vs. Vanderbilt...
The Blue Devils got back on the winning note on Wednesday with a 68-59 victory over Vanderbilt University. Senior Peppi Browne played her best game of the early season with 19 points, eight rebounds, and some outstanding defensive play.

As a team the Blue Devils posted four players in double-figures scoring and shot 45% from the field. Duke led 27-24 at the half and then came out and shot 62% from the field in the second half to pull away and win by nine points.

Duke led by 12 points with eight minutes remaining before Vandy outscored the Blue Devils 13-5 to cut the lead to 59-55 with 2:44 remaining. But the Blue Devils made five of six free throws down the stretch to outscore Vandy 9-4 and notch the victory. Senior Lauren Rice added 12 points, Georgia Schweitzer 15 points, and Michele Matyasovsky 10 points.

Matyasovsky Makes First Start...
Freshman Michele Matyasovsky made her first career start at Duke in Wednesday's 68-59 victory over Vanderbilt University. In the game Matyasovsky scored 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting, while pulling down three rebounds and dishing out two assists in 32 minutes of play. For the season she is averaging 10.3 points, 4.0 boards and 1.3 assists. Matyasovsky is shooting .500% from the field and .33% from 3-point land.

In the four games this season she has progressed well scoring eight points in the first game, nine in the second, 10 in her first start in a Blue Devil uniform, and 14 on Saturday.

Coach G Records 150th Win...
Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors picked up her 150th victory at Duke University with the 68-59 victory over Vanderbilt University on Wednesday. In her eighth season she has totaled a 151-69 record.

Browne Steps it Up...
Senior forward Peppi Browne stepped up her play in Duke's victory over Vanderbilt last Wednesday. In the victory Browne scored a season-high 19 points and pulled down eight boards. Among leading the Blue Devils in scoring, she shut down Vandy's 6-6 Chantelle Anderson as she only scored 13 points.

Coach G praised Browne's play, Defensively, she fronted the entire game Chantelle Anderson, which is a 6-6 post, and that isn't an easy thing to do. She was a workhorse and she bumped her early on their fast break. She kept her off the block and kept her from getting touches. I thought Peppi did an excellent job keeping the ball out of her hands. I have said it before and I know Peppi is undersized but I still believe she is the best post defender in the country. I've been saying that for two years.

Parent Tough on the Boards...
In the first two games of the season junior Rochelle Parent was huge on the boards for the Blue Devils. In both games she totaled a career-high tieing 11 rebounds. Before this season she had totaled nine rebounds two different times in her career, which both happened her sophomore season.

But this season has been a different story. Parent recorded Duke's first double-double of the season against #20 Boston College (11 points and 11 rebounds). Of the 22 rebounds she grabbed in the first two games eight were offensive. For the season she leads the Blue Devils with 7.0 rebounds per game and is shooting .727% from the field.

Goestenkors Most Successful Coach in Duke History...
The current and three-time ACC Coach of the Year Gail Goestenkors is in her eighth season in Durham with the Blue Devils. Over her Blue Devil career, Coach G has accomplished feats no other Duke coach has attained. She has guided Duke to a school-record five straight NCAA tournament appearances, leading them to Duke's first-ever Elite Eight in 1998 and first-ever Final Four last season. Her four 20-win seasons (22 in 1995, 26 in 1996, 24 in 1998, and school-record 29 in 1999) is also a first for a Duke coach. In 1997-98, she led the team to the best ACC season in school history with a 13-3 record and a first-place finish, and followed that up last season with another first-place finish and new school record of 15-1 in the league.

Goestenkors is a 1985 graduate of Saginaw Valley State, where she earned NAIA All-America honors at point guard. She came to Duke in 1992 after a successful six-year stint as an assistant coach at Purdue. The only coach in Duke history to post four 20-win seasons, Coach G currently has a career/school record of 151-69 (.686). She has a career 11-5 record in the NCAA Tournament.

Leading Scorer...
This season the Blue Devils have needed a player to step up and pick up the scoring load and junior Georgia Schweitzer has done so. In the first four games she has scored in double-figures in all four and is averaging 17.0 points a game. Schweitzer scored a season-high 21 points in the loss to Boston College. In 17 attempts she has hit seven 3-pointers for 41%. She also is tied for the team lead with 15 assists on the season.

Gvozdenovic Makes First Appearance...
Freshman Olga Gvozdenovic has been sidelined with torn scar tissue in her knee for the past two weeks. She dressed for the Vanderbilt game on Wednesday and saw her first action on Saturday in the win over Florida A&M. She scored two points in four minutes. Gvozdenovic dressed for the first exhibition game against the Russian Junior National team but didn't see action and didn't dress for the next three games since the injury.

During this past summer, she tore the ACL in the same knee and has been rehabilitating during the fall. She was the Gatorade Circle of Champions Illinois Player of the Year last year at Loyola Academy.

Senior Stepping it Up...
After playing in 92 games in three years and starting only 13 of those, senior Lauren Rice is ready to step into the starting spot and show some leadership for this young team. In her first three years at Duke she was a key reserve off the bench. As a sophomore she posted a career-high of 23 points off the bench against Florida State and tied a career-high with 13 rebounds. She has a career average of 5.0 points and 4.0 rebounds a game. She has a career free-throw percentage of .761, which currently ranks third on Duke's all-time list. In her first four games this season she is averaging 9.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in 28.3 minutes a game. She is second on the team with nine steals.

The Fab Five...
After losing so many players to graduation last season, Goestenkors welcomed a large freshmen class to Duke this fall. Five highly regarded signees joined the Blue Devils as one of the top recruiting classes in program history.

Three newcomers appeared on Parade magazine's All-America team -- Michele Matyasovsky and Sheana Mosch were both named to the second team while Olga Gvozdenovic earned third team honors. Matyasovsky, also a Street & Smith All-America who was New Jersey's Gatorade Player of the Year, scored over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds during her prep career. Mosch, the 1999 Pennsylvania Player of the Year who holds her school and district record for most points scored (3.066) was also a USA Today Top 25 selection. Both Matyasovsky and Mosch were teammates of Krista Gingrich on the Philadelphia Belles AAU team. LaNedra Brown averaged 18.0 points and 12.0 rebounds during her career and Lello Gebisa, a 6-7 center also arrives as the tallest Duke women's basketball player ever.

Mosch off the Bench...
So far freshman Sheana Mosch continues to impress as she is averaging 8.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals off the bench for the Blue Devils. In the four games she is averaging 19.5 minutes a game and shooting 42% from the field and 43% from 3-point land. Her season-high was 12 in her first game of her career versus UNC Greensboro. Mosch was a Parade All-American selection out of high school and was selected preseason ACC Rookie of the Year by the media for 1999-2000.

In the Rankings...
The Duke women's basketball team is ranked #25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll this week and drops out of the Associated Press poll (was #22). Duke now has been ranked 39 straight weeks dating back to the 1997-98 season. The Blue Devils finished 1998-99 ranked #2 in the nation, which is their highest ranking ever.

When looking at the next opponents, all three of the next four possible teams are ranked or received votes in the ESPN/USA Today top 25 poll. Vanderbilt received 22 votes, St. Joseph's received 27 votes and Penn State is ranked 8th in the poll.

Other ACC schools ranked are North Carolina is ranked #11 while North Carolina State is #9.

Browne & Schweitzer Moving Up the Charts...
Senior Peppi Browne and junior Georgia Schweitzer are moving up the Blue Devil career charts in a few different categories. Browne ranks fourth in steals with 172 for her four-year career. Schweitzer ranks seventh in three-pointers made (86) and is in eighth place with 221 three-pointers attempted. This is in just three years of play with the Blue Devils.

The Coach...
The head coach behind Duke's rise to national prominence over the last seven seasons is Gail Goestenkors. She has guided the Blue Devils to five straight NCAA Tournaments, including the 1999 Final Four and championship game, four 20-plus win seasons over the last five years, Duke's best ACC finish in school history with a 15-1 conference mark, and much more! Coach Goestenkors has a 151-69 (.686%) record at Duke in her seven years with three ACC Coach of the Year honors.

The Exhibition Games...
In the Blue Devils two exhibition games this season, Duke was without two key players in Georgia Schweitzer and Krista Gingrich with injuries. Even with the two players out Duke almost pulled out a victory against the Russian Junior National team (77-69 loss). In the loss freshmen Sheana Mosch and Michele Matyasovsky led the Blue Devils in scoring with 22 points and 14 points respectively. Senior Missy West came off the bench to score eight points on 2-of-3 from 3-point land. Another senior, Lauren Rice, tallied 10 rebounds and seven points. Peppi Browne added eight points and nine rebounds.

Next up for the Blue Devils was the USA National team led by WNBA players Lisa Leslie and Chamique Holdsclaw. Duke jolted out to a 12-6 lead early and trailed by only 10 points at halftime (32-22), but the possible future Olympic team shot 57% from the field in the second half to pull away and win 71-45. Browne and West led Duke with 12 points each and Rice added seven points.

The Excitement Continues...

In the year of 1998-99 Duke had it most successful season in school history after advancing to the Final Four in San Jose, Ca. The Blue Devils defeated the University of Georgia in the Final Four by a score of 81-69 and then lost to Purdue 62-45 in the national championship game

The Blue Devils lost six seniors off the Final Four squad but return East Region M.V.P. junior Georgia Schweitzer, seniors Peppi Browne and Lauren Rice, All-ACC Freshman Krista Gingrich and junior Rochelle Parent. Along with the returnees Head Coach Gail Goestenkors brought in one of the top recruiting classes in the program history. Joining the Blue Devil family are Michele Matyasovsky, Sheana Mosch, Olga Gvozdenovic, LaNedra Brown, and Lello Gebisa. Matyasovsky, Mosch and Gvozdenovic were Parade All-Americans.

The Returning Starters...
Duke returns two starters off the Final Four team of last year. Senior Peppi Browne (8.7 ppg., 6.3 rbs., and 1.5 spg.) and junior Georgia Schweitzer (10.0 ppg., 4.1 rbs., 2.9 spg.). Browne has been the teams leading rebounder the past two seasons. Schweitzer was named the East Region M.V.P. last season in the NCAA Tournament after a 15-point performance against Old Dominion and a team-high 22-point performance against Tennessee. She became the third ACC player to top the All-East Region list, joining Dawn Staley (1990 and 1992) and Chasity Melvin (1998).

Other Returning Letterwinners...
The Blue Devils do return five other letterwinners off of last years Final Four team. Junior Rochelle Parent (4.1 ppg., 3.4 rbs.), sophomore Krista Gingrich (5.5 ppg., 2.1 rbs.), senior Missy West (1.5 ppg., 0.5 rbs.), senior Lauren Rice (5.5 ppg., 4.1 rbs.) and sophomore Janee Hayes (2.2 ppg., 1.5 rbs.). Gingrich was named to the ACC All-Freshmen team last season.

The Newcomers...
Duke has a highly touted freshmen class entering the season, including three signees featured on Parade's All-America team. Michele Matyasovsky and Sheana Mosch were named to the second team, while Olga Gvozdenovic earned third team honors. Two other incoming freshmen, 6-7 Lello Gebisa and 6-1 LaNedra Brown, added to the other three Parade All-American's make the class one of the best in the program history.