Thrill of Tournament Play

As I watched the OU women play in the Elite Eight,  I didn’t have to imagine what Abi Olajuwon was feeling as she stepped on the court, having been a fellow post player at a major Division I school.  Rewind to March 1992 and my sophomore year at the University of Maryland.  We made it to the Sweet 16.  I was so excited but nervous because we had some great teams in our region but as a number two seed, we felt confident. 

We walked on the court with our first opponent, Purdue University who was hosting the regional and also had the current longest home winning streak in the nation, University of Tennessee and Western Kentucky.  The Tenn/WKU game was first and WKU got an upset over Tennessee.  My teammates and I saw Tennessee’s faces of disbelief and sadness as they walked back to the locker room and we all knew we did not want to have the same feeling. 

As I got to play in my first Sweet Sixteen game, it was one of the most exciting things I would ever experience.  Even better was the win against a packed house of Purdue fans. 

We advanced to the Elite Eight with a chance to go to the Final Four.  As we had our final practice before the big game I noticed a couple of people I did not recognize waiting for us to finish practice.  I asked one of teammates who it was and she replied, “They are here to measure us for our Final Four rings.”   

As practice was over, I did not want to seem too anxious but I was second in line to get measured.  They asked which finger I would like my ring on and as I reached out my right hand and pointed to my ring finger and all I could think about was how cool this entire experience was. 

Even though U of M would fall short of our goal and lose to Western Kentucky, the whole experience is one that I will never forget. 

Monica (Adams) Finley

Lady Terp 1992

Director of Merchandising, MTM