"It was such a unique season and a unique feeling. I can’t even describe it and articulate it. We were just synced. Even in practice, we got to a point where we would practice an hour. That’s unheard of for a [Coach] Rene Portland team. And it was because we were just so in tune. We got it. Anything she threw at us, we got it. There was no division within the team. Everybody understood their role and did it well. I was the leader and I had tremendous support. People trusted me, they believed in me, and they followed me. We came in with high expectations. We didn’t meet that our first couple years. We always say that group went from the doghouse to the penthouse. Our freshman year, Rene took us to the Final Four in Cincinnati because she was instilling that feeling, that energy in us, and what it felt like to be at a Final Four. She was just planting those seeds in us. From there we changed our mindset, changed our focus, changed so much about our training. The four years were just magical to me to see the progression of that. We upset some great teams. We had some nail-biters. Having it in Philadelphia, it was in the cards for us to be there. All we had to do was our part. In my heart of hearts, I really do believe that we could have beaten Connecticut and won that year, but I think we were just so excited to get there.”

Helen Darling ’01 H&HD, ’11 MEd Edu averaged 10.5 points, 7.8 assists, and 2.9 steals as a senior point guard and led Penn State to a 30-5 record in 1999-2000. She’s now a footwear product tester for Nike.