SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Friendship only goes so far for Monica Maxwell.
The Louisiana Tech senior from East Chicago, Ind., will run into friends Stephanie White-McCarty and Ukari Figgs when the Lady Techsters meet Purdue tonight in the semifinals of the Final Four.But they're not going to be standing around catching up on old times -- not when a berth in Sunday's national championship game is at stake.
"I did grow up at Purdue, close to Purdue, and I have a lot of friends on that team," Maxwell said. "But I told somebody this earlier, I'm not here to rekindle any friendships. We're here for basketball, and I'm sure they feel the same way."
The game follows the Duke-Georgia semifinal and matches the two teams with the nation's longest winning streak and the only No. 1 seeds left in the NCAA tournament.
No. 1-ranked Purdue (32-1) has won 30 straight and is returning to the area where it suffered its only loss, 73-72 to Stanford on Nov. 22.
Louisiana Tech (30-2) has won 22 in a row since losing to, that's right, Purdue. The Boilermakers beat Tech 71-65 in Indianapolis on Dec. 19.
"We're not playing Purdue for revenge," Maxwell said. "We're here at the Final Four, and Purdue just happened to be our opponent. That's how we're going to approach the game."
Both sides agree that Louisiana Tech is a much better team now. Only one team has come closer than 14 points to the Lady Techsters since the Purdue game, and they've won their four NCAA tournament games by an average of 26.5 points.
Their defensive pressure has thrown opponents into disarray and triggered Tech's offense with fast breaks that have led to easy baskets and big scoring runs.
"They're clicking on all cylinders right now," Purdue coach Carolyn Peck said. "Monica Maxwell has played extremely well. There's no other way I could describe her than an animal on the boards. She really has a nose for the ball."
Maxwell had 22 points and 13 rebounds in an 88-62 victory over UCLA in the West Regional finals. After an up-and-down regular season, she's averaging 13.3 points and 9.3 rebounds in NCAA tournament play.
"We're at a different point than we were in December," said Amanda Wilson, who leads Tech with a 16.5 scoring average. "It's crunch time now. In December . . . we were just trying to develop ourselves as a team. I think we're at the point now where . . . we're ready to win the national championship."
Louisiana Tech, in the Final Four for the 10th time, reached the championship game last year but lost to Tennessee 93-75.