It's all happened,' Pondexter looked back on her year of trial, 'the way God wanted it to happen.'

We lost our intensity when we started substituting. Until then, we were doing everything right. Then we just sort of lost it. The subs have to know they have to play with the same intensity as the starters and they didn't do that tonight. That's why St. John's got back in the game.

They elevate our game to another level. They're quicker, faster, they can jump higher. So that means you have to play smart. You might have to box them out so they can't jump over you. Or when you're elevating on your shot, you might have to elevate even more just because they can jump higher. The small things like that, they make the game easier for us.

It's definitely an accomplishment, but we can't settle on the win. We just look at it as a step toward the Big East title. It was big to come in here and win. It was the first time in history. We can't put everything on this game, they still have to come to our place. We still have to come here for the Big East tournament, so there's still a lot in front of us.

When they said that Phoenix was on the clock, I was getting kind of nervous, but excited nervous. I'm glad that it's over with, that I get to know where I'm going.

The intensity level for them was high. They're going to surprise some people.