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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2015Taylor GreenfieldAmber OrrangeTara VanDerveerSEATTLE, WASHINGTON Stanford – 59 THE MODERATOR: Stanford Cardinal, Coach Tara VanDerveer, Amber Orrange and Taylor Greenfield. Coach? COACH VANDERVEER: We're really excited to be playing tomorrow. I thought we really showed some great resilience with our team. We got a lead, we lost the lead a little bit. But to get the lead was great. The people on either side of me did a lot to help that. Amber is just her usual steady self, and I think Taylor just likes tournaments. She played really well yesterday and she played even better today. I told her we'll need her to play even better tomorrow. I thought Taylor was really aggressive. She took the ball to the basket. She helped us on both ends of the floor. She got a big rebound at the end of the game. So I'm really excited for the two seniors that we're going to be playing in the championship game. I also want to congratulate Arizona State. They have a great team, and I know they'll do very well in the Tournament. Q. Amber, how important was it to you guys to win this game and to get back to the championship game? AMBER ORRANGE: It meant a lot to us. You know, we talked about how last year we were the No. 1 team in the tournament and we still lost. So we knew coming in, even if we didn't win the Pac‑12 Conference, anybody could come in and win, and we could do it. Q. Arizona State started coming back on you, was that something they were doing? Was it something breaking down on your part? Or was it something they were doing to get back in the game? How did you see it? COACH VANDERVEER: Basketball is a game of spurts. We had gotten the lead and, you know, they're a very challenging team. Obviously they have a great record, and they took it to the basket. I just thought that they made some shots. We had a couple of charges, we had a couple turnovers. Just some plays that we just needed to be a little bit sharper down the stretch. But credit them for making some plays, but credit us for staying with things and getting the ball in when we had to, going to the free‑throw line and making some free throws when we had to. I thought Bonnie's three was a huge basket for us. That was really big. But just people, we've played in a lot of close games this year, and I think our team showed some really good poise. Q. You guys obviously lost to ASU twice during the regular season. What did you change for this game to be able to pull off the win today? TAYLOR GREENFIELD: A big focus of ours was on the inside game, especially on the previous game. Dornstauder kind of hurt us quite a bit. So we paid extra attention on the inside, and you could see that. With our defense, we were focused on them, but offensively it was just like lay‑ups. We've got to get lay‑ups. We've got to attack them. I would say definitely the biggest thing was just our mindset. We totally changed it. Like we have to go to the basket. We've got to draw contact, and that really helped our momentum in general when we're getting lay‑ups. Q. Taylor, what do you think about your coach's statement that you're a tournament player? TAYLOR GREENFIELD: I love it. I mean, honestly, it would be great to‑‑ I don't want to just limit myself to tournament player, but I get so excited for tournaments. I was praying that we would get to play ASU again, especially just in general they're a fun team to play, but because we've lost to them twice. I know everyone was excited, but I was ready. I was so pumped for this game. I get extremely excited for the Pac‑12 Tournament. I love Seattle. I love coming here. I think it's just a great start for what we have coming forward in the NCAA Tournament, too. Q. Tara, I'm going to test your memory a bit here. In 2005, the Pac‑12 sent five teams to the NCAA Tournament; all five won their first round games. The next year in '06 they sent six; five won their first round games. Is the Pac‑12 even better now than it was a decade ago? COACH VANDERVEER: Thanks for bringing that up. Quite honestly, the Pac‑12 has always been really good. With Pac‑12 Networks, now people are able to watch a lot more of our players, and I think that Pac‑12 Networks has been a game changer for people to be able to follow our teams out here. We have great players, great coaches, the best schools possible. I mean, who would not want to be going to one of the Pac‑12 schools? But a lot of times, people have not heard of some of the players, maybe with the exception of some of the East Coast players like maybe Val Whiting or Jennifer Azzi or some of the people that came from the East. But I think we've had such tremendous talent in this conference. Going back from the very beginning this is the conference where Cheryl Miller played, the greatest player ever. So I'm glad that you brought that up. I hope that five or six teams go this year. Q. You called timeout with 27 seconds left. Arizona State was going to have to foul, foul, foul, because they only had the one. What did you tell your players? To watch out for this or look out for that? Did you know what was going to happen in that situation? COACH VANDERVEER: Well, I'm trying to think of the last basket. Was it Taylor's basket that put us up one? So Taylor's basket put us up one. When we got the stops at the end we knew we had to get the ball inbounds and they were going to do everything they could to foul us. Because in some ways the fact that it was I believe 17‑1, which I have never, ever seen, ever, that worked against them a little bit. The fact that they didn't foul the whole game by the end then when they needed to, the clock was going. But we just said, hang onto the ball. Knowing how many timeouts we had, Bonnie took one, I think. We had timeouts and it was our possession if there was a tie‑up. Just don't let them rip it out of your hands. Q. As a follow‑up, this year there have been a lot of teams getting attention. 14 have been ranked in the top 25. Is it coaching? Is it good players on the West Coast staying home? Is it Pac‑12? What is it this year? COACH VANDERVEER: I think it's always been really good. Like you point out already that the teams have gone. I can go back to 1990, Washington was such a good team. Went to the Elite 8. But I think with Pac‑12 Networks people watch more and also more teams are playing a national schedule, like a team like Washington State going and beating Maryland. You know, teams, you've got Washington beating Texas A&M. So with ourselves beating Connecticut, we've beaten teams. So playing a national schedule, being on television, having the talented players like Amber, and Taylor, and someone like Kaylee. Who knows about Kaylee? What a great freshman year she's had. But we have players in this league that can play with anyone. Look at Arizona State, plays for Indiana, whom I think of the guard‑‑ no, the guard that plays for Indiana pro team. Right, January. You know, she was totally under the radar, and look at what a great player she is. So I think a lot of our, maybe not Stanford because we've gotten a lot more attention, but I've always felt that the Pac‑12 gets you ready for the NCAA, and that is one of the reasons we've been so successful because of the other teams in our conference and how talented they are and how much they push you. Q. You talked yesterday about being the underdog and really for the first time here and liking that feeling. Is it a different feeling now going into tomorrow and back into the championship game? COACH VANDERVEER: Well, I mean, playing either one of these teams, we split with Cal and we beat Colorado. They're both great teams. I feel like with the schedule that we've played with the success that we've had it's all good tomorrow. There is no underdog. You're playing for a championship. But I really like our team's focus. I think different people are stepping up. We had Karlie get hurt, and look what Taylor's done, Brittany McPhee came in and played really well for us as a freshman. So tomorrow, it will be all about grit tomorrow. Come out and battle. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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