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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2015Jimi BlagowskyLindsey LewisAndrea WilliamsLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Wyoming – 70 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Air Force. Coach, some thoughts been tonight's game. COACH WILLIAMS: Again, I thought it was a hard‑fought game, especially where we could have folded. But we came out, it's not our style. We came out second half, tried to make a run on them. If we got it to single digits, we would have felt really good. We're tough‑nosed, meaning we're not going to quit. They responded well right after halftime, put some points on the board. So we did some things there, tried to do our best to limit their looks in the paint. You try to take away the three‑point line a little bit from a good Wyoming team. I was proud of the way we responded. Usually we're going to play shorthanded, smaller, but definitely tough, tenacity, keep going at it. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. How would you summarize the game, the season? It's tough coming in knowing you're going up against two of the top players in the league and the game slips away. How do you keep your positivity on the court? LINDSEY LEWIS: You know, it's tough just always being up against the wall, kind of knowing we're trying to scratch from the bottom. Honestly, it takes the whole team. It takes all our coaches, each other motivating us every day. Yeah, we have busy schedules. Yeah, there's 10 things on our agenda. When you get to practice, you got to work hard and shake off the game that was maybe two days ago or you didn't have the greatest effort you wanted. You have to find it in you to keep on playing. It's short. We just finished playing our last game. It honestly still hasn't hit me. I'm probably going to be bawling later tonight. It's the feeling you have another chance to go and make a difference, play with your teammates. You have to find the motivation within. Don't give up and keep working hard every day. JIMI BLAGOWSKY: I think just to piggyback off Lindsey, it all comes down to your teammates. It's a frustrating season when you only win two games. The teammates we have, we're going to fight every game. We're going to be undersized, pretty much always going to be the underdog. It doesn't stop us from playing hard every game, fighting every game. That's all I ask from my teammates and that's all that I can give to them, so... THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. We'll continue with questions for Coach Williams. Q. It's been a tough season. You come in and face Wyoming off the bat with two of the top players in the league. What did you tell them after the game? COACH WILLIAMS: We're proud of them as coaches and their fellow teammates. Jimi does what she could to get back and get rehab from our trainers. That was a bright spot. It was good to see her in uniform instead of sitting in sweats. We're going to miss them. They had great leadership for four years. Coming in, trying to change program culture, being at it every day in what they're doing. We're very proud of them and proud of what they've been able to accomplish. Again, never quit. Just keep coming in, coming in, doing what we ask, play with some young players, show them how to do some things. They're great role models for our freshmen class. But it has been tough. You want to string some wins together. They have great Air Force futures ahead of them. Q. Old saying is a good parent teaches their children, but a great parent learns from their's. For four years you're essentially a parent to these kids. What have you learned from this group? COACH WILLIAMS: Tenacity. Lewis came back from a knee injury. Jimi wasn't able to come in direct under the last coaching staff due to a knee injury out of high school. Perseverance. Knowing this is the game. Jimi wants to be a helo pilot, so she's doing everything for her training and leadership, going from a freshman whippersnapper, to last year leading us in scoring, not the tallest, fastest, but she will keep at it. That's who I would want in a cockpit representing us. Lewis is phenomenal, a good background coming back from a knee injury. They believed in their first recruiting visit four years ago in what we were trying to do. We think we're getting better with each recruiting class. They've been phenomenal leaders that way. They were talking about their recognition four years ago, the stuff they went through. A good culmination. Learning a lot of perseverance. They want to be the ones that step up and say yes to you, learning new styles, new offenses. I learn a lot from them from the toughness. The family is always with us, together, all that. They're here in Vegas with them. They had a great Senior Night with a lot of good things going on. Our freshmen are really excited to do stuff with them. They're leaving that legacy of great teammates in the locker room, on the court, and tremendous leaders for Air Force. Q. On Wyoming's two leaders, your thoughts on their play? Just the energy, the positive energy they exude on the court. COACH WILLIAMS: Yeah, it's definitely there. I think there's more than two or three. The unique thing is we've had our Air Force Classic, so they came last year. We got a chance to break bread with our conference foes. Our players were able to talk with them at dinner the night before we played the two Classic games last year at our place. Just to get to know Joe and his staff, how they conduct business. Top‑notch program. Marquelle has worked on her game, being able to go to the basket, now adding that three‑point shot, which at Wyoming I believe you need to have a three‑point shot. She stepped up her game. Defensive team, offensive team, they're putting it together. She's had a tremendous year. Put a lot on her shoulders, wanted to follow in her father's footprints. Kayla Woodward stepped up big‑time tonight. A full game. Mileto decided to get hot in the first half. We decided to pay some attention to her. I know she can shoot the three. I think they have really three that they try to run the offense through. Those are the big three. Then the game that we played during the regular season, they went inside, which everybody does, so it's not like a new tactic against us. But we decided to go with our big to start, Lindsey Stimeling, she responded well where they couldn't just go at us and we stopped that bleeding. They do a lot of things, but it's hard to guard that motion at the three‑point line. If they're feeling it, shooting well at the Thomas Mack, look out, they can make a run. They're a great team, good competitors, and great crowd support and understand that. But it was kind of unique last year, to get to know them and their staff. We appreciate that. But they're tremendous. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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