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March 10, 2015
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Fresno State – 74
Wyoming - 66
THE MODERATOR: Coach, your thoughts on tonight's game.
COACH LEGERSKI: I thought it was a great game. Both teams in the first half were able to get five‑point leads, and nobody was going to blink. Really played well.
When I look at it, we talk always about winning four‑minute segments. I thought Fresno State made a couple more plays down the stretch in the last three minutes of the basketball game that dictated the way the game was going to be finished out.
When you're down by six or seven, things are very difficult to get baskets by, we had to do everything we could. I thought we were able to do that.
I think the two young people sitting with me here, Marquelle and Kaitlyn, played as well as they played all year. Kaitlyn defensively was just relentless tonight. That's on top of playing basically 40 minutes last night. And Marquelle is very difficult to handle in transition. She's worked hard to improve her halfcourt game.
So to play 80 minutes in a 24‑hour period, I really tip my hat to what they were able to get accomplished and give us an opportunity to advance.
I give Fresno State credit. They made some plays down the stretch that I wish we could have had back.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes.
Q. Marquelle, in the second half Fresno drew a charge on you. There were a lot of plays there, but that seemed to change the momentum. Did you think that changed the momentum?
MARQUELLE DENT: I think so. Coach talks about there's not one play that just dictates the rest of the game.
I mean, they made a lot of good plays in the second half. We just didn't really answer, so...
Q. Kaitlyn, what do you think the difference was offensively?
KAITLYN MILETO: They're a very physical team. I think they just kind of tightened that up on us. It was difficult for us to move and set screens and stuff like that.
Q. Marquelle, how aggressive were you trying to be?
MARQUELLE DENT: I think that's the biggest thing for me, is trying to get to the basket, trying to find Kaitlyn and Kayla standing on the side to knock down open shots.
Fresno is a really good defensive team. I had an opportunity to get to the basket.
Q. I know it's not your decision, but if post‑season basketball comes up for this group, is that something you will embrace and something you'd still like to do?
KAITLYN MILETO: Absolutely. Especially as a senior, you want to keep playing as long as possible.  Putting on a Wyoming jersey, there's no other feeling like it.
If we can continue to play, we'll take our opportunity. If not, I love these girls the same and I've had a great career here.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies.
We'll continue with questions for Coach Legerski.
Q. When the charge got called on Marquelle, I know you didn't like it. Did that seem to take a lot of the steam and momentum away from your team at that point?
COACH LEGERSKI: I thought there were a couple plays down the stretch. They grabbed an offensive rebound and had a second opportunity to put them up four with three minutes to go. You have to give them credit for getting that rebound.
Then, like I said, whether it's a charge, block, there's plays like that all the time. But as we look at it, one of the things we always talk about is there are plays in any basketball game where you have to step up and make the play.
I thought that was the difference in the basketball game tonight. I thought early on, Jordan Sibrel may have played the best basketball of her career tonight, which for Jordan I'm very happy for. Then I thought Jordan Kelley, once again, when you take a look at our roster, I have two four players sitting on the bench in warmups, street clothes.
We've had to use Jordan from a two forward to a four player. At four foot nine, she's so undersized, but her heart is tremendous. For her to get a double‑double, as I say, you look at our minutes, it's high minutes for the two games.
So there's a lot of things down the stretch, Fresno making extra plays.
Q. Seems like with Marquelle you seem to expect these performances throughout the season. How aggressive was she throughout this game?
COACH LEGERSKI: Marquelle may be the biggest competitor we have on this team. She shows up. When she doesn't play well, like she did yesterday in the first half, she comes back with 17 in the second.
For her to get 26 tonight, she really stepped up and played. I like the way she pushes the basketball. She can get to the basket. She's improved her shooting ability. And I can't say enough about what Marquelle's meant to this team. She is the leader of this group and she makes this team run and operate the way Marquelle can.
So give her a great deal of credit.
Q. You mentioned Jordan Kelley. Seems almost similar to Fallon last year. How do you explain the results she's able to get given her size?
COACH LEGERSKI: I think you hit it right on the head there. There's a great desire for her to succeed. Even in that locker room after the game, she was somebody who spoke up. I've said all along, she's kind of the glue that holds this group together because she just does so many different things for this team.
As I said, tonight I thought she did a tremendous job. She has four assists, she has a double‑double with rebounds and points. Once again, another young lady that plays high minutes because of our situation.
Couldn't be more proud of what Jordan's accomplished. Very happy for her to be newcomer of the year, especially when everybody knows of the number of surgeries that she's had on her shoulders. She missed a whole season. Had to sit out with her transfer. It was almost three years before she was able to step back on the court.
I know she thought about giving basketball up. There's a great story there for somebody who hung in there because of something that she loves. I think she plays that way, too.
Q. I know it's not in your control, do you think post‑season will come for this team? Do you deserve it? How do you feel about the chances of post‑season for this group?
COACH LEGERSKI: You know, post‑season is something other people decide for you. You can try to put yourself in the best situation possible.
When I look at this team, I'm proud of the fact that we had so many close basketball games where we lost in January. We sat at 2‑5 in the conference. We were in 10th place.
This team could have checked in, but they didn't. They ended up winning nine of their last 11. Came in here with a big game last night. Hard‑fought game tonight.
So when I look at it, we probably didn't accomplish enough to get to post‑season play. But that's on us to try to do better that way with some of the games. Seems the benchmark is 20 wins. I'm happy this group was able to find a way to get a winning season because they were so far down. When you lose the number of games we lost, it tests your spirit to pick yourself back up and keep competing, and they did.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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