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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: LEXINGTONMarch 23, 2017Shayla CooperKiara LewisSierra CalhounLexington, Kentucky THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us for the press conference for the Ohio State women's basketball team. We're joined at the podium by student-athletes Sierra Calhoun, Shayla Cooper, and Kiara Lewis. We'll open it up with questions for the student-athletes. Q. Shayla, obviously, it was different circumstances last year in the Sweet 16 with injuries and things like that. What do you feel like this team took away from that experience? And how do you think you'll use that this week? SHAYLA COOPER: From that experience, we just learned how to fight through it. Adversity is going to come, but you have to fight through it. I feel like this team has been through a lot this season, and I feel like we fought through it, and that's something that carried on from last season. Q. Sierra, I think you're shooting 56 percent from three in the last 11 games, something pretty remarkably good. What has attributed to that? SIERRA CALHOUN: I think I've just been focused. My teammates have been finding me in the right areas, and I've just been ready. Q. Kiara, your first tournament experience last weekend, what was that like for you? What kind of emotions and feelings do you take into this week? KIARA LEWIS: It was exciting. Just watching when I was in grade school and high school, I wanted to be in this position. I think it's exciting to be in the Sweet 16. It's one of the reasons I came to Ohio State. Q. Shayla, Brianna Turner goes down with injury. How does that affect you guys in preparation? Do you do something different because she's not there, or just status quo? SHAYLA COOPER: I don't think we do anything different. I think we are going to approach the game with the same mindset, attacking them. Without having her in the paint as a shot blocker, I think it will open it up a little bit more. Q. You guys are playing in a different gym this week, but is there some benefit to being back in Lexington, having the same bus driver and having the different hotel, things like that? SIERRA CALHOUN: Yeah, I think, but I feel we're coming into the game ready. We've got some confidence in us. We're in the Sweet 16. I feel like we're really prepared. We've got a great game plan coming in, and I think we should do well. Q. Shayla, Coach talks a lot about playing your best basketball toward the end of the season. Obviously, throwing out the Purdue game, do you think this team is playing its best basketball going into the deeper rounds of the tournament? SHAYLA COOPER: Yeah, I think we are playing great Ohio State basketball. I feel like everyone's giving their all on the court. No matter what it is, if it's offensively or defensively, I feel like everyone is tuned in to what Coach is saying and we're communicating well. I just feel like it's a great atmosphere for us. Q. Kiara, how do you feel this team has done defensively the last couple of games? I think you've held back-to-back teams to under 35 percent shooting. What do you think has been different for the defense? KIARA LEWIS: I think just knowing the scout, knowing who each player is. And just playing team defense, knowing that we can't let one person just get off on us. So I think just being real focused and locked in. Q. Sierra, this might be the biggest gym you guys will play in all year, if not ever. As a three-point shooter, do you have to prepare for depth perception in a place like this? If so, how do you prepare for something like that? SIERRA CALHOUN: I think, as a shooter, you treat every gym the same. This is a big gym. Nothing changes, yeah. Q. Shayla, Coach was saying a few minutes ago that last year you guys, coming into the Sweet 16 you had the mentality of being happy to be there, given the injury situations. Do you think the expectations were a little bit different and greater for this team early in the season? What kind of told you that, that the expectations were better? SHAYLA COOPER: I think because of the competition level that we had started in practice. Coach knew we were a special group of kids, and I just feel like that, with that, we had a lot of goals in mind, you know, making it to the Final Four. So this is just one step closer to what we had in mind. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student-athletes? If not, then the press conference has been concluded. Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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