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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 3, 2018Sherri CoaleMaddie ManningAna LlanusaOklahoma City, Oklahoma TCU - 90, Oklahoma - 83 THE MODERATOR: Okay, we're now joined by the Sooners. Coach, your thoughts? SHERRI COALE: Well, TCU shot the ball extremely well in the first half. So you gotta give 'em credit for that. We didn't guard 'em very well, but you still have to make 'em and they did. I thought it got us off center, emotionally and physically, Vionise getting in foul trouble obviously completely changes the complex of the game. But we have to be better than that. We have to score anyway. I thought our response was fabulous, second half we played extremely well and for the most part took care of the 3-point line and guarded with better grit and greater purpose. But that first half, you just can't advance in postseason play if you don't put two halves together, and we were disconnected and we didn't communicate well and we certainly didn't adhere to the game plan. Give TCU credit. They made plays, played extremely hard. But I feel like we did this to ourselves in the first half. Q. Maddie, how frustrating was it to -- you guys have an offensive team, that second quarter you couldn't stop 'em on the 3. How frustrating was that to go through? MADDIE MANNING: It's really frustrating and that was our game plan, too, and when we are not following that we kinda get antsy and it seems like everybody is trying to save the world and they keep on getting more thrix so we have to be able to control that frustration and look at it with a soft focus. Q. Maddie, 15 points down, you cut it to 1, it's still in the third quarter. What did you not do to close it out where you cut it to 1 and couldn't get the job done? MADDIE MANNING: I have to go back and watch. I think we started fouling and sending them to the line, and, you know, they hit a couple of shots. But we stopped the three in the second half. They hit a couple of shots, went to their post and then obviously fouling them getting them to the line. Q. Maddie, you said that you guys kinda got that -- you want to save the world mentality. Did you personally feel that in the second half as time was kind of winding down and the game was continuing to be prolonged? Did you feel that urgency? MADDIE MANNING: No, I think the second half urgency was just being connected with the team. It wasn't everybody trying to do it themselves. Obviously as an individual I was being more aggressive, making sure that they have to guard me. But that was not our mentality going in second half, it was definitely as a team. Q. Ana, Coach mentioned the game changing when Vionise went out. What was that like in this game trying to comeback and get over the hump playing without her? ANA LLANUSA: I would say just really attacking your defender. We had to attack more and finish out the rim. We had a hard time doing that, but I think for the most part people stepped up and tried to make plays. But it's hard playing without Vionise in there. Q. Ana, when Vionise goes out of the game could you talk about what happens to you guys offensively and how much do you change, you don't have that low-post threat to score? ANA LLANUSA: Vionise is a big part of our offense, but I feel like we're all capable of scoring. When Vionise comes out, I feel like we get a little sped up, maybe, we get sped up a little bit. But I feel like we're all capable of scoring and I think we just didn't really finish today. Q. Sherri, battling the three as always and you said they got hot early but could you get into guarding the three knowing what they had inside on the post? SHERRI COALE: It's a couple of things, it's just fundamentally understanding screens is where it starts so you don't begin a snowball where somebody has to help and somebody has to help and somebody has to recover. We kept running penetrators at post guys and we couldn't seem to stop it. Used all but one timeout talking about stay out on the three, remember the game plan. This may be a reflection of squeezing it a little bit too tight. Again, whatever happened at halftime internally, mentally in their minds we settled in and guarded the way we had worked on it. Q. Sherri, you guys have been so connected going into the last ten games of the season. What do you think changed in the first half that switched that mentality? SHERRI COALE: I think it's easy to get off of that if you get shocked, and they shot 60% from three in the first half and 80-something in the second quarter. So that's just kinda one of those things that pops you back for a minute, and as Maddie said everybody tries to save everybody else and three guys run at one and the wheels kinda fall off. But I thought gathering ourselves and coming back, that part was really, really good. Q. Sherri, you mentioned defense and the way they came out, was it 50/50 you guys getting barraged by the shooting and their defense, where did you feel like you came up short on the defensively end? SHERRI COALE: We fouled too much, obviously, I think Ramirez has shot 20 some odd free throws in all of conference play. She shot 10 today, one third, maybe almost a half as many as she has had in the entire conference season. So that was big! Again, running at shooters, so that then they put the ball on the floor and drive in and help guys foul. Look at that, 39 free throws? That's a big part of that, too. So it was a combination of those two things. Then us not being poised on the offensive end. We got a few offensive charges called, a few offensive fouls and then it's hard to be aggressive and know what you're doing and we just really looked like we were second guessing our decisions in that span offensively. I thought after that we settled in and were much more decisive. THE MODERATOR: Okay, ladies. Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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