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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 3, 2018Jim LittellKaylee JensenLoryn GoodwinOklahoma City, Oklahoma West Virginia - 69, Oklahoma State - 60 THE MODERATOR: Coach, your thoughts about tonight's game? JIM LITTELL: Well, we didn't get off to a very good start and we were playing catch-up the entire night. I felt in the first quarter we were settling for jump shots and 3-pointers instead of getting downhill and getting to the rim. We didn't make 'em guard us very well. But credit West Virginia. I thought they played really hard and they ran their offense and got downhill and got to the basket and seemed like we fouled them or they made tough shots. A big part of our game is offensive rebounding and we got 2 team rebounds and only 5 offensive rebounds all night, and that isn't conducive for us to getting a win. Credit West Virginia. I thought they played hard. Difference in the ball game is just making some shots. The threes were the same. We had one extra point at the free throw line, but we got outrebounded and that's always a big part of the game for us. When we get outrebounded we struggle, so that's kind of what happened tonight. Q. Loryn and Kaylee, Coach mentioned the slow start and then you had Braxtin go down and we know how important she is. Did you feel like you got zapped right there early on because of those two things? KAYLEE JENSEN: It's kind of a shock when one of your players goes down, but you have to get past it. We're in the conference tournament and you can't worry about it, so we pray for the best when it happens but you gotta move on. LORYN GOODWIN: I don't think we got off to a good start at all, and I think when we do is when we are at our best and tonight we didn't do that and it was a trickle down affect with the injuries and people coming out and getting hit and I just don't think we had a lot of energy on defense or anything like that, came out sluggish. I don't think a lot of us are not used to having class and doing all this stuff and we've got to be ready to go. I felt kind of heavy there, but it can't happen again. We've just got to get past those kinds of things. THE MODERATOR: Ladies, thank you. Questions for Coach? Q. Coach, can you just kind of -- how important was Braxtin Miller and her being out for the are majority of the first half? JIM LITTELL: Well, it changes things and they had a lead. That's no excuse. They had a lead when she went down, but she is an important piece of our offense. But more importantly she is probably our top defender now with some injuries that we've had. She is going to be fine. She is a tough kid. I'm proud of her for fighting through it, and she'll be back pretty quick. We've got to give her a few days off. She is an important piece to our puzzle. The last two times we beat West Virginia she scored 23 in both games. So that was a factor. Plus when she left the game we had to go zone and we haven't played a lot of zone this year. So it changed the dynamics of the game, but, you know, we had our opportunities. We wasted some offensive possessions and I think there's some things other than that that factored into it. Q. Coach, Loryn talked about it feeling like a weird day leading up to the game. Did you sense something that was off before you got out there? JIM LITTELL: No, not really. It's a little different scenario coming in early to get extra time in Chesapeake but you know what? Everybody does it here. We gotta adjust to things and every team here is under the same things, so... We just didn't play well enough to win and you gotta credit West Virginia and they're very athletic. We had a match-up problem about 10 to 12 minutes into the game. So, you know, I think you just gotta credit West Virginia on some things and, you know, it's basketball. We didn't play our best today. Q. Coach, first of all, I didn't see what happened to Braxtin. Did you see exactly what happened? Also, how have injuries this season hampered the season and how do you get through them going into the NCAA tournament? JIM LITTELL: We've had some, but, you know, we've battled through those things and won 20 games. So we're fine, injuries, the next person needs to step up and play and that's the mindset that we've had and we've done that and done pretty well. You know, we have had some injuries, but we won 20 games and we finished third in this league. Baylor and Texas are really good. We've had a strong year and we're excited about going to the NCAA tournament. Q. Did you feel like they were doing some things differently with Loryn tonight compared to the first two match-ups? JIM LITTELL: You know, they may have been squeezing her a little more and coming off and helping a little bit more. She had two big games against them the two previous times and your defense always focuses on somebody that does that. Yeah, I think there was extra emphasis on her tonight and helping and being in a ready position on that. But we gotta have other people step up and make shots and we didn't do that. Q. Speaking of your strong season this year, all indications say that you guys are in the NCAA tournament but sitting on the bubble. How do you feel about your chances to get in? JIM LITTELL: I don't know who is saying we're sitting on the bubble. That's something we don't control, but I know this: We finished third in a good league and the team that we tied with we swept. So prior to tonight we had won two against West Virginia, two against TCU and two against Oklahoma. I think we had a good year. We go to Mississippi State, and we lose one possession and they are number two in the country. We played them stronger than anybody in the country right now. Great home win against UCLA and played a tough Tennessee team. I don't control those things. We will wait and see what happens on Monday, but I think if you look at the big picture we've had an outstanding year. THE MODERATOR: Coach, congratulations. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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