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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: WACOMarch 18, 2018Kim Barnes AricoHallie ThomeKatelynn FlahertyWaco, Texas Baylor - 80, Michigan - 58 THE MODERATOR: We'll begin with a short overview from the head coach. KIM BARNES ARICO: Baylor is a great basketball team. It was a great game for us tonight. They were strong and physical and really challenged us. I thought we hung tough in a lot of spurts. We turned the basketball over early. I thought if we hadn't done that, we might have put ourselves in a little bit of a better position. In the second half, they really wore is down and did a great job on Katelynn and Hallie in the second half. They weren't able to get as many easy touches. They were double-teaming and triple-teaming Hallie inside, trying to lock up Katelynn on the outside. They're an incredible team. Obviously they only have one loss on the season. I thought for the most part, until down the stretch, we really battled tough and hung tough. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Katelynn, what do you attribute the turnovers to? KATELYNN FLAHERTY: Sometimes I think we just see people and we try to get it to them quick. Baylor, their guards are super fast. But I think just we had to get adjusted to the game. We made some turnovers. I think we got a little bit tight and made some more. Kind of forcing some passes to certain people. I think we just had to clean that up. Q. Katelynn, I know the game just ended. Curious as to your thoughts on your career, finishing at the NCAA tournament, leading scorer. KATELYNN FLAHERTY: Yeah, I really haven't gotten a chance to think about it even this whole season when I surpassed those records, whatnot. I made the best decision coming to Michigan. I would never change that. I love my coach. I love Hallie (tearing up). Sorry. It's a great school. I couldn't do it without them. I give them credit to them for believing in me. Also to my coaches, for not only helping me grow as a player, but I've grown so much as a woman. I'll leave a better person than I came here. Sorry. KIM BARNES ARICO: I did a good job of not causing this in the locker room. Like you guys got me yesterday, now you got her today. Q. Hallie, what kind of problems Kalani and Lauren presented. You had success early in the game inside. HALLIE THOME: Yeah, I think in the beginning I was very comfortable. I felt like I had a lot of room to score, using my quick moves against them, my speed. It helped me a lot. I think they kind of realized what I was trying to do. A lot of time my spin moves, the guards were all packing the paint, getting little touches. Then Kalani locked down on my baseline hook. She's an outstanding player. I played against her at USA. It's a fun experience to play against a top post player in the country. Q. Katelynn, you can watch it on film, but are they maybe faster, particularly Alexis Morris, is she faster than you can see on film? KATELYNN FLAHERTY: I mean, they looked pretty fast on film. It is different when you get out there always. They're pretty physical, too. They're not just fast. They're all pretty physical. It's definitely a different look, especially from last game. Very quick, very fast, physical, like I said. So kind of was a lot tougher in that sense. Then when you're driving past them, you have to go into two huge post players, it's hard, yeah. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. (No microphone.) KIM BARNES ARICO: The question is, how far do I think they can go. We had the opportunity this year to play against Notre Dame and to play against Louisville. Both of those teams were great teams, and they're No. 1 seeds. I think that Baylor is of equal talent to that. I mean, they're the biggest, best rebounding team that we faced all year long. I think their point guard is becoming more and more confident as the tournament goes on, which is definitely going to help them. The young lady knocked down a few threes, Juicy knocked down a few threes for them, which I think is going to help them to extend the defense, not allow size to pack it in. What we have played against, as talented as any team in the country. Q. Their run there in the third quarter, you having led by five in the first half, do you think you forced them into another gear at that point? KIM BARNES ARICO: Well, I mean, the game was a game of runs definitely in the first half. They would make a run, we would make a run, they would make a run, we'd call timeout, we would make a run. It was real fun in the first half. I think we kind of got stagnant being able to score a little bit. I feel like it was at 45-41 for about three or four possessions where we had an opportunity to extend that. Then we turned it over. We went for the steal. They got the layup. We came back. Hal turned it over again, they passed long, I think they got the and-one. That was a big swing when they were able to go up. We had three or four chances to score at that time. I think a lot of pressure was on Katelynn and Hallie to score. We just needed to add more options in that time. So when they made that run, then it was hard for us to come back once they got it up to 10, 12 points. Q. I saw you nodding your head when I was asking Katelynn about the turnovers. Was it a matter of them getting sped up too much? Was this uncharacteristic of the way they usually play? KIM BARNES ARICO: I think initially, early on, we were trying to find Hallie. We tried to do that sometimes, and that sometimes causes us to get turnovers, especially from the top of the key. Katelynn tried to find her early. Katelynn had five or six on the day, but they had three probably in a minute span. So once she regrouped from that minute, I think she was a lot better. We finished with 19, but we had 12 at half. We were much better in the second half. I think the environment, it was pretty loud. I think every time Baylor made a run, the pressure. But once we settled in, we did a much better job of taking care of the ball. A lot of them were unforced early because we were trying to get Hallie inside. We wanted to be able to try to attack her a little bit in transition. We thought once we set up in the halfcourt, they would have an opportunity to double. We thought her best looks would be out of transition. I think we forced a couple early. I think the jitters had to get out early. Once we were able to do that, we only had seven in the second half, which was a lot better. Q. Just seemed like the physicality, rebounding, a snowball rolling down the hill. Was that also a contributing factor? KIM BARNES ARICO: They wore us down, for sure. No question about it. I thought we battled and kind of hung tough and really fought and really tried to rebound in the first half. Then I thought they really wore us down physically. Even Katelynn said, I felt I was getting bumped and pushed. There were a number of times where I probably would have gotten foul calls that I didn't get foul calls that she's accustomed to. I think the game, everyone watching them on film a lot, they're a very, very, very physical team. They rebound the ball so exceptionally well. It really wore us down. I mean, we had possessions where 29 seconds had gone on the shot clock, great defense, then they get an offensive possession where we'd have to defend them again. Obviously that's the strength of their team. That's something that makes them so good, is they just go after it. Obviously they have two bigs, but it's their guards as well that really, really wear you down. That's where we felt we could have an advantage, if we could get the rebound, we'd be able to go in transition, because five were on the glass. But it's really hard to get the rebound over them. Yeah, they definitely physically wore us down. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. KIM BARNES ARICO: Thank you, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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