|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: STANFORDMarch 23, 2019Terri Williams-FlourneyJaniah McKayUnique ThompsonStanford, California BYU 73, Auburn 64 THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Auburn head coach, Terri Williams-Flourney and student-athletes Unique Thompson and Janiah McKay. Coach, start us off with an opening statement. TERRI WILLIAMS-FLOURNEY: I'm definitely very proud of my young ladies. We continue to fight all day long like we've done all season long. BYU is a very good team. We knew that. We knew they had some very good scores, some very good guards that could score, probably play a little bit more man defense then we've played throughout the season. But this is definitely a team that you didn't want to play a zone. But we continue to fight, not the way we wanted it to end, but I'm proud of what our girls have done this year. Q. (Away from mic.) JANIAH McKAY: My achilles started cramping and I started getting cramps in both my quads and I was immobile and that's why I had to go out and I was out for a time period in the fourth quarter. Q. Janiah, why was the press not effective early and then became effective late, do you think? JANIAH McKAY: I think it starts with our aggressiveness, I don't think we were as aggressive in the first half as we were in the second half. We turned up the pressure in the fourth quarter, but, you know, playing the whole game like that would have been ideal for our style of play. Q. Unique, or both of you, what was the scouting report about them defensively? I could see they were trying to get hands on balls and stuff like that, but coming in what did you expect and what did you see out on the court? JANIAH McKAY: We expected them to play zone. We could have had more of ball movement, getting the ball inside/out. We had to move the ball. Our shots really weren't falling today. That would have helped. But you have to play through that. Your shots are not always going to fall. So that's when we turned to our defense and upped the pressure in the fourth quarter which gave us a boost, but we wanted to keep that momentum from the first half to the second half. Q. Unique, what was it like out there in the post playing against a 6'7" player, rare sight in college basketball and did that cause you some issues there in the third quarter as you were trying to go inside? UNIQUE THOMPSON: I mean, I just seen it as another post player, honestly. I knew she had the height advantage over me, so I tried to get her on the move and even though she was on the move they still weren't calling the fouls that I thought were fouls. So I realized I had to use more contact and just play through it. We knew she was down there and that she was going to be effective in that she was a shot blocker, she is 6'7". Who wouldn't block shots? Who is that tall? We knew we had to get our guards going and it wasn't just about me. I wanted to crash the boards and get rebounds so my guards' shots weren't falling. So it was kinda hard to do both. Q. Janiah, what do you think sparked the comeback there in the fourth quarter? JANIAH McKAY: I would say, you know, our sense of urgency, one and done, don't wanting to home. We've been taught to never give up, always keep fighting and with our motto being a team of excellence no matter if your back is against the wall you have to continue to push through. Q. Janiah, when you look back on this season and on your career, what memories are you going to have especially having gone to the NCAA Tournament three out of four seasons at Auburn? JANIAH McKAY: Definitely have a lot of memories. Each team has been different. I have a lot of sisters that I made friends for life. It's bittersweet. You hate that this is your last game, but wanted to leave a legacy of always working hard, having character, you know, being a strong, black woman. Really excited about the future of this program and now it's next step. The real world is next. I'm very excited for that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Questions for Coach? Q. Coach, with the pressure of the first half you seemed to handle it pretty well and then in the fourth quarter what did you do to turn that up on them? TERRI WILLIAMS-FLOURNEY: I'm not really sure that our pressure in the first half was as strong as it needed to have been. I thought we were a little passive there. Not saying that BYU wouldn't have handled it at that point but if you look at the two quarters it definitely wasn't as aggressive as it was in the fourth quarter. Q. Kind of the same question I asked the players. What were they doing defensively and was that what you saw on the scouting report coming in? TERRI WILLIAMS-FLOURNEY: We knew they wouldn't, even though they were a man-to-man team we knew they wouldn't play us man-to-man, they would probably start out like they did, but they wouldn't do it very long and then they played zone the majority of the game. With the zone you gotta knock down shots, attack the zone. I thought we stood around a little too much and the offensive became very stagnant. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|