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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2006Elaine ElliottKim SmithShona ThorburnDENVER, COLORADO THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and begin with the University of Utah. Joining me on stage head coach Elaine Elliot, Kim Smith, Shona Thorburn, Joh-Teena Felipe. Coach, if you want to make some opening remarks. COACH ELAINE ELLIOTT: Well, I thought it was a good hard-played game, very physical. Both teams, you know, really I thought got after it. Vegas has a great athletic team and they pose a lot of problems on the glass. And the second half, that got away from us. The first half, we weren't talking about so many of the boards and second chances and possessions. And second half we were having to talk about the possession game and the fact this they had too many. So, it's a good win for us. THE MODERATOR: Questions directed to any of the student threats. Q. Shona, you spent a lot of the game guarding Sheena Moore. What was the key to holding the her down and the rest of the shooters? SHONA THORBURN: They're so quick and athletic. And the fact that Sheena can pull up and shoot on a dime and elevate over you. She's a tough assignment. And I think we did a great job of holding them to a low shooting percentage and did a good job of staying in front and getting a hand up on them. Q. Shona, can you talk a little bit about what happened in the second half and how you were able to broke the game open? SHONA THORBURN: I think we came out strong and we had a couple quick baskets. We were aggressive and we pushed it on them. And I don't think we gave them, the first part of the second half, a loft second-chance points, which that's where they really excel. We did a good job controlling the boards, one and out for them, and hitting our open shots. Q. Kim and Shona, can you maybe both address the fact that you haven't won a Mountain West tournament yet, and you got two now, and just what would it mean to you to win this thing? KIM SMITH: It would mean a lot to win it. Every year, well, for the last two years, we've kind of had to watch the celebration, and then nervously and anxiously await the selection show. And it would be great to turn things around this year and know, especially now since you have to wait until Monday, that you're going to go to the tournament. SHONA THORBURN: I want to know what it feels like to cut down the nets. THE MODERATOR: Ladies we'll let you go. Thanks very much. Questions directed to Coach Elliot. Q. Could you just talk about the rebounding. They did seem to get a lot of offensive boards, you're able to withstand that and win the game? COACH ELAINE ELLIOTT: It's just a difficult task. They're pretty relentless on the glass when they have that mindset. That's why Joh is in there. We needed a better presence on the boards, and she did that for us. You could kind of see that physically she matches up well in that regard. So, it's just one of the things that you know can be a factor. Today it didn't end up being so. That's fortunate for us. Q. Coach, the big delay in the first half, obviously unusual situation especially in a game like this. I guess what are you telling the girls during that and how do you keep the team focused? COACH ELAINE ELLIOTT: Well, I asked that they talk a little basketball while they're on the bench, just maybe not the things they sometimes talk about when they get together, just to try to keep focused. You don't get upset. It's just a situation. There's nothing you can do. No better or worse for anybody. You get ready to play again. We wanted to sort of start that as almost like the start of the game again. We got quite ready to play. We did well. Came out of the blocks early in the game. That was the about the only added piece of information, was like, new game, let's go. Q. Coach, can you talk about holding them to 29 percent shooting and also your feelings about breaking through and winning a tournament tomorrow maybe? COACH ELAINE ELLIOTT: Well, I always think that when you have a low shooting percentage, it's just -- I never believe it's only on one end of the floor or one side of the game. You hope it's because you are getting a hand up and there's not a lot of open things. Usually obviously you wouldn't be giving up transition baskets, uncontested kinds of things on the full court. Those things lead to high-percentage shooting. At the same time, everybody looks back on a poor shooting tonight and can attest to saying there's plenty of those shoots we would take again. We don't take full credit and we don't feel like it wasn't a part of our effort as well. The tournament, well, I mean, you'd love to have the kids experience that. It's the one thing in my mind unfortunate about the difference between regular season and the regular tournament, because the regular season is something that we really believe in, and trying to put that body of work together to be able to be in an NCAA tournament no matter what happens at these three-day deals. But this is that, you know, exciting thing where people are cutting down nets. And so you very seldom get to do that as a regular-season champion. In that way it's an experience that's fun to have. And I would love certainly if that happened for our kids. That's most of it. Q. Second game in a row you got a nice contribution late from a freshman. After Perry was in trouble, Felipe came up big. Can you comment? COACH ELAINE ELLIOTT: It was nice. She's learning. She played within herself tonight. She did what she can do really well, which is big body to board, didn't press things on offense, let it come to her. She is very talented, and it will be very good. First of all, she's ready to play. When you have kids that aren't playing every game and are playing in certain situations, if their head is not there, if there's self-pity, concern about what's happened in the past, they're not going to step on the floor and do what she did. She's to be commended for having her head in the game and ready to go. Q. Coach, will you stick around and check out this game and? COACH ELAINE ELLIOTT: Yes, there's a lot -- we'll watch the game, and try to watch with some purpose. You don't know until it's over what's going to happen or who it's going to be. It's just as good to do that as to go sit in the hotel. The kids will go to dinner and the coaching staff will think about the game and meet up later after dinner and try to get focused for tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH ELAINE ELLIOTT: Thank you.
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