|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2006Erica HallmanBonnie HenricksonCrystal KempDALLAS, TEXAS COACH HENRICKSON: Certainly disappointed with our play and performance tonight and not much different than the game at our place which was disappointing. Seemed to allow us to shoot uncontested shots and defensively they were solid and did a nice job. Two rookies that did a lot of scoring for us, Crystal Kemp and Erica Hallman, besides those two right now we just don't have much offensive firepower as those two. So you slow those two down, there's a pretty good chance we're going to struggle, and in turn it's more magnified when we do not create offense from our defense and allow teams to shoot layups. Q. Can you talk about your game tonight, and Kansas State put pressure down low, talk about dealing with that for the second great game and did you do anything in practice preparing for that? CRYSTAL KEMP: I probably didn't play as strong as I should have, especially out of the double looking for other players. One of those things that I tried to take off-balance shots and I could have been a lot stronger in the double today. Q. Erika, it seemed like they had their way on the 3-point line, how much of that was adjusting to the different screens? ERICA HALLMAN: They did a great job chasing me off-screens and switching screens. They threw a lot of different things at me. I got a couple looks but unfortunately I was not able to knock them down. Q. Can you talk about your NIT chances, w NIT, what makes the team attractive? COACH HENRICKSON: I think it's the team that plays an apply good, good league and handles our games in non-Conference and a couple of games, not the last two counting and a couple one-possession games, we've got a chance for those to go either way. For us, it's an opportunity to play in postseason and we just hope the committee gives us the nod and we would be thrilled with the opportunity quite honestly. Q. Crystal your last chance to play K-State, what were your emotions after falling behind early and coming back? CRYSTAL KEMP: It felt a little reminiscent at first, but I think if we would have continued to try to fight and slow up some of their options and play strong defense and do what we wanted to do on offense, we could have played a better game. But unfortunately we just came out and played the way we did. Q. With the future of the season up in the air right now, how are you feeling about playing on or not? ERICA HALLMAN: Well, I definitely would like to play on. We haven't made it to the postseason since we been here so, if we get the opportunity, we just have to make the best out of it. CRYSTAL KEMP: It would definitely be nice to be able to continue to play, especially trying to leave off on a better note than we did these last two games. That's really one of the most things I'm looking forward to. Q. Your emotion in the last two games, you feel like you did too much or you tried to do too much? CRYSTAL KEMP: I don't think we did too much. We probably could have did more as far as getting prepared. But there's really nothing more you can do. You can't teach anyone to have heart and go out there and play hard, and I don't think we did that today, at least not for 40 minutes. Q. What's most frustrating about losing for the second time in six days, and like Crystal said, reminiscent of Thursday night? COACH HENRICKSON: It's certainly not executing a game plan and not being -- not having the focus and attention to detail that you need to play at this level, because it's a great league and great coaches and great players. There's not a lot of wiggle room for us and not a lot of wiggle room for a lot of people in this league. Just you're playing teams that are good enough to beat you, and it will be magnified and you'll end up on the wrong side of a 20-point loss if you beat yourself. So it's a combination of certainly a lot of teams in this league are good enough to beat you that you just cannot come out possession after possession, beat yourself and not being focused on the defensive end and rotating. There's Not too many teams in this league you let them shot layups are going to come out on the other end, and they are not going to let you shoot layups now. Rotate and get to the rim and keep that from happening. Q. Is Kaylee just in a slump or are they doing something to take away her strength? COACH HENRICKSON: No, I think right Kaylee lacks the discipline to take an off-balance shot. They chased her, we worked on moves to get separation shots and they put her down once. I thought she practiced better the last couple of days. I was disappointed for her. For her to not being able to make that layup, it's just undiscipline. Kaylee pucks (phonetic) like a cheerleader now when she shoots a layup. How that discipline goes straight out, I don't understand it. For a senior, it's tremendously disappointing for her to be that undisciplined with the ball. Q. Talk about Kansas State's defense tonight and what they did against you? COACH HENRICKSON: Right now, with Kaylee struggling and they are not going to let you catch shooting threes, they are going to chase you and rag you out on screens. We have to be able to shot fake, separation, use your screens, change your pace, change your speed. With Erica, we run a lot of things with Erica, they do a nice job of switching screens and rotating. Right now we don't have a lot of separation speed on the perimeter to get some room her. Crystal starts a game by not being very strong and not commanding the ball and not great effort up and down, and three seniors, that's going to be tough play this time of year. They have to be better and they know that. But they rotate well and you know, unfortunately played a couple of kids every possession that you don't have to guard. Q. Shaquina got some big minutes tonight, what were you looking for in her? COACH HENRICKSON: I felt like if she could create off the dribble, for her, she's got some separation speed and can get some room. I thought her first possession, she makes a great pass to Crystal, gets the layup defensively, thinks she can hug and bother a little bit, we get to go in to take the jumper going left for the pull-up jump we need, and that was good. And at times she played well and obviously being able to run her at the point a little bit, and getting Erika back to some offense that we run to give her some green. I like can her athleticism and she played with discipline for us today, which is important for us, and all of these kids. Hopefully we let her play more next week and if not, work like crazy to play better and come back next year. Q. This senior class endured a lot of ups and downs; what memories stand out? COACH HENRICKSON: I think the three, they have been coachable since they got here, tried to make some changes and certainly wished for their senior year to have gone better. But unfortunately it's not the way the script ended for them. I think they have grown and learned a lot in the last two years about discipline and commitment and what it takes to be successful as a human being, not just as a basketball player. And even if we might have struggled, not have the success on the court that we would have liked for all of them to have, hopefully when they walk away with the administration and support of Kansas has helped them to understand and be quality people and grow and flourish and have opportunities in the rest of their lives; what it feels like to be part of something very special. And, you know, also hopefully this group will look back in a few years and not very many years and we're achieving the kind of success that I came to Kansas to achieve and we will do that. And those three kids can look back and say, well, I was a part of that change and I was a part of that process. Q. Did you come in with a monkey on your back as a victory that you need to get? COACH HENRICKSON: No. The schedule played that out. Obviously we didn't know we were going to play them, but they have a good basketball them team. They have some young kids playing awfully well for them that we knew would play well. We thought they would be great college players. There's just so many good teams in this league, it's hard to look at one and go, that one really bothers me more than someone else. All of the teams in this league are good. Q. Kaylee's ankle has been bothering her did that factor in tonight? COACH HENRICKSON: No, she's fine.
End of FastScripts... |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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
|