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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2006Kiera HardyT.K. LaFleurConnie YoriDALLAS, TEXAS COACH YORI: I heard about 20 minutes ago Coach Blair was talking about wrapping it up, about 20 minutes ago. (Laughing). Very competitive game. I thought two teams really fought hard and went after each other. I was happy with the effort that we put forth. They are extremely athletic. Hence, the differential in the area of rebounding. Yes, we needed to box out more, but this is a very, very athletic team that we played against tonight. I thought our kids competed very hard. Kiera made a lot of plays, obviously, on the offensive end and kept us in the game from that standpoint. But we also had some other players step up, TK being one of them. I like what we did. I thought we competed hard, and that's what we ask from our players every night. Q. Can you talk about how difficult A&M is to defend? KIERA HARDY: They are already difficult as it is, so you've just basically got to try to play them the best way you can. She was feeling it tonight and I mean, that was one of the big keys. Q. Can you talk about them, their defense and what makes thing so tough on that end? KIERA HARDY: They are a very physical team, probably the most physical in the league. When you play them, you have to be ready to play and know that they are going to play their hardest and you have to bring it. So you can't whine, you can't complain about being physical because that's what the Big 12 is about. If you don't bring it that night, they are just going to hurt you real bad. TK LaFLEUR: Well, they are physical. You just have to find a way to beat them at their own game and be physical back. When they are ganging you up, you just have to be strong and know what you're doing and not hesitate on anything that you do and relieve pressure as bet you can. Q. Kiera, you had a tough night the first night with A&M, did you have extra incentive tonight to show a little better this time? KIERA HARDY: I really have this thing backwards, all I wanted to come out and do was play the best way I could for us to win. Regardless of scoring or anything, I try to do what is needed of me and tonight, scoring was one of them. Q. What were you willing to give up, you can't cover them all at all times, did is that correct surprise you? COACH YORI: No, they are a great dribble jumpshooting team. You know, you don't want to allow them to get all the way to the basket. Our focus was to contain dribble penetration. They didn't get a lot of things going all the way to the rim, but they shot the dribble jumpshot well, Starks being the main force there. But then other kids shoot the dribble jumpshot well, and those are tough shots and a lot of them were challenge shots. You know, I think we wanted to force those shots and then we wanted to do a better job rebounding. They just got too many opportunities on their offensive glass. Q. You were up at half, what were you talking about in the locker room, what were you thinking it was going to transpire from there? COACH YORI: Well, we needed to continue to do the things that we were doing and do them a little bit better. I thought we didn't handle full court -- their full-court press very well in the first half. We had not -- when you have one day to prepare, not even a day to prepare, and you know, you don't see that kind of pressure every night; and we talked about that and handled that a little bit better which I thought we did. But obviously, you know, defensively, I thought we got a little tired in the second half. I thought that was definitely a factor. We played a lot of kids, a lot of minutes and you're trying to slide your feed and guard, and I thought that was a big factor, but at halftime we felt good. We talked about rebounding. We talked about trying to do a better job there and obviously that didn't happen. Q. How do you think A&M's style of play will translate into the NCAA Tournament, considered a physical tournament? COACH YORI: Well, I think it's unusual, and so I think whoever draws them -- it's hard to simulate, and whoever draws them has to find a way to simulate that and hopefully I think one of the things that we like to do against a team that plays that kind of pressure is play against some guys. You know, we don't have guys to play with in our shoot around today, but I think that will be a difficult task to simulate for a team. I do think, though, the fact that they have a little time to prepare and when you have more time to prepare against a pressure team, I think that you naturally can handle it a little bit better. But, you know, I think that A&M is going to make a great run. I think they are a quality team. I think they are different than a lot of teams you see. You look at them and you think, you know, they are not that big, but they are a great rebounding team, despite the fact that they are not that big.
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