BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYS

October 20, 2005

Chesley Dabbs

LaToya Davis

Erin Grant

Marsha Sharp

COACH MARSHA SHARP: Thank you. I will be glad to do that. The three seniors that we have on the basketball team at Texas Tech this year are with me today, and I will start on the far end. LaToya Davis is from Houston, Texas, and has been a starter for us for a couple of years there, and we think has a chance to finish her career at Texas Tech, as well as these other two, in great style. She's a terrific player. I think she's a great warrior. I say that in best sense possible, but I think people who are around the country who have watched her play would agree she plays with that kind of mentality and we're really pleased with what she has accomplished already for us. Chesley Dabbs from Plano here in the Metro Plex. Has been a huge part of our team particularly for the last two seasons. I think a lot of coaches in the Big 12 would agree with me that she might have been the best perimeter defense player in the conference last year. And we feel like it's something that we build our defense around and she always draws the toughest assignment going in that direction, but I think something that really we have learned has been a big part of us is her ability to score, particularly on a jump shot off of the move. And it's something that we try to incorporate in our offense a great deal. Erin Grant from Mansfield here in the Metro Plex, and she's certainly had a good summer and a great summer. Played on USA team this summer as a pre-season pick for all of the national players in the conference, the finalists. A preseason Big 12 pick is all American pick as well. So you know she's our pointguard. She's run with us. She has done that the entire time she's been at Tech. There is only been an one game at Tech she didn't start because of a slight injury, and I will tell you that these three are the heart and soul of what we're about right now. It's my pleasure to coach them. I absolutely love this class. They're one of my favorite classes to have coached in my career at Texas Tech. I love their mentality and passion. How hard they work. I love what they have done in the classroom and they have been a real joy for me to be around, and I don't think anybody associated with our basketball program at Tech has any thoughts of not trying to help them finish their careers out in a great way. And we're all committed to that and looking forward to a season and hopefully doing some things that are really special for all of us, most particularly for these three seniors.

COACH MARSHA SHARP: First of all, there's been a little bit of talk about the nonconference schedule of our basketball team and I will -- told Coach Leach that on November the 13th somewhere right before he started that game, I am going to be wishing that I started a little more like him, maybe just the thought I am going to have in my mind. But we're really excited about the chance to play them. They're one the premier programs in the country certainly. So Sonoma Augustus is the returning national player of the team. Pokey Chapman first of all returning national coach of the year, and an opportunity to host that classic. I think first of all is a great testimony to our fans and the fact will be a great atmosphere. It will be sold out. It will be packed and really excited only about our game that Georgia and Baylor is going to be there as well. It's a great challenge for us, but I think for this particular group and particularly for these guys that are here with me today it's a great chance to see where we are early and move forward from that point. We hope that our home court will help us that day, and I'm really excited about the opportunity to show off Lubbock is our arena and atmosphere that we have for women's basketball. I am really excited about the upcoming day and can't believe it's just a little over three weeks away, but we're ready to go.

COACH MARSHA SHARP: I think we have one that has made a great commitment to try to get that done, Patrice. She is a sophomore out of California, named Erin Myrick. I was so impressed with what she did during the summer. A lot of people who watched us play last year know that she had a lot of difficulty between the free-throw lines making trips up and down the court. From a conditioning standpoint as well as just her ability to get there in time. She spent more time probably on the track or on synthetic football field than she did in the gym. I am proud of her ability to run and her speed and she really committed to trying to be the one in that position. And I think she's done that. Cisti was a great player. She was a great shot blocker. She altered offense positions for people particularly because of her ability to do that. But I think what you have with Erin in that maybe will be a little different is that you have a consistency there. You are not going to get the flashy play, but you are going to get consistent offense and defense every trip and I think she's solid, that and we know exactly what she's going to give us every time we come down the floor. There is no guesswork for any of them. She's going to be involved and we're going to get her best effort every single trip. I am really excited about her progress. She's obviously the only one of our starters that's been not a returner. In some ways, she can just play great defense and rebound it, set good picks for us, and let the offense come to her. I think she'll have a chance to really complete our starting lineup and be a good player.

ERIN GRANT: I had a great experience this summer going with the US basketball team. Just get to go play with the type of talent. I played with the most competitive people I played with ever. And the top talent in the country. I think it really helped me and gave me an opportunity to see where I am right now as far as one the top players and I enjoyed the opportunity to go. We had a great time in Turkey, played against some great teams over there, and won the gold medal to top it off. So I really had a great summer.

CHELSEY DABBS: I don't think it wears me down too much because I am used to it by now. But I think my defense helps me with my offense because if I am more energetic on the defensive end. I am probably going to jump higher and go to the basket stronger.

COACH MARSHA SHARP: I think it's a great question and something I looked at a little bit over the summer as a coaching staff because I felt like as we went through games last year that we did put her in a position where she had to make some big shots at the end and she had to play so many minutes it affected just her ability to score. One thing that we're doing and they can tell me ever day, we finish our practices with shooting drills. Where we normally through my career have done them at the beginning of practice and worked our way through to scrimmage situations. We come back now and just straight shoot it at the end because I think maybe there is some issues that we can shoot it. We understand that wire going to have use our legs a little more, jump a little better, do some things and concentrate a little more when we are tired. Not just for Chesley, for all of us. I hope maybe we're kind of setting the tone what you are going to have to do in the last three minutes of game to finish. We were five or six points away last year from winning four more basketball games than we did, and we lost 8. So we were close. We had to pull the trigger a couple of times late and we didn't get shots to go. We're trying maybe to change that mentality a little bit about being able to finish.

COACH MARSHA SHARP: There is no question. Jump shooters affected more than anybody else by fatigue. We have worked hard on conditioning, worked hard on the mentality part of it, because it's one thing to go to the free-throw line to shot and maybe make a post move and shoot it down low. But that jump shooter you have got to have good legs all the way through to do that. Maybe just a little bit better, that we're going to be able to maybe finish just a couple of minutes longer so we just enough left, so we can finish maybe a little better than maybe we were able to a year ago.

COACH MARSHA SHARP: Well, those are great players that you talked about, but, you know, we have one. I think in the Big 12, you better have one that making plays and play with an aggressive spirit and I think that's what I love the very most about LaToya. She's a scorer. You know, it looks a lot different from time to time. She does it a lot of different ways, but she scores. And there is no question that she'll be a go-to player for us and certainly those other guys are great players you don't want to take any away from them because they're doing great things for their teams. I think LaToya can do this. I don't want to embarrass here up here. Last year, playing in Dallas, she stepped over, jumped over a player to score in the paint you know to give us a chance to win and that's just the mentality she plays with and we just feel like there are a lot of great things that she'll be able to do for our team this year.

ERIN GRANT: I am excited we're coming back to Dallas for my senior year. We changed up form Kansas City last year which was great for us too. But just coming back home to Dallas again will be great for fans to come here and support us and try to end it all in Dallas like we've done before.

CHELSEY DABBS: I think it will just to be great because we have a lot of fans in this area that can drive an hour or two to come see us play.

LATOYA DAVIS: I think it will be a fun just to come in Dallas because my family is in Houston, so it's not really that far of a drive come see us play and just to come play in front of great fans because our fans pretty much -- it will be easy travel for them.

COACH MARSHA SHARP: In answer to your other question about scheduling games here, we attempt to do as much as we can. We played the tournament in your sophomore year, we attempt to schedule people in the Metro Plex as often as possible just because it's a great place first of all. It's a great recruiting for us second, and it's something we really enjoy. And I love the city. To be here in the Metro Plex is a great place for us and we always have a lot of really positive attention from Tech people when we're down here. You know, we tried last year, we intentionally chose to bring the subregional to Dallas with the University of Texas and it was a great chance for us to play here and I think we had great response to that and there were a lot of folks from this area that helped us a great deal try to put that together, and we really appreciate that. It's tough sometimes to continually schedule, and I think what our men are doing is a great idea to try to bring opponents here and make it a neutral site I haven't explored that too much yet on the women's side because we have had a couple of opportunities instead. It's probably something that would be really a viable option for us in the future.