BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2005

Twiggy McIntyre

Deb Patterson

Kendra Wecker

COACH PATTERSON: Thank you. Well, this evening's game to me was just a classic great Big-12 match-up, a basketball game in which I thought both teams played extremely hard and fought like you would expect Big-12 teams to fight the full 40 minutes. I'm just very proud of our basketball team. We have so much respect for Texas, the talent and the strength that they bring to the floor. We're just extremely proud of the fact that we were able to compete back from the deficit and make the game competitive and ultimately end up with the victory.

TWIGGY McINTYRE: I just had total confidence in my team. I mean, I just knew we had it in us the entire game. I didn't let anything rattle us or anything like that. Especially at the point guard position, I have to maintain my cool and everything as I call the plays and bring the ball up the court.

KENDRA WECKER: This team, man, we have a lot of heart. I don't think we've ever seen that as much as we did this evening. When you have players coming off the bench like Brie and Twiggy, and just play the game of their careers like both of them did tonight, you know, we got momentum on the defensive end. We stepped up and we made some stops, then we came down and made some huge plays on offense. We just kept battling. I mean, we were down seven at halftime. Coach P, we came out and pretended like it was a brand-new ballgame, 0-0, and we were starting all over again. I think we got down like around 13 in the second half, but, you know, for some reason, that just didn't shake us tonight. We kept our composure. You know, we were celebrating at mid court after the game. I just told the team, that was all about heart. We had huge, huge purple hearts tonight and we came out on top.

KENDRA WECKER: You know, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for someone to get to that championship game. For this group of seniors that we have, this is our first and last time to get there. We're going to bring everything we have to the court on Saturday. You know, we got a day of rest tomorrow, and I'm sure we'll take advantage of that. But, you know, just refocus and get our mindset ready for Saturday. I think we're all going to celebrate this for what it's worth tonight, but get back in the gym tomorrow and get ready to play a great Baylor team.

KENDRA WECKER: I don't know what all I can say. Brie Madden was tremendous. You know, Tiffany Jackson is a tough match-up for anybody. But, you know, Brie brought her A game today. She had a double-double, six assists. She was huge for us tonight. You know, just not being afraid, not backing down from (inaudible). She took the ball to Tiffany, and made some big plays for us, got some rebounds, was aggressive and feisty all night. For a player to come off the bench like that and play with that much confidence, it was huge for us tonight. The same thing goes for Twiggy. She went 7 for 10 from the floor, shot some -- knocked down some huge free-throws, a couple big threes, able to get to the rim a couple times. That just says lot about this team and our bench play, you know, the focus and commitment that we can bring on the offensive end of the floor.

TWIGGY McINTYRE: Oh, man, I just have so much respect for Jamie Carey. She was a point guard that I watched when I was in high school. I just really have much respect for her game. I knew she was wanting to take the big shot towards the end of the game. She's amazing at it. It's one of her trademarks. So I just did my best to stick on her and my teammates did an amazing job backing me up if I got caught on the screen.

KENDRA WECKER: You know, these guys have so much ahead of them. Yeah, you know, this is our last year here, but with Twiggy and players like Claire and Shana, I mean, the sky's the limit for those guys. You know, coming off of a huge win like this, you know, whatever happens happens on Saturday. But I have all the confidence in the world in them that, you know, once we are done with our careers, they're going to take this program and keep it, you know, at the level it is and hopefully even better.

TWIGGY McINTYRE: Megan hit a couple of those when we were playing Texas Tech. I kind of joke around with her all the time. She's like, "I never make any shots except for when the shot clock is going down." She stepped up and was huge for us tonight, especially in the last couple minutes of the game. Came in and did a great job defensively. We were kind of -- I don't know, we were pretty spread out on that play. I was trying to make something happen by sending her a long ball. She chose not to use it. Somehow got a shot off, kind of double pumped with the girl hanging on me, and it went in. That was just a huge, huge momentum change right there for us right there. I think that just lifted up our team to another level.

COACH PATTERSON: Well, I believe it's certainly the most emotional win and the biggest comeback victory that I'm aware of, you know, certainly in my tenure here, and definitely in the tenure of this senior class. But I think in my nine years here, this is far and away the biggest comeback victory that I'm familiar with. You know, I think it was a real positive for us to have been able to battle back to seven at half. That put us in position of being competitive the second 20 minutes. So more than anything, I think it was really impressive to our staff that we walked into the locker room after the first 20 minutes under double digits. You know, that to me was really where the character of our team had been revealed. It set a standard I think that our basketball team understood, they were capable of bringing the next 20 minutes.

COACH PATTERSON: Yeah, Twiggy was tremendous tonight. You know, an incredible feel for the tempo the game required. You know, she defended extremely well. Offensively, she just managed the last half of the second 20 so extremely well and really just brought great balance across the board. Very good basketball decisions. She brought an understanding of who she was on the floor with, where the ball needed to be, when, and also was willing in her own right to step up and be a play-maker without forcing action. For a player like her to have made this big of an impact in a game with so much on the line and with so much pressure is just so extremely impressive and something certainly I know she'll take a great deal of pride in and I know build off of. You know, it's a very special moment when you come off the bench and you can impact the team like Twiggy McIntyre did today. As you can see, it makes us a better basketball team.

COACH PATTERSON: Brie was everything we could have asked her to be in our post game. You know, the last month she has just continued to make steady progress, and tonight, you know, I thought she was just tremendous. You know, she had such a tough assignment in Tiffany Jackson. Defensively she kept herself in the game. It's so important that you keep yourself on the floor but yet you're aggressive. As always, Tiffany did a great job. You know, 24 points on the night. But Brie Madden maintained that she was going to be a defensive presence. She maintained that offensively she was going to be aggressive, and that she was going to be a rebounder. I think the other telling statistic for her tonight was the fact that she leaves the floor with four assists or six assists. You know, very much like Twiggy, she had a great feel for what the game required of her and what her team needed as we competed, particularly those second 20 minutes. Having that post presence is just so important for any team that's going to be successful at this stage in the season, you know, whereas that had been a question mark in the early and mid stage of the season, we're finding that over the course of the last month, Brie Madden has been stepping up and making a statement that she wants to be that presence for us. Certainly tonight it helped separate us.

COACH PATTERSON: Well, I think, again, one of the greatest strengths we bring to the floor is our versatility on the offensive end. In order for us to be successful, I think we've got to be the kind of team that is putting a lot of points on the board. I think that indicates that we're playing true to our system, playing true to our strengths. It sounds very simplistic: score a lot of points. But for a team like us that predicates a lot of what we do on the offensive end of the floor and spent a great deal of time on working to be an effective offensive team, that's an important element. You know, we have to get results for our investment. I think tonight we did that. We did it in a challenging manner. We went to that big long scoring drought at the beginning of the game and consequently it put a lot of pressure on us the second 20 minutes to be efficient offensively. But our players stepped up. That's what it takes against a similar team in terms of the offensive power that Texas brings to the floor. They've got the inside-outside. I believe you've got to be ready to score some points if you're going to have a chance to beat them.

COACH PATTERSON: Tonight was a classic example of how mentally tough and confident that basketball team has played throughout the course of this year. They've been very intelligent, they've been very aggressive. When it has come to close game situations, they've made big plays. You need that in order to, again, separate yourself and win. You have to have players make big plays. Tonight was a classic example with the drive and the shot with two seconds left to essentially win the basketball game. But, you know, Baylor, again, is a great basketball team because they're so extremely athletic. They're so extremely skilled. With Sophia Young and Tiffany Blackmon, they've got two of the best post players in the game, without question. They've got the depth, dimension in having a player with the size and versatility as a scorer inside and out that Niemann brings. Wabara is such a phenomenal athlete and defender. They're great on the offensive boards. They're quicker than just about anybody in the land in the paint, in creating second-shot opportunities. They're a team now that has perimeter players that can break you down off the dribble and has the poise and patience to step up and make big jump shots or big three's when the game necessitates it. I just think they're a basketball team that plays very strong to their strengths. They're very confident. They're very balanced, very athletically talented. Their quickness is extraordinary. They maximize every one of those elements.

COACH PATTERSON: Thank you.