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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 3, 2007

DULUTH, GEORGIA

THE MODERATOR: Now joined by Tennessee head Coach Pat Summitt and players Nicky Anosike and Alexis Hornbuckle.
Coach, if you could make an opening comment and then we'll take questions.
COACH SUMMITT: I think if you just take a look at this game statistically and you look at the paint points that LSU got, the inside presence that Sylvia Fowles gave them, tremendous. Erica White, what she brought to their team in terms of just how productive she was both offensively and getting her team involved.
You know, we got whipped right down the middle. They were just better. They had a post game. We didn't have a post game consistently. They did an awful lot from their point position. Obviously, very disappointed that we didn't match the intensity. When I say that, I'm talking five people on the floor at all times. I thought LSU was much more inspired one through five. Just really made a lot of great plays.
Obviously Alexis had a super effort. Nicky did a great job for us, I thought gave us, as she always does, a tremendous defensive effort on the inside.
Then the other thing that was glaring to me was the bench play. We didn't get much off of our bench in terms of being productive and making a difference, and they obviously got a lot more than they did.
They were a better team tonight than we were. They had some better overall play as a basketball team both defensively and offensively.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Alexis, could you talk about your play, the point production, what you were able to accomplish offensively this evening.
ALEXIS HORNBUCKLE: I came out tonight with a mindset that I wanted to give 110%. No matter what the outcome of the game, I wanted to feel like I didn't let my teammates down.
You know, I got great looks. Tonight I was able to knock 'em down.

Q. Coach, is there any way you can explain what happened with Candace tonight? A career low in scoring. Was it what they were doing defensively? Was she being lackadaisical? Any explanation?
COACH SUMMITT: Well, I felt like, you know, obviously there were times we couldn't get her the basketball because they did a good job of defending her with a player and a half or two players. But then I thought she settled for a facing up, not posting up. We really needed her to establish an inside game for us.
Obviously, it was physical. But, you know, I think that's where we have to learn. She has to really just be very deliberate in getting what she wants in the paint. It just hurt us not to have a strong presence there because as she goes we go inside. We have to have that. She knows that. I'm sure no one feels more pain about this than she does.
But, again, we just felt like we just couldn't establish the inside. We didn't establish the inside game consistently. That's where we should have been.

Q. Obviously a lot of basketball ahead of you ladies. What do you tell your team after a tough loss like this?
COACH SUMMITT: Well, we have to learn from it. You know, this team, they've been very committed to do what we've asked them to do as a coaching staff. They've taken ownership. I don't think that's going to change.
You know, I think this loss hurts everyone. Everyone in the locker room's disappointed: Coaches, players. We know we can't win post-season without five people playing, without our bench bringing what they need to bring.
The one concern I had coming in is, you know, what's this going to mean to our team one through ten? How are we going to handle this? It's happened in the past. When we've been able to win the regular season it's been far more difficult to win the tournament.
I think LSU, as far as looking at their motivation and their desire, their commitment across the board, when they had five players on the floor I think they all were on a mission to try and win this game. I don't feel like we had that strong a commitment and desire one through five at all times.

Q. Nicky, can you talk about Sylvia Fowles' performance? Is that as good a post performance as you've ever seen?
NICKY ANOSIKE: She was just strong in there for them. I tried to guard as best I can, but obviously she ended up with 19 points so I didn't do as well as I should have for this team.
But, yeah, she was strong in there for them.

Q. Coach, maybe the difference Erica White gave to them, wasn't able to score as much at the game in Baton Rouge.
COACH SUMMITT: I think just watching Erica, watching her play last night, I thought very, very aggressive. I thought we did a better job when we played at LSU. I thought our defensive pressure was much better.
She's just the type of player that really pushes tempo. I think she's been more involved for them offensively. We didn't match her intensity. I mean, if I had to say, again, down the middle, point guard play, post play, we were not where we needed to be to have a chance to win this game tonight.
You know, I think likewise, when she's making plays, we're not getting our key scorers involved, you know, Spencer's got to shoot better for us, Parker's got to post up and score more for us on the block. We know what we have to do.
They did what they had to do and scored from the positions they needed to score from. We just didn't match it.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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