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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 4, 2007Allyssa DeHaanVictoria Lucas-PerryJoanne P. McCallieINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: We'll open with an opening statement from Coach McCallie and then go to the student athletes. COACH JOANNE McCALLIE: That was a very entertaining game. I think it boils down to rebounding and Katie Gearlds. That's the game. Q. Victoria, the first 25 minutes, how close is that to maybe the best you guys have played this season? VICTORIA LUCAS-PERRY: I definitely think we played well together. We moved the ball, we found open people. We got stops. It's what we're capable of doing for 40 minutes, we just didn't do it tonight. Q. For Allyssa, in the second half, it was just a complete opposite of the first half, they went on a couple of 8-and-0 runs. What were you saying to yourselves and how were you trying to keep it together? ALLYSSA DeHAAN: Any time Purdue is going to make a run, it's just how you and the team handle it. We weren't getting the stops that we should have in the first half, and that's something we need to work on. We should have just handled it better and gotten more boards. Q. Victoria, with 15 minutes to go you had like 20 points. Did they switch up defense on you, or what happened? VICTORIA LUCAS-PERRY: No, we were still trying to work the inside-out game. You don't really worry about how many points you have, it's just about us getting the ball in the basket and getting second-chance shots. I mean, I wasn't really focused on that as long as our team was doing what we were supposed to be doing. I think we should have had more focus on defense and rebounding. That's what we should have focused on. Q. Victoria, talk a little bit about Katie Gearlds. You guys shut her down pretty well in the first half, and then she got going a little bit. What were you guys trying to do to stop her in the second half? VICTORIA LUCAS-PERRY: Definitely taking her out, just really getting in her face, knowing where she is all the time. We just didn't do a good enough job of that. Q. Allyssa, what was the difference in Purdue's rebounding from the first two games you played against them to tonight? ALLYSSA DeHAAN: They just wanted it more than us, getting out-rebounded by ten. We handled them pretty well offensively the last couple games, and we just weren't there tonight. We just didn't want it as much as they did, and that's where we've got to start right now if we want to go farther is rebounding. Q. Allyssa, as the season goes on and you're getting more experience and more confidence, teams are focusing on you more. How are you feeling that on the floor? Are you feeling more pressure from defenses, more physical pressure, things like that? ALLYSSA DeHAAN: I got pushed from the first game until now. There's no difference. It's all mental, it's all me. I'm the only one holding myself back. Their defense has nothing to do with what I do, it's just -- it's me. Q. You guys were up here playing with so much emotion; have you felt that big of a swing emotionally this season? VICTORIA LUCAS-PERRY: Yeah. When we came back we were down, and it was probably the opposite. I mean, every game you have your ups and downs. You have your lulls, you have your runs, it's all about how you respond, it's all about how you come back from those. That's just the game of basketball. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach McCallie? Q. Coach, first of all, she's incredible (DeHaan). I've never seen her before and I've heard about her in statements. Usually they come from the media, but she's incredible. COACH JOANNE McCALLIE: For her to say that, the abuse that she takes is unreal; the way she was pushed and hit today, it's unreal. Q. I thought you had them on the ropes. I thought Erin Lawless was their lifeline, particularly when you were up earlier in the game. I know Katie got hot later, but I didn't see a whole lot and Erin Lawless kept them in there. COACH JOANNE McCALLIE: She does a very nice job. She had a very nice game. She's a steady player. Yeah, I definitely think she was just a solid person -- I think what Katie does is different, though. Katie -- from what I can tell, without Katie, they don't go, though. Katie has to be the one -- there's just something about that outside game of Katie's that frees everybody up. I mean, 14 rebounds for Lindsay. I mean, she's a special player. It's a unique trio that they have with those three, and they definitely provide the energy and whatnot. But obviously we did not do a great job on any one of the three. Q. Gearlds' first two games, did you think it was just inevitable she could catch a little bit of fire at some point? COACH JOANNE McCALLIE: Definitely. You have an excellent player like that, you just have to be aware. Some things worked, some things didn't. I know she only hit a few threes but they were huge threes. I mean, that's the game right there. Q. You had a double-digit lead in the second half. How were you guys feeling? I know basketball is a game of runs, but were you guys feeling pretty good, and what kind of changed the momentum at that point? COACH JOANNE McCALLIE: We just stay in the moment. This is March. Leads don't mean anything, whether you're up, down or sideways. It's March. We need to stay in the moment and try and make plays. You know, it's a very physical game, it had a lot of elements to it, but in the end you've just got to stay in the moment and make plays. We did to some degree. It's three points. You know, it wasn't exactly -- it was a close game, so we just maybe didn't make some plays go over the time. Q. Vic didn't score for the last 15 minutes. Did you notice them doing something differently defensively towards her? COACH JOANNE McCALLIE: I'll have to look at the film. They played a lot of man down the stretch in the second half. I think the key for us was the lack of offensive rebounding. Our players control that. Again, I'm going to agree with Allyssa. You control if you get to the ball for an offensive rebound. Scoring is a difficulty for any member of our team, you have to go to the boards to get yourself going. We did not have any -- seven offensive rebounds for the game, shooting 40 percent? That tells the story right now. We've got to be more aggressive and go get the ball. Q. When they tied the game and took the lead in the second half, how close did this feel to a road game for you guys? COACH JOANNE McCALLIE: It was a road game, completely. I mean, it's home court advantage for Purdue, without question. Always has been. I'm sure the Big Ten is happy they're in the final. Q. You had a couple chances in the last minute and about 40 seconds, there was a look at a three and the inadvertent whistle. COACH JOANNE McCALLIE: Yeah, that was classic. Q. What was the result you wanted out of that? COACH JOANNE McCALLIE: I just would have appreciated going to the -- when you have something like that occur, an inadvertent whistle, I would like them to say to me, okay, we'll go to the arrow, you know, something objective. You can't have somebody on the floor with a ball, which is essentially a travel, and then give them the ball back and then call an inadvertent whistle. You can't do that. You could say, well, it was an inadvertent whistle so we're going to go to the arrows. By the way, the arrow did favor Purdue. I just wanted some objectivity in that call. That's what I was trying to demand. Inadvertent whistle, it's Purdue's ball because she was on the floor and she had it. Except for our kids were trying to tackle her at the same time. But that's what they said. Q. With the way this one turned around and with what's coming up, how do you see this team bouncing back between now and two weekends from now? COACH JOANNE McCALLIE: It's just a great opportunity to learn from. We'll examine it closely. That's a real stinger. That's a stinger game without question. You know, I think those things can only work in your favor if you work hard and make some adjustments. Those kids are very -- you look at Allyssa and Victoria and Rene and the kids in the locker room, they were upset with this game in terms of outcome and things they could have done for sure. Hopefully it's a motivator for us. That's the way we'll take it. End of FastScripts |
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