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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2007Katie GearldsErin LawlessSharon VersypLindsay Wisdom-HyltonINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: We'll open to up with general comments from Coach Versyp and then we'll go to the student athletes for questions. Sharon? COACH SHARON VERSYP: Well, this is an unbelievable evening for Purdue University and this group of young women. You know, it's amazing what they have gone through in order to be in this position tonight, being Big Ten champs, and I can't say enough for them and what their dedication and their belief in me and my staff, to go through this journey together and just be able to end it this way. Obviously ending the Big Ten championship but going on to the NCAA and hopefully doing some really great things. Q. Katie, did you have any sense before the game that you guys would get off to that kind of a start? KATIE GEARLDS: You know, we talked about wanting to get off to a good start in the first two games we got down by nine, ten points and we really wanted to focus on getting a good start because it takes so much energy to battle back when you start off like that. To start off 21-0, you can't say enough about our defensive job, finishing the plays with rebounds, and we just pushed the ball in transition. You know, sometimes we can kind of struggle if we have to set up in the half court, and I thought we did a great job of really pushing the tempo and finding some good looks. Q. Katie, your dad was saying that this is why you went to Purdue. Did the reality look a lot like the dream? And secondly, what did you say to the bench after you hit that one shot? KATIE GEARLDS: You know, you talk about going to Purdue and wanting to win championships. You know, we felt like we were in the position this year; we started off really well in the Big Ten and had two losses on our home court that we let slip away. Both games we should have battled and won those games, but we didn't. Those things happen for a reason. To come back here and win a championship in my hometown is something really special. The shot, it was a step back, and as soon as I released it, coach said, "It's off, it's off." And I just turned to her, and I said, "Nope." And that was it (laughter). Q. Lindsay, could you talk about the fact that Ohio State has beaten you guys a few times in a row and a lot of talk may be about how dominant they had been? Did that motivate you guys at all knowing that maybe they were favored? LINDSAY WISDOM-HYLTON: Definitely, yeah, they were favored, and yeah, they beat us at home and that hurt and we used that as motivation to come out and be aggressive and be strong. We had lost to them last year, a year ago. They came back beat us here, and we were able to come back and we kind of fell short. But we used that as motivation to come through with a great win tonight. Q. Erin, just the feeling. You guys have not had this experience since your freshman year. Just talk about the emotion and the feeling. ERIN LAWLESS: You know, I had a great feeling when I woke up this morning. I just felt the same way I did my freshman year. I woke up, and I was like, I feel great about this game, I feel great about this team's confidence. The emotions are just all over the place. There's excitement, there's joy, there's every kind of emotion, it's overwhelming. It's just happiness all over right now. It's fantastic to know we fought those first two games, and to come out to a 21-0 start is something you just can't stop smiling about. It's just -- you know, we got it done. We went out there, we played, we got that championship. Q. Lindsay, there was a point there in the second half where it looked like you felt like you could do just about whatever you wanted to offensively. Were you feeling pretty comfortable at that point with your ability to get some points on the board? LINDSAY WISDOM-HYLTON: Definitely. I was starting to hit a few shots and I kind of felt like I was unstoppable so I kind of kept going at them. I missed a few shots and then we were able to run through some of our offense, and Katie and Erin were stepping up and hitting shots. We were playing great team basketball, and I think that's what pulled us through with the victory tonight. Q. Katie, as you're standing there with the trophy and taking pictures, any particular thoughts go through your mind? Also, you've had a lot of injuries and a lot of rehab. Did you give any thought to what you've been through to get to this point? KATIE GEARLDS: The only thing that was going through my mind was how special this feels, but most importantly how much further we have to go this year. This is a great building block right now to really grab onto this momentum and carry it into the NCAA tournament. One thing I wanted to say, we're hoping we've got six more games left and that will put us in the National Championship. We're going to take it one night at a time, and from here on out it's one and done, and I'm hoping and I know Erin is hoping that we've got a lot more college ball to play. Q. Lindsay, I'm wondering about your fearless nature. There were back-to-back-to-back situations between you and Jess. Just talk about what a rush it is maybe to take it to the hole strong against one of the most celebrated players, and you scored on her twice in three plays there. LINDSAY WISDOM-HYLTON: Some of our offense was run toward me because I was kind of hot, just like any other player was. But she's a great player, great defender. But I couldn't be scared. I just had to take it at her and be aggressive, and I think that's just what Erin and I and everybody else was doing on the court. Q. For any or all of you, when you get out 21-0 like that, how hard is it -- you've got to remind your self there's still 30 minutes to play. How hard was it to just I guess stay about your business and realize that you still have a lot to game to play? ERIN LAWLESS: I don't think that was hard for any of us at all. We understood that it was a 21 lead but any team is capable of coming back from a deficit like that. It's happened before, and we were trying not to have that happen to us. Q. How important was it in the second half to not let to lead get under ten? KATIE GEARLDS: We talked about it at halftime, same thing, coming out and really dominating the first four or five minutes like we did the first half. And you know, we kind of traded baskets back and forth, and we didn't let that lead get under ten. I think one time there was a chance, Jess was at the line and I think she could have knocked it down to nine and missed one of the two, so it never got to single digits. We knew they were going to make a run, and we knew we just gave up a 17-point lead to Michigan State a month ago, so we knew we had to maintain our momentum and keep attacking offensively. Q. Jim Foster was in here a little bit ago reminding everybody that Lindsay has got game. Could you tell us what a rush you got watching her? I think she's too modest. KATIE GEARLDS: You can't say enough about her. Lindsay is so athletically gifted. She pulled out this left-handed baby hook. I was like, oh, my goodness, if she pulls that out, she is unstoppable, because the next play I think she turned left and just kind of went for it, and Lindsay went to the right hand with a bank shot. She's so physically gifted athletically, you can't say enough about her. She rebounds the ball off the rim, changes shots. She's one of those really rare players that can dominate on both ends of the floor, and we try to tell her every day how good she is, and I think she's finally starting to believe us. I promise you, I'm not lying though. She is one of those really, really special players, and really glad to have the opportunity to play with her for three years. She's going to take this team a long way next year, too. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Sharon? Q. Was that the game plan to get off to a 21-0 lead? COACH SHARON VERSYP: Absolutely. We wrote it up just like that. No, we just discussed the last two games, we got off to a slow start and got behind by 9 or 13 and you just can't do that. Again, it would be very hard for us, even though we probably could battle back, but we just did not want that to happen. I said that both teams are really tired, but we're in better shape. Let's get up and down the floor and show that, and that's what got us started in transition. Q. It looked like defensively your players stuck to the game plan pretty well, let them shoot from the outside and passing on the inside. Just talk about that strategy. It seemed to be really effective, especially in the first half. COACH SHARON VERSYP: They only took about five or six threes total the last two games, and if you're going to get beat, you've got to see how they're playing, and we're just like, let them shoot from the outside. Packer is a three-point shooter, 00 is a three-point shooter, and we just kind of played in and sagged in and did not want Davenport to get off to a great start, and I think we did that exceptionally well the first half. I knew she'd end up scoring the second half because we were banging and you wear her down. Erin did just a phenomenal job and everybody helping in. The game plan worked and our kids stuck to it, and we got to play zone the whole night and not play man. Q. It was either yesterday or earlier in the tournament you said that you knew how good these kids were. Is 21-0 what you meant? COACH SHARON VERSYP: Yeah, I mean, hindsight is 20/20. I just know how special a group this is. I've said that from day one, and I told them that. I thought when it was 10-0, I thought, that's pretty good, and I thought it would start going back and forth. And then we just kept rolling and rolling and I told them you can't let them get back in this game, you can't let them get under 10 because once you get under ten, then things happen, then the momentum changes. We just really gutted it out. I had three kids that played 40 minutes, and they wanted to get it done for their teammates. Q. We've seen moments when Katie will lift the team on her shoulder or Lindsay or somebody else, but for Lindsay and Katie to do it both in the second half, what kind of statement did they make today? COACH SHARON VERSYP: I think, like Katie said, we're hopefully playing exceptionally well and getting every ounce of every player right now. I think every kid stepped up, KiKi knocking down the two free throws, Erin having a fantastic game tonight, Lindsay having a great game, and I thought FahKara had a great court game. Danielle, our entire bench, whether they got in or not, what they do for us every day is huge. I think when those three obviously are hot -- I thought Jodi Howell played with so much guts tonight, was able to get some offensive boards. Again, we talk about individuals, but this was a total team effort. Q. You coached against Katie last year. This year you've coached her. Have you developed a different kind of appreciation for the type of player she is? COACH SHARON VERSYP: I mean, I always appreciate players that are Katie's caliber, and to be able to coach her, me and my staff are very blessed that we've been able to coach Katie and Erin. I think that hopefully through this experience Katie will have learned a lot more basketball because it's a new coach, just a different philosophy, and hopefully mentally -- physically and mentally I try to make my players tougher. You know, for us it's just been a complete pleasure. Q. You said in your office the other day that you felt like you were pretty well set for the No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. After this, playing like this on national TV, what do you think now? COACH SHARON VERSYP: Depends on what the committee thinks, but whether we're 3 or 2 right now, this is just a great moment, and we're not going to worry about that. If the committee thinks we deserve a 2, they'll give it to us. That's totally out of my hands. Q. I suppose you don't mind when a player talks back to you when she's just hit a big three-pointer like that? COACH SHARON VERSYP: She turned and smiled. She said it was in the whole way. It just had a funky spin on it. I was just trying to make sure we got the offensive board. That's what it's all about, when you can have that kind of fun relationship with your players. Q. How important was it for you to have such a strong fan base here tonight? COACH SHARON VERSYP: Well, it was huge. You know, the community is amazing, the pep band, the Gold Mine, I helped get them here, I helped pay for their tickets. They're so important. You know, again, I really like to reach out to everyone that's important to our program, and I think for them, they had a blast. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Sharon. Good luck in the tournament. End of FastScripts |
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