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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2007Bill FennellyLyndsey MeddersAmanda NisleitToccara RossNicky WiebenOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA MODERATOR: We're joined by Iowa State. Coach, opening comments. COACH FENNELLY: I told the team to move your name to the right of the bracket. It's a big win for our game. We're looking forward to playing tomorrow. But that was a hard fought game. Not the most aesthetic thing I've ever seen. But this time of year, it's the ultimate to survive in advance. And our team survived a very good team today, I thought. Q. Can you talk about your play in the second half -- you looked far more assertive. Was it something you were doing in the first half or was it not in the first half. AMANDA NISLEIT: It wasn't going as good in the first half. Guards were doing a fantastic job on the ball inside. I got a couple good shots up. And it helped getting us into flow of things. Q. Lyndsey, what was the difference in halves? LYNDSEY MEDDERS: I think taking care of the ball was a big thing for us. Offensively we couldn't score for a stretch of the time. We talked about at half time as far as getting movement, getting better shots. And I think we even did a really good job there for a stretch in the second half as far as catching the ball on the block, scoring. But defensively we did a pretty good job in both halves. I think offense just picked it up there in the second. Q. Lyndsey, not to bring up a bad memory, but did this feel like the Oklahoma State game a little bit in the fact that the offense, the shots were open, you're not hitting and then things just weren't going for you guys? Did it feel like that game at all? LYNDSEY MEDDERS: Little bit. You wouldn't think as a senior, you wouldn't be the most nervous person. I haven't had as many butterflies in a game. I know myself the enthusiasm wasn't there like we talked about the Oklahoma State game, but once we got our rhythm, the offensive got the cobwebs out and felt better. Q. Late in the game you took a three-point shot and made it. That was your third three-point basket against a Big 12 team. What prompted you to take that shot? LYNDSEY MEDDERS: In practice coach told me to take it if I was open. I was wide open. Thought I'd throw it up there. Q. Toccara, you're talking about playing the inside players in the game in Manhattan. Sweat had a big game and Wheeler had a big game. What did you do against Sweat to slow her down a little bit tonight? TOCCARA ROSS: One of the things we wanted to do was double team her, get the ball out of her hands. It's something we did pretty well tonight. On the offensive side we wanted to get the ball inside. Obviously when we got inside we tried to score. Q. (Off microphone) LYNDSEY MEDDERS: I don't know. I wish I had the answer. You approach your last Big 12 tournament and I've enjoyed everything that I've done in this league and I don't know what it was. But I got them all out and thank God my teammates kind of carried us through in the first half. But I wish I could explain it but I can't. It's just part excitement, part nervousness. Just a combination of a lot. Q. Lyndsey, this is the first time this building has hosted a meaningful basketball game in years and years and years. What did you think of this building as a basketball venue? LYNDSEY MEDDERS: I think it's fantastic. I think Oklahoma City has done a great job as far as embracing all our teams. Everyone has been really kind and nice and generous. And then as far as a basketball facility I think it's great. Our fans were loud as ever and there seemed to be a decent amount of people in the stands and it's an exciting place to be at. Kind of reminded me a bit of Kansas City as far as venue. I think it's a great location for a Big 12 tournament. Q. Lyndsey, you mentioned butterflies. They were gone late, but you had kind of an interesting trip to the scorer's table there. (Laughter) Don't look at me. You better explain that. Even the refs are laughing. LYNDSEY MEDDERS: I have abnormally large feet for someone of my size. I think the line jumped -- I don't know what it was. I was so excited to get back in the game. I can show you my feet. They're huge. I tripped over them. I was actually looking through the media guide before and one of the questions they asked this in the season, what's the funniest thing that happened to you in a game. And I got ran into. I got a couple of shoot-outs over the years, it's just the nature of my athleticism I guess is what I like to call it. (Laughter) Q. Bill, obviously K State, no surprise 1-2, made pointers in this game. In the first half did you feel like you were seeing two imposter teams nobody could hit anything? COACH FENNELLY: It was tough. I thought both teams defended it real well. We had open looks, didn't make it. Sometimes it's the nature of the facility. Sometimes it's defense. Sometimes it's nerves. Sometimes there's a lot of reasons; but, yes, it was not a great shooting performance by two teams that normally shoot the ball well. But I think you have to also give some credit to the defensive effort of both teams to chase shots off, chase people off the shots and I thought we did that for the most part. But it was a game where there were some looks available but neither one of them hit them at the right time. We hit a couple. Lyndsey hit a big one. Obviously Nicky, as big a 3 as she's hit in a long time. We were fortunate to make a couple. Not enough. But hopefully we can shoot a little better tomorrow. Q. Along those same lines, looks like Allison's 3-pointer loosened the team up. Did you feel that way, that it was the one that got your offense going? COACH FENNELLY: Great play. Lyndsey made a great ball taking the ball to the basket. They had a good look at it. We told our kids, you got a shot, shoot it. We were missing some. But it was a grinded out game. You get a six point lead, you felt you were way ahead at that point. I think it did energize the team. Energized the bench. Obviously she's a freshman going through this for the first time. I think she defended better after that. So that was a big play. And especially in a game like this. It was so hard to score. You separate from three points to six, that's a pretty big margin in a game like this. Q. Nicky, just kind of talk about how different this year is as opposed to last year. Obviously a much bigger role this year. What's the difference between this year and last year and what have you learned in another year of play? NICKY WIEBEN: One thing I can say, we had Brittany Wilkins here, she was an unbelievable post player. I knew when she left, I knew I had a pretty big fill there. We did really good. And Toccara came in, and she's playing well on the post. We all worked on the inside post. Go inside, outside. We can go to the 3s. I think overall as a team we've really developed a lot over the summer and carrying on to the end of the year. End of FastScripts |
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