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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2007Shalee LehningDeb PattersonShana WheelerOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA MODERATOR: We're joined by Kansas State. Coach Patterson, if you could make comments about the game and then some questions. COACH PATTERSON: I think when you line up against a team the third time, you can sometimes expect that it's not necessarily going to be pretty, because of the familiarity that each team brings to the other on the offensive end. But obviously Iowa State separated themselves offensively in the second half of the basketball game. And you know by and large I thought that was the difference in the game. We continued to struggle on the offensive line all night. They went through a segment probably from the 11-minute mark on in the second half where they got in my opinion particularly more aggressive than we did. Made some first-pass shots that were very, very aggressive and then certainly Lyndsey Medders stepped up, got aggressive on the on-ball play and we just, you know, just saw Iowa possession on possession and separate themselves while we continued to struggle to make shots and find a way to score. Q. Shana, can you talk a little bit about, seemed like you guys were struggling from the outside and then you were, you got the ball more, it was your career high in attempts. Can you talk about how you factored in the offense today? SHANA WHEELER: Coming into the game we knew for post that we had a chance to score a lot. And just get a lot of points inside. And I think just showing our presence in the paint was a big part of our offense this game. Q. Deb, at one point I think you guys were just like 3 of 21 of the field but you were only down 1. Did you feel okay half time with the shooting and still being in this thing? COACH PATTERSON: Well, I said very much the same thing to my team at half that I felt very good about where we were at considering we had struggled so much offensively and yet it's 24-20. They hadn't necessarily cut loose. So I was very pleased with our defense. I thought the rebounding was even at that point by and large. So you know it really just didn't come down to who was going to make plays and separate themselves offensively in the second half. But, yes, I felt very good about where we had positioned ourselves considering the ineffectiveness of our shot-making ability in the first half in what was, you know, just pretty much a slump fest and not a real pretty offensive first half by either team. Q. Deb, could you talk about Shana and what she did today? COACH PATTERSON: She was absolutely tremendous today. She showed big to the ball. Wanted it just about every trip up the floor, showed herself as a big presence, was a good finisher for us. And I liked her defense. I thought particularly in the first half she was very effective causing deflections and rebounding the ball and just very proud of the overall game she brought in a game that we hoped to establish the inside game as a major priority. And I thought she did step up and really was a good finisher with that. You can see by the numbers that we shot a lot of 3s and probably more than it was prudent to do considering we had Shana as effective as she was in the night. But I think it's players trying to make plays. I think we took more guarded 3s tonight than we have in other nights when we struggled. But Shana was just a great presence in every respect and I think played the best -- she was obviously the best player we had on the floor tonight. Q. Deb, do you think WNIT is, do you want to play in that again? COACH PATTERSON: I would love the opportunity to play in the WNIT. You know, we finished above 500. It's been one long stretch since we've won a basketball game. But I think to be considered in that evaluation is the fact we're playing in a great league and I hope the WNIT will take that into consideration. I know a lot of times close doesn't matter. But I do believe that certainly the top 12 teams in this league this year are more than competent to be great WNIT tournament field teams. And I would love for our team to have the opportunity to be in the WNIT in spite of the fact it's been a long time since we've won a game. I certainly have a very strong desire to continue to coach this team and to see us have that opportunity. Q. Shalee, can you talk about that. You've been battling, but obviously it gets a little frustrating. You've lost six in a row. If you are able to play in the WNIT, are you looking forward to that opportunity of not facing a Big 12 in the next game? SHALEE LEHNING: It would be a great opportunity, we'd love to continue our season give us more of an opportunity to continue competing and working on things we need to work on and just getting better. Coming together as a team. And so, yes, if we have that opportunity we definitely need to maximize everything that we can get out of this season and we can't look at the past if we have a chance to get into the WNIT it's a new season so maybe this will be a way for us to get our feet on the ground. End of FastScripts |
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