|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2008Katie HancockTierney JenkinsStephany SmithNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you could, a quick opening comment. We'll take questions for the players, they can be excused and then we'll come back to questions for you. COACH SMITH: I just felt like we ran out of real estate. We've had so much adversity with injuries, and we are so young in our rebuilding process, in our primary eight-man rotation consists of four freshman and three sophomores and a junior, and we were just starting to play a little bit better, and a person who has a lot to do with that is Varisia Raffington who has a lot of skill and talent, but I'm really proud of our fight and talent and we've just kind of made the step into the college game just as far as awareness of the offensive and defensive game. It was a good fight. I thought Tierney and Katie did a good job, as well. I thought we did things for the most part that we were going to try to do, which was try to limit Tasha Humphrey's touches. Sometimes we gave too much emphasis to that and they got hot around the perimeter. But I thought we made some good adjustments. We wanted to be the spoiler, and that opportunity slipped through our hands, but I am proud of how hard we fought. Q. Can both of you talk about the first half, shooting 52 percent, going toe-to-toe with Georgia? Just how much fun was that? KATIE HANCOCK: We were walking out of the game, it was Tierney, and we were going through a little tunnel, and I said, that was the funnest game we've played this season. You notice that you don't really get tired when you're having fun, and that's really what it's all about for me, just coming out here and playing with some of my best friends, so I had the most fun. TIERNEY JENKINS: Like Katie, I did have a lot of fun. 52 percent, coaches told us to take good shots and be patient, and that's what we finally realized this game, and I think that's why we were making those shots. Q. How does it make you feel -- I thought you played a great game. Both of you really played hard, and I do commend you guys, and you never quit. So how do you carry this over to next season? You're young. And what do you prepare for in the off season to get ready for for next season? KATIE HANCOCK: Well, I wish we were still playing, first and foremost, but this is a perfect time for us. We're kind of firing on all cylinders, things are really clicking, and we're definitely going to take all this momentum into the off season because that's really where it comes down to players getting better. That's exactly what we're going to do this summer and this off season, and I'm pretty excited about it. TIERNEY JENKINS: This summer we're going to work extremely hard. As freshmen we didn't really know the ropes. Experience means a lot in the SEC, so I think we can be more of leaders just because we're sophomores, so I think that will help us a lot. THE MODERATOR: Thank you both. Questions for Coach? Q. What do you attribute the first half to, the good shot selection, the better offense than what you've had the last few games? COACH SMITH: Well, when we played in Athens, Georgia really took us out of our offense, and they didn't leave us with many options. When they overplayed we didn't do a good job of taking advantage and cutting hard to the basket, so we worked a lot the last few days on backdoor cuts and relieving some of the pressure and getting better shots at the rim. But I just think that -- I think the mind is so powerful, and we had a very good mindset coming into this basketball game of trying to be the spoiler and that there was nothing to lose. My focus was just -- you know, y'all, we're going to be together for at least two years, three years. Let's try to get over that hump and win this first game in the SEC tournament so that we gain that experience and you stick around as long as you can. You know, we're just so young. And I think that our mindset was strong today, though. I think that we were just determined to throw the first punch. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. COACH SMITH: Thanks a lot. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|