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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 7, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

THE MODERATOR: We've got head coach Jolette Law, Jenna Smith, Lori Bjork and Rebecca Harris.
Coach, if you would like to start with an opening statement, then we'll take questions for the student athletes.
COACH JOLETTE LAW: My kids played extremely hard tonight. They played for 40 intense minutes. They believed. And I'm just so proud of this team. So we played our 40. We get another 40.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes.

Q. Rebecca, obviously the seeding was different. But do you feel this was an upset? I know the regular season was very close both times, do you consider this an upset or no?
REBECCA HARRIS: Only if you consider us the underdog. Basically the seeding, No. 9 means nothing to us, just a number. I mean, we know that we can beat any of these teams any day because we've seen them already. So we've already faced them. We know what to offer. So, I mean, if we're the underdog, then I guess it was an upset.

Q. Rebecca, was there something about their defense that allowed you to penetrate so much and get what you wanted on the inside, or is that just the way you play all the time?
REBECCA HARRIS: I wouldn't say that. I would just say, I don't know, something came over me. I don't know. It was more my will than anything, I guess. Like you can play defense any day on a penetrater or shooter, but they're still going to do what they do.

Q. Lori, as good as this win probably feels, has it hit you guys yet that you're only halfway to where you want to get to?
LORI BJORK: I mean, we don't worry about that. We've been through a lot this year, and, I mean, obviously I try to mute my celebration a little bit, save energy for the next two games.
But at the same time, when you've been through what we've been through, 40 minutes, we can do that, however long we need to do it. It's fun to play. So I don't think it's going to be an issue. Because if you don't think about it, don't worry about it, we'll be fine.

Q. Rebecca, this is I believe Illinois's first trip to the semis since 2001. Just talk about the impact of this win for the program in general.
REBECCA HARRIS: Well, you know, the farther we go, the better it is for Illinois. You know, we're all about making history. And so that's what we're trying to do. I guess -- I don't know, I guess it didn't really hit me until I looked at my teammates, fifth-year senior, to see, like, how much impact it had on her, and she's been here a while so she knows how far Illinois has gone or hasn't gone. When you look at her, you can tell it's something to be excited about.

Q. Coach, Lacey seemed to contribute other ways other than scoring tonight. Can you describe her play?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: We're a total team. Lacey wasn't scoring tonight, she did the defense. Rebounds, did the little things, handled the ball. Made key passes.
So that's what I keep telling my team. Sometimes you might make shots. You just gotta continue to play. Play on both ends. And she did that tonight.

Q. Jenna, today and yesterday been a different sense of urgency on this team?
JENNA SMITH: I wouldn't say there's a different urgency. We just have a better swag, and we know that each game -- like, we've been playing on a high since Purdue. So we know that if we come out with the same energy, same intensity each game, we'll keep having victories and we'll keep having fun on the court, which we want.

Q. Jenna, Lavender only got eight shots in the game. Is that something you wanted to do and how did you do it to keep from getting what she usually gets, double figures?
JENNA SMITH: Lavender is very strong, so we kind of sagged off the other posts and dared them to beat us. We had to body up on them, be real physical with her. But other than that, it was just help side in communicating to work to stop her.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies.
Questions for Coach.

Q. Was this the pace you really wanted this game to be? Did you get the pace you wanted and how did you do it if it was?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: It was the pace that we wanted. We knew that they were going to come out trying to get their transition. We knew that was one of the keys. We had to stop their transition. Our transition defense was going to be key. Had to get to the ball quickly. Little is extremely quick. She moves the ball up the floor extremely fast. Also Moeller, we knew we had to get there sooner than we've been doing other teams.
So we just wanted to get out to the shooters, stop the transition and we knew we had to give the one shot. And this is a very physical team. Very deep team. We could not -- we had to address the boards tonight. Once they took a shot, look to the rebound, and the pace was in our favor tonight.

Q. Coach, how important is it to not be satisfied and for your players not to be satisfied even though this was a huge win, but obviously there's more to accomplish, correct?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: Definitely. We're here right now one step at a time, one game at a time. Although I want them to be excited, but after you finish this third, we get out of the locker room, it's back to the ranch, back to watching film and getting focused on the next opponent, whomever it may be.
I just want them to get rested, get focused, and get prepared for tomorrow.

Q. A couple of other facts so you can revel in the moment without looking too far ahead. This is the second time No. 1 seed has been sent home one and done. Ohio State, this is the first time that's happened to them.
COACH JOLETTE LAW: That's interesting. This team, we've been through a lot. We've been through a lot this year. Right now we're nine strong. We're trying to do a lot of firsts. Coming into this tournament, there's never been a time when it was 9th seed could make it to the championship game and win it.
I've been challenging my team, we're going to make history. So this is what we're doing. That's our goal.
We're not looking at chapter two of our season. This is chapter three. On any given day -- on any given day we can win, and we've got that focus of we're going to come in here. It's only going to take four. And I asked them, did they have four -- enough energy in them to get four? They said yes.
We're trying to make history here. Not looking past the next opponent. We're trying to do it game by game, step-by-step.

Q. Does Rebecca have a green light to go to the basket any time she wants?
COACH JOLETTE LAW: Actually, a lot of the play calls, we knew that off the bounce that we needed to -- they can really guard us off the bounce. We were settling too much initially off the jump shots. The rim was a little tight, so the only person that really could -- I wanted to shoot the 3 was Lori, and everybody else looked to utilize our abilities, get to the basket, Lacey Simpson could get to the hole, ran a couple shots to her and Rebecca -- yeah, she could get to the basket better than most people I know.
Had to utilize our strengths to get this win tonight.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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