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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2008Jolette LawLacey SimpsonJenna SmithINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA COACH LAW: (Telephonic portion started mid-interview.) I wanted for them so bad to get this win so we have something to build on, and look forward to building on this next year. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Q. What does it mean for you guys, you've been playing for four days and where have you been this whole week? LACEY SIMPSON: We've been pretty fired up, confident coming into the tournament. We were confident we were going to play today in the championship game. Q. Jenna, you feel like you played your heart out and that's just the way it worked out? JENNA SMITH: Coach was just talking about, I mean, it came down to last-second shots. Obviously played A game. They made mistakes and we each capitalized. When it came down, we hit box outs, they missed some box outs. But at the end they had a last-second shot. Q. When you laid the block, did you think, okay, maybe that's it? 3.1 is a lot of time I guess. JENNA SMITH: I looked up at the clock after I saw Freeman hit the shot she hit and it was like -- it went in. So I didn't think anything at that point. Q. Toughest thing in basketball for a shot to go down in the last second, nothing tougher than injury? JENNA SMITH: That's the toughest. It's the best game because it comes down to the wire each team playing their heart out. But it's one of the toughest losses. That last-second shot gets you. Q. Jenna, on your last offensive possession, did you feel like you got the shot you wanted, that shot that you took there? JENNA SMITH: I mean, I knew they were going to play the move I usually do. So my position coach, Coach Klein, said get up and under, try to get the best shot you could. I thought I got a good shot at it. I just missed it. Q. Lacey, do you feel like playing the fourth game had any effect on you guys tonight? Did you feel like fatigue was any role in this? LACEY SIMPSON: No, not at all. Coach got us well prepared a long time ago for situations like this. Championship game, you don't think about stuff like that, being tired. You just go out and play. Coach got us ready for it. Q. Jenna, I know the coach challenged you guys to make history, and you didn't win, but you are the first 9th seed to make the final game. Do you take something away from it? Do you walk away saying, Nobody else did what we did before? JENNA SMITH: We're happy we made history being one of the lowest-seeded teams to make it to the finals. But in our minds, I know the majority of us look at it as like we lost the championship game, it's a big loss, but we take what we got. We made it to the finals. We made history. We'll take what we got. Q. Lacey, do you have any sense of what's next for this team in terms of where you'll play your next game this season? LACEY SIMPSON: Right now just sit back and wait to see if we make it to the NCAA tournament. If we don't, then we'll start the process of getting ready for next season. Q. Jenna, you guys switched to zone after they got out to the 10-2 lead. How effective do you think that was in slowing them down and bringing you back into the game? JENNA SMITH: When we switched to a zone it was kind of more -- they had a lot of drivers, but we had to contain them. There's only Malone and one of the other people who could shoot good percentage outside. We knew we had to, like, pack it in the paint and control the dribble penetration. That's what they were looking for. We had to box and get every board that we could. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Questions for Coach Law. Q. Coach, did Purdue do what you thought they might do on that last possession and with three seconds left to do? COACH LAW: Yes. We knew what they were going to do. Just I think one of my players went to double because they thought they were going inside the camel. When she took the shot, it was -- we didn't get the block out, and Freeman followed her shot. And shot -- took a second chance on her shot. And it was unfortunate that she got the possession that one shot off. Q. Can you describe your team's play during what you call the orange zone in the final minutes? COACH LAW: We did everything we needed to do down the stretch, up until the last 3.1 seconds. They got the shot. We knew it was a second-chance shot, which we should have had that rebound. But I think my kids executed down the last two minutes. They executed and knew it was going to come down to which team made the least amount of mistakes. We got opportunities. We had good looks at the basket. They came down. They took some shots. We got the rebound. They came down to the last 3.1 seconds. Q. How far do you think your team has come since Thursday's win? COACH LAW: We've come a long -- this season has been a season of a lot of growth on both parts. We've both had to deal with change. Adjusted to them and they adjusted to me. We've grown and we've matured as a team and we definitely became more, much closer. We're now more like family. Q. Coach, can you talk about Jenna Smith having to go against Lavender and then DeHaan and then Campbell consecutive days, what she was able to accomplish? COACH LAW: Jenna has been working extremely hard day in, day out. We prepared her as a staff. Each and every day she goes up against guys, each and every day she was prepared to go up against those ladies. She's going up against practice guys every day. Q. How difficult was it to keep Malone from doing all the things she did tonight from steals to assists to everything? COACH LAW: Malone is a great player. She's scrappy. Knew she was going to try to will this team to a victory. The most important thing that she did was the steals. The key steals. When she decided to get the steals, pretty much I think we contained her offensively, but it was defensive things she did as far as getting the loose balls. Getting a couple of steals and she distributed the ball. She did everything a point guard should do. She willed her team to victory. Q. Do you have a sense of where your next game will be? COACH LAW: No, I have no idea. I thought it was going to be an automatic bid and I was going to look at it on Monday, when I'm accustomed to it on the 17th. But I don't have a clue. Q. Does this change anything relative to the WNIT and accepting a bid to that tournament? COACH LAW: I'll have to talk to my administrators and we'll discuss where we're going to go from here. Q. Given how very close your team was to making history here, can you just put into words what you felt like when you saw that last shot go through the basket? COACH LAW: I wanted the kids to -- I wanted it so bad for them to get to the NCAA, make history. Just to just see it, just taste it. When that basket went in it was like, Please give us five more minutes, let them continue to fight, fight for it. But when the basket went in and they said it was good, it was like a pit in my stomach. I wanted it so bad for them. It hurts that they worked so hard. They started to believe and they fought and just how far our team has come. We've grown so much. I just wanted so badly for them to reach the goal that they started out and they won it, that they set out for themselves where we wanted to be in June. Q. Making the last shot, did you have any hope that maybe that last shot wouldn't count? Or did you from your vantage point -- could you tell it was good? COACH LAW: Personally I knew it was good, but I was praying for a miracle. It was like I knew she got it off in time. But I was hoping that I saw the red. I look at the basket the last three seconds to see when the light goes off. But I knew that she released it. I was hoping that I was wrong. Q. I don't know how many buzzer beaters you've been involved in in your career, but is this as tough as it gets? COACH LAW: This year has tested me more than ever. I've never been in this many buzzer beaters in my life. But this tested my storm. So I'm sure if I can get through this year and I'm still standing, I'm sure I'll be able to keep on going in the years to come. Q. (Question about locker room)? COACH LAW: I'm not one to cry, but I wanted it so bad for my young ladies. I know how far we've come and they fought and they gave me everything they had and for them to come in and defeat all odds, no one expected us to be here. I wanted it so badly for them, to cut down the nets. Be able to go to the NCAA. So this hurt me more than any other loss that I ever probably had in my career. I wanted it so much for my young ladies. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. End of FastScripts |
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