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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2008Kalika FranceLakisha FreemanFahkara MaloneSharon VersypINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: For Purdue we've got Head Coach Sharon Versyp, Kalika France, Kiki Freeman and Fahkara Malone. Coach, if you would like to start with an opening statement and then we'll go with questions for the student athletes. COACH SHARON VERSYP: I knew this was going to be a tough battle. Again, I have so much respect for Jolette Law and what she's done at Illinois and those kids were going to fight and so were our players. Both teams are on a mission and I just thought it was a great basketball game for everybody involved. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes. Q. Kiki, did you know immediately on the first shot where it was going and sort of take us through that and what was your reaction and what did you see? LAKISHA FREEMAN: After the shot I saw what was going on. I saw she didn't box me out. I knew I had to follow my shot, had a little time, got the shot up, have it go in. Q. Any doubt it was good before the buzzer? LAKISHA FREEMAN: I was just listening to my teammates. They said it's good. It made it that much more exciting. I trusted them, basically. Q. FahKara, from your vantage point take us through the last 3.1 seconds there. FAHKARA MALONE: Well, we just set up a play we could get it to Kiki and if they overplayed it we were going to try to get it to Danielle. But Kiki got open for us and she got a shot off and was lucky enough to be able to follow it. Q. Kalika, could you talk about the defensive effort before that shot that gave you an opportunity to take the last shot of the game I think it was at least two possessions they had an opportunity to take the lead before you guys had the last chance? KALIKA FRANCE: Yeah, that's something that we've been doing, but at least trying to do all year. We're a defensive team. We may not have the best shooting team but one thing we can rely on is our defense because we work on it every day all day during practice and even before the game. So we were ready defensively. And we just knew we had to get it stopped. In the huddle I said my man's not going to score and everybody committed to that, everybody did. And they didn't score. So that was good stuff. Q. Kalika, how satisfying is this to you knowing that Lindsay and Jodi have been on the bench all year long and you guys just sucked it up at the right time and came away with the win? KALIKA FRANCE: Man, I can't even explain the feeling. Just being a senior and getting a chance to play with such amazing players and you know just after following up from last year, you know, and it was such a grind out there. Lauren made us battle, so that makes us even better. Ten times better. Because we had to work for it. It wasn't given to us. And I can't explain it. Words can't explain how I feel right now. Q. FahKara, similar question. Just everything that has happened to this team since really June and to be at this point, what are the emotions? What goes through your mind now? FAHKARA MALONE: You guys only know half the story. We've been through so much more. And we just continue to grow and continue to listen to the people that matter and that's us in our circle. We just try to block out everything else. We knew we could win this. We just wanted to show the rest of you. Q. Lakisha, in that final, in those final seconds, things sometimes get a little frantic, how were you able to slow it down and gather yourself and also what was that like waiting for the replay review? LAKISHA FREEMAN: Well, just having the confidence from my teammates and coaches. Everybody believed in me. And that gave me the confidence to believe in myself. So they're like get open. My post set some good screens for me and I had all the confidence in the world. Thankful to them. Q. Kiki, were you nervous waiting out the replay or did you know in your heart that it was good? LAKISHA FREEMAN: My teammates, they gave me all the confidence. They were excited. I knew for sure that it was good. So I just again listened to them and believed in them. Q. FahKara, can you talk about this team fighting back all game. Seemed like you were down most of the way until you took that six-point lead that they sort of recovered from. But just what was the attitude with the team playing from behind most of the way? FAHKARA MALONE: I think that we all knew that we were going to win and we weren't going to give up on each other. Kalika when she got in the huddle she got in everyone's face and made sure we believed in ourselves and each other on defense and on offensive end, and that was really what pulled us together. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Questions for Coach Versyp. Q. (Off mic) COACH SHARON VERSYP: We just continue to show the heart and the great tradition that Purdue Women's basketball has. And, again, no one thought we would do anything this year with Lindsay and Jodi being out. And I just think it's our staff, our mentality, when I took the job about we didn't have anybody being player of the week except FahKara one time. You know we got the accolades today, the team. But it's all about teamwork. I'm the leader, but I'm not any better than those kids. I just have to make tough decisions, and I just think our team building and believing and having confidence with a very fragile group early, you know, we could have went either way. But, again, I think Kalika and FahKara really stepped up as leaders and really just kept fighting. And they really turned to us. And I just -- our staff has just done a great job with this group. Q. Four players on the All Tournament team. I think that's a first. I don't think it's been done before. Want your comment on that. Could you comment on Kalika leadership. I heard from other players the last couple days they're mentioning her. Sounds like she grabs everybody and gets their attention. COACH SHARON VERSYP: First, four players being on the All Tournament team. We didn't have any individual stuff all during the year. Our players and ourselves, we don't look at that. We're always a team, always a team concept. All of a sudden the season is over in the Big Ten and we're just totally a fresh slate. And our three games here is probably the best basketball we've played. And FahKara stepped up and Kalika stepped up and Danielle stepped up and they stepped up in different ways, and Kiki. And the bottom line we win as a team. We lose as a team. We're not about individual accolades but it's great to have four players recognized, because it was a huge, just a huge feat that we were able to handle these last three days. Q. Kalika? COACH SHARON VERSYP: She's a senior, she's got a swagger about her. You saw her trying to get the crowd. We had the swagger last year. That's one thing that we were missing, was that confidence. And, again, she wants to win championships. That's why she left Maryland and came to Purdue. She wanted to win championships. She's won two. And now the NCAA hope. And the kid's just stepping out of her comfort zone and doing what she should be doing and we're pleased that she's doing that. Q. Sharon, 56-50. Looked like things were rolling your way. Jenna Smith hit the 3, then Harris hit the 3 with her legs gone. What were you thinking during that time? COACH SHARON VERSYP: It was a huge turnaround for them. And like I tell our players, when you're ahead, you're not tired. When you're behind, you know things are a little different. All of a sudden you knock down a 3 on a scramble play, kicked out and they knocked it down and got some energy back. But I knew when it was tied that we were going to execute. Our defense has been the key. During the year against Ohio State we played defense to win the game. Minnesota, we played defense to win the game. And I knew exactly that we were going to defend and get a stop and that we'd have the last stop. Q. Can you put into words what FahKara Malone has meant to the team during the course of this tournament, player of the tournament? She shot two for 13, but yet was such a force in so many different ways. Can you describe her importance what she did? COACH SHARON VERSYP: Our first game we had, FahKara has been here as a starting point guard and had no starters returning from last year. And FahKara really became a leader brought everybody on her shoulders. And the biggest thing her first game that we played against IU, she was just doing everything on her own because she was not going to be denied and really help her teammates. I think that performance just continued to elevate our confidence as a team. And they look to FahKara so much because she's our fire plug. She's always communicating. And when a player steps up like that, they're just going to continue to have incredible confidence. And she came back the next night, did the same thing. And I talked to her at halftime and I brought her over. I'm like, "FahKara, you're not getting it done. You're not getting it done. You're forcing too much. You're trying to be the hero. Don't be that hero. Keep doing the things, get into your situation and you're going to be the hero at the end because you're that leader." She knew. She knew. She's the type of kid that I can tell she's not getting it done or point guard is outplaying her, like I said when we played Iowa, she just responds to that. Q. Your view of the last sequence, probably standing right behind Kiki when she let the first one go, did it look short in your mind? What went through your mind? COACH SHARON VERSYP: I don't know if it was tipped or fouled. The officials aren't going to call that. I appreciate that. But I saw it was short then I saw Kiki go towards the basket rather than fading away. When it went in I knew it was good. Q. (Indiscernible) COACH SHARON VERSYP: Definitely. That's what I talked about. Kiki get the shot up. I knew 22 was going to be on her. Good shot blocker, but take the shot. I had Kalika back in case a long rebound. And I said but you gotta crash the boards because it's going to come right back at you. And that's what happened. Q. Do you feel at this last game that you had with Illinois in Champagne, do you feel it helped you with this game as a wake-up call not to take them for granted? COACH SHARON VERSYP: Definitely, at Purdue University we don't take anybody for granted. We know how intense every opponent is in the Big Ten. And they've got a great team, player for player. But losing that game obviously hurt because that might have been the situation where we might not make the NCAA. We don't talk about it to the players, but we knew that one hurt. We knew we had to do something well here to be able to advance to that. And when you win at home then lose on the road, most of the time we can respond. It's neutral court. But it comes down both teams just played their hearts out today. Q. Can you imagine Jolette's loss, could you imagine if the shoe was on the other foot? COACH SHARON VERSYP: Yeah, I've had a loss like that. It is tough. I said either one, if they were going to win or vice versa, if -- obviously what happened, it would have been tough on us, tough on them. It's heart wrenching because she's done a phenomenal job. She's turned that program around. They were on a run, an opportunity for them to get that automatic bid. It's heart wrenching, and again she has nothing to bow her head down at all. Because those kids played very, very hard for her. Q. Given everything that you've been through this year with this team, can you just kind of put into words what you felt when that ball went through the hoop and you realized this team was going to the NCAA tournament? COACH SHARON VERSYP: I can't describe it. I'm not a crier. But I was emotional. To go through Lindsay's ACL when she was in Russia and Jodi's situation and FahKara's concussion and some deaths in the family, never got things going. I've never been so proud of a group where everybody says we're not going to win this, we're not going to do that, there's so much negativity. And our staff just brings positive thoughts to this group. And I can't put it into worth. I'm speechless. Our kids are speechless. They deserve it. They've worked so hard. But one thing they know about me, you put my back against a wall I'm going to be fighting. That's what I've taught them. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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