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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2008Gail GoestenkorsAshley LindseyKathleen NashBrittainey RavenKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI COACH GOESTENKORS: Overall pleased with the win. It's tough to turn around and play somebody that you played during the regular season. At the same time, it helped with the scouting. We know them and they know us, so it was really about going out and playing. And, again, I thought we did a nice job overall defensively. You know, they love to hit 3's against us. We were trying to protect the paint, and I thought they did a good job -- we did a good job. However, they hit the 3's, and they fought to the bitter end. Overall pleased with my team. I thought we had nice balance. COACH GOESTENKORS: This is Brittainey Raven, Ashley Lindsey and Kathleen Nash. THE MODERATOR: First student athlete question. Q. Brittainey, can you talk about y'all's transition game, turning their mistakes into a lot of fast break points tonight? BRITTAINEY RAVEN: We got a lot of our points from being in good position, and we had good ball pressure and we did a good job of running the lanes and made the layups at present. Q. Brittainey, y'all turned 'em over quite a bit in some of your other games. Was that a big plan going into tonight? BRITTAINEY RAVEN: I think the last four games we've played has been all about defense and, we've done a great job communicating on the defensive end and helping each other out a lot. And I think it's paid off in the last four games we've won, so I think that was our main focus. Q. Kathleen, can you talk about the offense? I know it's all about defense and rebounding, but it looks like the confidence is coming, the offense is coming. KATHLEEN NASH: I think we've been working on this in practice, and everything penetrating and kicking, and I think that's a lot of what we did tonight. We either penetrated and scored or penetrated and kicked. Our post did a good job inside, so that opened up things outside, too. Q. Ashley, can you talk a little bit about being able to shutdown Dominic Seals in the post and your defensive game out there? ASHLEY LINDSEY: It wasn't just me, Earnesia Williams and everybody else was on Dominic, but our defensive plan was to stop her and limit her touches inside, which we did. Pretty much it. Q. Kathleen, ever since the home loss to Texas A&M, you guys are playing with more confidence. Can you tell me what's changed in the last three or four games? KATHLEEN NASH: I think we're playing with more fire now, executing on offense and doing what the coaches tell us to do. Just knowing that we really need to win, and I think that's inspired us, so we're just -- I don't know. Q. Brittainey, did this seem kind of like the same way as the last match-up, when you guys get an early lead and have a shoot-out in the second half? BRITTAINEY RAVEN: This time, I think they took the lead early, they were up, hitting a lot of outside shots and they made their run. And we tried to tighten up on the defensive end, and there were a lot of runs, but we continued to fight and pulled it away. Q. Brittainey, can you talk about the confidence in this team, what's been going on in this win streak and how this team is different? BRITTAINEY RAVEN: Um, I think once we got our first away victory, I think that helped our confidence and we played together and everybody stepped up in that game. In the LU game, we fought really hard, and beating LU was good for us, that boosted our confidence and people stepped up and showed that they were able to get out there and play and help the team out. And I think encouraging each other and coaches encouraging us and just staying positive and playing hard and fighting out there and wanting to get the win is what's helped us get our confidence back. Q. Brittainey, can you talk about how much you've grown up in your game, and as a co-captain, how much responsibility has Coach Gail put on your shoulders? BRITTAINEY RAVEN: I think at the beginning of the season, it was tough for me to take on the leadership role, but my teammates helped me out with my confidence. And coach G and the coaching staff talked with me and told me I can be a great leader, I just have to keep working on it. I think at the beginning of the season I struggled, but down the line, I matured a little bit and learned more about the game and going with the flow and things have been going good for us right now. Q. (No microphone.) BRITTAINEY RAVEN: Not there yet; trying to get there, a good leader. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the coach now. Q. Coach, can you talk about Neisha Bailey's game, how important it was for her to have a big game coming back to her hometown and everything? COACH GOESTENKORS: I think her best game was when we played at Kansas, and I think it was a turning point game for her. We felt like if we lost that game, our chances of getting in the NCAA tournament were close to none. And there was a point in that game where she just -- I said you have to -- I say now or never, basically, and she came out on fire and played with such aggression and set the tone for the rest of the team. She just felt very, very confident. And she's really closed out the season in that fashion. So I know she's got many family members here, and I think that gives her a sense of confidence as well. Q. Is Brittainey a great leader yet? COACH GOESTENKORS: No. No, she's not -- she's come a long way; she's just a sophomore. I think it's hard for a sophomore to lead upperclassman, and it's hard for a sophomore to lead when she's trying to find her way. She has turned the corner this year for us, and playing with much more poise than she ever has and understanding better when we need her to attack, and when she needs to pull back and we need to execute our offenses. Brittainey is extremely sensitive, and she wants everybody to always be happy, and that's a great quality. However, we've talked about when you're a great leader, sometimes you have to say hard things to your teammates and not care what they think about you, just that they respect you. That is still a process for her, and she has come a long way. I've told her by the time she leads, she could be one of my greatest leaders, as she's only a sophomore. Q. Coach, how have you helped her to learn the game, Brittainey? And when you said to E-Bai, it's now or never, what did you mean? I'm assuming it's because she's a senior and time for her to crank it up? COACH GOESTENKORS: Right, and she is a tremendous athlete, but she wasn't using her athleticism, and we knew it was time. And there comes a point in everybody's season where everybody has to decide to put it all out on the line, and that was her moment. As far as Brittainey, you know, we've watched a lot of tape together, so she could see when she was a little bit out of control and when she was making good decisions. And she and I -- we worked together for a half hour before every single practice. She has been very willing to put in extra time, and I think it's paid off for her and our team. Q. Coach, Brittainey mentioned Carla being able to get the ball to people in transition. She also had four steals tonight on defense. How much of that is her hustling to the loose balls, how much of that is -- the players being able to get hands in passing lanes and knock the ball around? COACH GOESTENKORS: Carla has the quickest hands of any guard I've coached. She has incredibly quick hands, so she does get her hands on a lot of passes. I thought she did a great job tonight, and she is a smart player. And she knows if it's a foot race, Brittainey Raven is going to beat almost anybody in the country. So she does a great job of passing the ball ahead and letting Brittainey catch up to it. Q. Can you compare the confidence level your team is playing with now compared to the game in Austin? COACH GOESTENKORS: No comparison. The A&M game, I think that was the lowest point for our team, as far as our confidence level. I'm just really proud of the team. After that game, we had a long talk the next day and we could have either tanked or we were going to step up and put -- like I said, put it all out there, be willing to put everything on the line and not worry about whether it's going to be a win or a loss, just know that you gave your greatest effort. And I think the players have seen when they do put forth that greatest effort, they've done well and our confidence has continued to grow. Q. Texas Tech shot the ball well, took an 8-4 lead and you guys came back with a 15-0 run. How did you do that and why was that important to take the momentum back? Because you never lost a double digit lead after that. COACH GOESTENKORS: We've been hyped in many, many games, and we've had the ability to come back. So if a team takes a lead on us, we don't panic. We stayed positioned and stayed with the game plan, and even though they hit a couple of shots, we were playing percentages, and we said, okay, if they want to continue to take the 3, it's okay. And they shot really, really well from the 3. And we talked about it at halftime; they hit six 3's, they average three 3's, we need to go out and get them. Well, no, it's working, let's show patience and stick with the defensive game plan that we have. Q. Gail, how is your team different from what you played Baylor? You beat 'em the last time you played them, but can you talk about that match-up? COACH GOESTENKORS: It was a while ago, but I feel like it was a great game for us as well in that we played with a lot of confidence. We made tremendous hustle plays in that game and we got great contributions, really, from everybody. So that was -- at that point that was our biggest win of the year, and then we turned around and lost at Colorado and we lost our confidence at that point. Now we have our confidence back. I think we've had two great games with them. I expect tomorrow will be an exciting game as well. Q. I think the last time I saw you at a conference tournament was in South Carolina. You're used to playing a conference tournament a week earlier for 15 years. Can you talk about the difference in the Big 12 -- this is the only major women's conference that has it this late. What's it like as opposed to having a week to be looking forward to the NCAA instead of playing? COACH GOESTENKORS: I always admired the Big 12 because they got to play later. I felt like you got to stay in your rhythm heading into the NCAA tournament. It was tough, especially we were talking today there were a few years at Duke it happened to be our bye week was the last week of the season, and then we would play in the tournament and have a week off and then you would play the next week, so we played two games in 21 days. That's hard when you're in a rhythm and feeling good about who you are you want to continue to play and get out there. Now, again, there were times when I had only 8 players on the team, when having that week off we needed desperately because we were so fatigued, so I think it can work either way, depending on the injuries and the depth of your team. Q. Coach, I know this is your first year in the Big 12, but what have you seen from Kristy Curry and the progress of her program from the beginning of the season to the end? COACH GOESTENKORS: They've come so far, and if they can shoot the 3 like they did in the last two games against us, they will be a force to be reckoned with. She brought in so many new players this year, even though it wasn't her first year, the turnover was so incredible that it was like a first year for her, because she had so many new faces. You can see that the team is more comfortable with the sets that they're running and understanding what she wants and needs on both ends of the floor. I think next you're going to see unbelievable improvement from them. They started to gel. It's a shame it's at the end of the season, but I think it gives them great excitement heading into next year. End of FastScripts |
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