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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2008

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Jay Hawks from Kansas. Welcome. Coach Bonnie Henrickson will make a comment or two and we will include the players Kelly Kohn and Taylor McIntosh.
Coach?
COACH HENRICKSON: A lot of credit to our kids, a good first half effort. And I give credit to Nebraska hitting big shots late, but I think our resiliency, our best play out of the locker room on the year, we got some separation and grew a lead for the first time, it felt like all year, but probably not all year, but in the last two months, but Porscha Weddington, big offensive rebound by Sade, big play by Kelly, and those two haven't been on the radar screen lately.
Kelly from injuries and Porscha from production and we were on the bus over here, and I said, "Isn't that your best practice all year?" And she put her head down and they told her, "Porscha, you need to tell Coach, 'yes, ma'am, and I'm ready!'"
Give Nebraska credit, they made a run at the end and made it closer than we would have liked, but really exciting.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes?

Q. Taylor, this being potentially your last game in the Big 12, how much did you not want to lose it?
TAYLOR McINTOSH: I didn't want to lose any of the games this year, but I think we're better than we've shown. And for the first time we were able to come out of the locker room and keep our lead, instead of losing the first, and I thought that was important.
I started feeling good until they started cutting the lead slowly, and everyone is happy and it's not like we didn't believe we couldn't win.

Q. What was the difference in the second half, coming out and extending the lead? And what was going through your mind as they were making the come-back and how were you able to put that to rest and get the win?
KELLY KOHN: I thought it was a huge goal for us. As coach said, probably the best we've come out of the half, and the coaches went out of the locker room at the half to make it seem like the beginning of the game and not just halftime for us.
It's a big growth for us, especially this time of the year in the tournament for us to come out and win the first game. And that's something the coach has been talking to us about all year, and it's a good thing we finally did it.

Q. Kelly, talk about with 4:40 left, you hit the big 3 from the corner. What was going through your mind? Through the season you haven't been able to play as much because of injuries, but in the big moment, getting a big shot like that.
KELLY KOHN: I don't know if I can tell you how great it felt, but this season has been tough for me individually, as far as dealing with injuries.
You know, it's tough to try to come back once the conference has started and find your rhythm again, and especially as a shooter it can be difficult. To hit my shot is great, but certainly when we needed to break away from them coming back, there was a lot of emotion. And I was just glad I could help my team get more points up on the board and stretch the lead for us.

Q. Taylor, seemed like from the start of the game you had a different look to your team, almost poised out on the court. Did you have any different -- because you seem --
TAYLOR McINTOSH: I felt loose and ready to play. Like, okay, this might be our last conference game, so just leave it out on the floor and, you know, have no regrets.
So I felt it, and I think my teammates fed off of my energy. And then we just kept it going and it just kind of feels good to get a rhythm and do all the stuff we do in practice, and finally transferred it to the game, so it felt great!

Q. Taylor, what's this 6-11 deal? You've won the 6-11 game two years in a row now. Is this similar to last year?
TAYLOR McINTOSH: Oh, last year? It felt good. I told Bonnie two years in a row we won the opening game! But I didn't pay attention to that --
COACH HENRICKSON: We talked about the confidence of beating Oklahoma State last year, and the confidence being able to beat Nebraska at home, and used both of those.

Q. Taylor, last year you did win that first game, but you didn't win the second game. How are you approaching the second game this time?
TAYLOR McINTOSH: Like I said, we have a different mind-set to us. A lot of games we won in conference, we didn't get blown out. We lost by a couple of mistakes at the end, so as long as we eliminate our turnovers and fouls --
COACH HENRICKSON: I said if we turn it over 24 times we wouldn't win; we turned it over 24.
TAYLOR McINTOSH: Maybe if we turn it over more than we turn it over --
COACH HENRICKSON: We did didn't do that either, Taylor.
TAYLOR McINTOSH: We'll win if we do what we're supposed to do.
COACH HENRICKSON: That's right, Taylor.

Q. Kelly, it seemed that you had a lot of emotion and heart and a ton of energy on the court tonight. Was it because you finally got to come back and play from injuries, or because you got the win? What was the emotion for the win out there tonight?
KELLY KOHN: I don't know if I need much more personal motive, other than we haven't won a lot of games down the stretch in the conference, and here we are with a clean slate with a chance to go on a run that nobody besides ourselves thinks we can do. So I don't know if I need anymore motivation than that.
Like I said, personally, this has been a hard season for me, as far as injuries and finding my rhythm and getting my confidence back on the court, and it is time to lay it out. We have nothing to lose, really. We're coming into this tournament thinking we're coming in to win it. And like I said, everybody has a clean slate. That gives me all the motivation and confidence in the world.

Q. Taylor, going out with 4:25 left, how nervous were you on the bench?
TAYLOR McINTOSH: I wasn't nervous, especially because everyone came off the bench ready to play. Porscha came in and did what she's been doing in practice lately. And Kelly and I was upset because I knew I should be on the court. And the way I picked up the foul, I should have let it go, but at the same time, I have confidence in my teammates, so I knew we could do it.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Bonnie Henrickson now.

Q. Bonnie, it was noticeable tonight that you were, push, push, push the ball.
COACH HENRICKSON: Yeah.

Q. And that's not something you've been doing mostly this year. Is that the late season mantra, to push it?
COACH HENRICKSON: We talked about the respect for all the coaches in this league, but we knew Nebraska wouldn't give us the quick looks.
They're sagging. We weren't going to get her on a post, but a good read by her in a play is what she got second half, but we knew they were going to take away some of the looks we want, and we're going to take away some of what they want. Although, it didn't look like it.
So where you separate it is in transition. There is no scouting report in place to -- and I think both teams did that; they pushed and ran on us and we tried to run on them, but probably -- now I think we were 4 for 12 in the half. I think our numbers were better in the second half, but trying to create opportunities in transition has been an Achilles' heel for us against them, but, again, trying to get a look before they can set up and take things away.

Q. 33 points off of turnovers; that's got to be a season high, isn't it?
COACH HENRICKSON: Absolutely, absolutely.

Q. You did the two things in this game that you thought you didn't -- weren't going to be able to do to them, turnovers and fouls.
COACH HENRICKSON: Right.

Q. What was the difference?
COACH HENRICKSON: I think we get high percentage shots; we shoot 65%, both teams are hitting layups, and we got rebounds down the stretch and made the extra pass when it was available. We drove and dropped it, and hung around the rim.
I thought we were good at times, on a box out in the first half. But I thought we made the extra passing. There is a reason we shot 65%. We got good looks and some uncontested looks. Our kids run unselfish, but a lot of times we're not -- at the wing we can get the next guy and let go of a guy to guard us, but that makes the post making themselves available to receive the pass, and we did that better than we have recently.

Q. Can you share your thoughts on the 11 and 12 seeds winning today?
COACH HENRICKSON: Is it not fitting for the year that this league has had? There's probably not a coach in the conference that's probably real surprised, and it's not a knock to Nebraska or Oklahoma, or an extra pat on our backs or Missouri, but that's the kind of year the league has had.
It's got great coaches and venues to play on the road, and we've been in so many one-possession games -- maybe not -- we've had our fair share with literally the last possession, but we've been in one-possession games with three and four minutes left, and not been able to finish, which is on us.
You have a lot of teams hanging around, and there is not a lot of separation; a lot of quality play in the league, and really just great battles back and forth.

Q. Sade came out aggressive tonight and made up for Danielle having a rough night. Is that something she came in looking to do?
COACH HENRICKSON: We always want Sade to come in looking good, and she is going to guard the best offensive player. She's typically going to pick up the ball in transition, and she does a lot of work that goes unnoticed physically, as far as exhausting and how much work that takes, but I thought she played aggressively, elevated and took good shots.
It's a huge monster board in the middle of the lane that finished over the rim, and that's game-changing. You can probably look at three or four that are game-changing, but that's why we won. We did a good job down the stretch. A lot of kids did a great job down the stretch.

Q. Can you talk about Kelly and do you think she's been --
COACH HENRICKSON: You've been bugging me about Kelly all year.

Q. She's been the missing piece and --
COACH HENRICKSON: She has been. Actually, I honestly thought about starting her and then she came to practice and said her ankle was as sore as the day she did it. And every time I've thought about getting her more time or starting her, she got the flu, she got the chip in her ankle and the flu twice.
And all of the sudden -- so I thought, well -- but she practiced well, even though she was in a lot of pain and I thought, let me just bring her off the bench, she is playing confidently. And it's hard -- the game is so much about confidence, and she lost it and struggled for a lot of reasons as far as not being healthy, not producing and not being able to play.
And she practiced as well as she has all year, and Porscha has practiced as well down the stretch as she has all year. And it's about playing kids you trust and putting those kids in the situations, and those two have done a great job.
Porscha Weddington spends as much time in the gym as anybody, and that gains confidence. I said, get in there and get extra reps, Kelly -- she shoots -- makes 50 3's every day, and they were two kids I felt could help us down the stretch, and just credit to both of those two to hang in there and come out big.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much. We'll see you tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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