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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2008Sara HunterElle QueenAmaka UzomahJen WardenLAS VEGAS, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you want to begin with some opening remarks on the game. COACH WARDEN: Well, I was just mentioning to Amaka how much I like the way she operated from the inside. She's developing a rhythm of an old-time NBA pivot player. At times she made weak side assists. At times she made ball side assists. She can sneak in a wheel and a lay-up every once in a while. But I think what she's creating is giving players like Sara some open looks. Because every team gets distracted when the ball gets to the pivot player. And I think she's really helped our team develop in this offense over the last six weeks. And I think we saw some of that and had a little fun with it tonight. What can you say about Sara Hunter? Four for eight, two critical back-to-back threes where I really feel like the door kind of flew open and we knew if we defended we could get a win. And that's not a small thing for us. And I felt like we were very confident about the run that she led us on and knew we could hold it. Sometimes I wish Elle Queen would be regarded as she is to us: one of the conference's best freshman. Because her play and her demeanor are so consistent and so valuable to us, and I think the teams in the stands that see that know what's going to be come back to Colorado State as we continue to build the program. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, coach. Q. This is for Sara. How does it feel to finally win? SARA HUNTER: I don't know. Just it's so much fun. And the whole game was fun. That's how I would describe it. Everyone was playing hard and, I mean, whether baskets were falling or not we were just playing hard no matter what. So hopefully we carry it over to tomorrow. Q. Sara, hit the three that put your team ahead for good. Did you sense at all at that moment those back-to-back threes, the momentum shifted? SARA HUNTER: Yeah absolutely. When Amaka hit me in the corner for the fist three, I was feeling it, and I think our whole team was, and we were just going on a run. We were getting stops. Amaka was getting deep boards every time. So it was those big shots I think we missed a lot during the season. But this is when it counts. Q. If all three of you guys, and coach you too maybe, just quickly, the work ethic has always been there but the work ethic really translated into huge things today. Have you told yourself in the past just keep working, keep plugging, good things will happen? And is this evidence of that? SARA HUNTER: Yeah. Well I remember coming out of the game one time and Bonnie Barbee on the team was sitting on the bench, and she's like, Man, our team just works hard every single time. We're just fighting. You see Juanise and everyone in there just getting banged around and no matter what. I mean, and we do it every day whether we -- you know, obviously we were winless in conference but we came into practice every single day and didn't lose hope. I mean that's what makes wins like this feel the best. ELLE QUEEN: I think this season since we struggled a lot offensively, I think it's hard to put up a fight against teams when shots aren't falling and stuff like that. But I think our team's done a really good job of just continuing to work hard on the defensive end whether our shots are falling or not. AMAKA UZOMAH: I think team chemistry also off the court. You know, most teams that have a losing season tend to fall apart. But with us, we stick together no matter what. And we talk about it, everything, and just are like our win is going to come no matter what happens. We can do it, you know. SARA HUNTER: Yo, quote that. (Laughing). Q. Amaka, I wanted to ask you, you guys kind of took the UNLV's physical game back to them and seemed to really kind of catch them a little bit off guard. Is this more so than you've done in the other two games, and unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see the other two? AMAKA UZOMAH: I think it has. Because, as coach said earlier, once we get physical, they're going to get physical back, but we have to keep up the physicalness. Think that was all the matter of fact that happened. I said, Yo. Sorry (laughing). If Hampton was going to get physical, I got to get physical right back. That's why my voice is like this. I took about three shots from her elbow, man. It hurts. Q. Quick question for Amaka. With the assists, I mean, you led your club in assists. That last little flip behind the back, you had to be digging that. I mean, was that as much fun for you in terms of satisfaction, assists, rebounds, that kind of thing? AMAKA UZOMAH: It was. At the end when they told me I had six assists, I was like, Yo, that finally -- finally six assists. You know, my teammates finished their lay-ups and, you know, they made their baskets. It was awesome. Q. For any of you, just what's this mean? What can you take from this into tomorrow's game now? Obviously you are going to against a really good Utah team. Is there hope? SARA HUNTER: Yeah. I think, I mean just the way we played them last time is a testament to what our team can do. And if we just stay composed and, you know, keep playing hard like we can, we just go all out and have fun. ELLE QUEEN: I think we're definitely going to enjoy this one for tonight. And tomorrow we'll be focused for tomorrow and ready to beat Utah. AMAKA UZOMAH: Come out with the same intensity that we did today, we can definitely have a win tomorrow. Q. In danger of picking up my third Mountain West reprimand... COACH WARDEN: You asked if we did anything special to stop Sequoia Holmes. Interestingly enough, we did box-and-one her at UNLV the first time we played them. But the style of zone offense they run, they overload it. Anytime you overload a box, you are going to have trouble if Sequoia is not the overload. So at the 16 minute time-out, I put in a defense our team had not seen before. I had a diamond at the top and a baseline runner. So the bottom player played like she was the bottom of a 1-3-1. The top three players matched their guards, which is where we had a hard time before because they could penetrate and kick and penetrate and get it to the centers. I had Amaka play block to block. I like Amaka to play block to block. I wonder why, right? So I kind of design defenses on where we want Amaka and where we can match their zone offense. I thought they might adjust some things but I knew even in overload couldn't hurt it. So even though we didn't match Sequoia player for player and face guard her, so to speak, everyone whose area she was in was well-prepared and coming from an inside-out stance to guard her so we weren't giving her a first step to the rim when we closed out. Q. What was it like to see your players smiling for the first time since December? And what did it mean to you and your attempt to kind of get this thing going in the right direction? COACH WARDEN: Well I think as a credit to them, and this whole thing belongs to them, if you would walk into our practice on Sunday, and my assistant coach came to me and said, You know, coach, for about ten minutes I kind of took an outside look at our team and you would have thought we were 22-7. And I think that's really the testament of the players. I don't think of the coaches. I don't think of the trainer. I think that's a testament to the character of the player, that they can come in on a Sunday when they are the number 9 seed in a winless conference and they can come in and have a spirited, high-energy practice, and a spirited, high-energy shoot-around. And I think those things, they're going to produce results. And you got to trust your work. But all of that belongs to the players. And I don't want to say that we haven't smiled since December. We haven't won since December. But we've smiled a lot. Q. When you played Utah before and played -- I didn't see the game -- describe that game to me, describe to me why you were able to hang in the game, what you did well, and what you need the do better tomorrow? COACH WARDEN: Can I tell you after the game tomorrow? Q. You can wing it. COACH WARDEN: I think defensively, again, it's no secrets. We played an unorthodox scheme. And it was, again, a scheme that the players hadn't seen before and we hadn't practiced before. But I had a sixth sense it would work. We drew it up at the 16-minute media timeout that seems to be my creative phase. And I thought we played that defense maybe four or five possessions just to change things and get Utah out of a rhythm, but in fact we played it for about 35, 38 possessions. And it really seem to make an incredibly brilliant team -- don't get me wrong, if I weren't here to play Utah, I would be sitting as close to that bench as I possibly could. I think Elaine Elliott is a brilliant coach and they have an incredibly talented club. But I think it made them think a little more and get out of a rhythm a little bit more. And it's going to be more difficult to create that tomorrow since they've seen it for 40 minutes and they've been able to watch the film. But, you know what, that's what our job is. Q. How have you managed to stay positive through this whole experience? How have you personally managed to find a way to stay positive through all the negativity? COACH WARDEN: Well I think, you know, you circle the wagons. The department circles the wagons and the team circles its wagons and my family circles the wagons. And you circle the wagons. I think it's important, just like you teach kids that go into junior high: you got to be real careful with who you surround yourself with and you got to be real careful about what you let through the filter between your ears. You can't hold onto anything that doesn't help you and you have to grasp real hard onto everything that you think can help you. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, coach. COACH WARDEN: Thanks you guys. End of FastScripts |
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