|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2008Don FlanaganBrandi KimbleDionne MarshLAS VEGAS, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you want to take a minute or two and just provide your opening thoughts. COACH FLANAGAN: First of all, congratulations to Colorado State. I thought they had a good tournament. Obviously they were excited. Played a very motivated and hard-fought game. For a team that did not win a game throughout the regular season, they had a terrific tournament. They played very, very hard. Difficult to defend. Sara Hunter is a great shooter. They have a couple other young players that I know are going to be back and very difficult to defend. So congratulations to them. I thought our first half, our defense in the first half was excellent. We didn't give up much. Kept them in front of us. Chased over screens. They set a lot of screens. Defended them about as well as I thought we could defend them. And then they played a zone and we hit our three-point shots. When we're hitting our three-point shots, we're a pretty good team. That pretty much was the differential. We had a couple breaks late in the half where we'd get a couple more points on a foul in the last second of the half. Then the second half, they made a nice run back. I knew they weren't going to quit. I knew they were going to play for 40 minutes. They're that type of team. They came back and got the game fairly close. We had a couple players step up, hit some big shots. We got going again. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good game. We shot pretty well. I thought we defended very well. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, coach. Questions now directed to the student-athletes. Q. For either player, the fact that Colorado State beat Utah, did that give you instant respect for them? Is that why you came out and pretty much blew them off the court? BRANDI KIMBLE: I think so. I mean, they're a good team. They played Utah really well. We came in knowing that they're going to play us hard. You know, they're a scrappy team. They're going to do whatever it takes to win. They did a good job. I give it to them. We played our game and we were successful. Q. Dionne, except for one first-round loss to UNLV in the tournament a few years ago, seems like you always peak at the right time. Is there a secret to that? Something that Coach Flanagan does or talks about? How does that happen? DIONNE MARSH: Well, usually -- I mean, this year we started off kind of rough as a team. But the girls never gave up. And the fact that I guess he just seems to recruit girls that continue to want to play during post-season, you know, no matter how we're starting off in the beginning, everybody still wants to be playing. Nobody wants to go out on a sour note during the season. Especially at UNM, for the girls program, we're known for being a pretty decent team. The fact that the girls never quit this year, continued to practice hard, made everyone better, said something about their character. Hopefully we'll continue to play well in the next championship game and hopefully into the tournament. Q. What did you do differently after the first three or four minutes when they were hitting the inside buckets defensively to cut that off? Looked like you tightened up your interior defense, backed off their three-point shooting. DIONNE MARSH: Well, for us, our post play, we're pretty decent at our defense. We're good at helping each other. We just talked really well. We realized what was hurting us. We're very good at being vocal and helping each other out. That's one of the things. We talk to each other, say, You need to rotate on help side, make sure we move one over. For being post players, our defense is pretty decent. We're really good about listening to each other and taking each other's advice. Q. Brandi, did you sense anything different about the way they played you today? Gave you a harder time than in the past. BRANDI KIMBLE: I think so. They were really hungry for the win. Sara Hunter, I mean, she did a really good job tonight. I know how far back she goes from that three-point line. They all played with heart tonight. Q. In the second half when they kind of made that little run, got within 10 at one point, what were you thinking as players at that point? You had a 21-point halftime lead. How did you get through that, get it back? DIONNE MARSH: Early in the year we probably would have been a little bit nervous just because we've given up quite a few leads or lost games that were close. This year, I mean, towards the end of the season, the girls are getting a lot more poised. They're not getting as nervous when things tend to go wrong. Like I said, all we do, we talk about it amongst ourselves, realize what we need to tighten up on and just do it. That's one of the things we've improved on in the last three or four games. THE MODERATOR: Ladies, thank you. Questions for Coach Flanagan. Q. What is the secret to peaking at the right time or is there one? COACH FLANAGAN: I'm not sure if there's a secret to it. But basically we're staying consistent with our philosophy. One thing I think that is probably not discussed is that we've been good late in the season throughout the last few years or last many years. I think when you have a tradition like that, players recall how they played in the tournament, how it felt to be successful in the tournament. They carry that over as they become juniors and seniors. We had two seniors up here today. Both those players have gone to the NCAA tournament all three years. Both those players played an outstanding game. So they know what it takes to be tournament players. Q. What was going through your head when they made the run, got within 10? Was there any worry on your part? COACH FLANAGAN: I was getting a little upset. That's a team that won't quit. We were breaking down a little bit on the drive. They were trying to drive us and create fouling situations, and we were playing right into that. I substituted a little bit. Any time anybody got tired at that three position, we subbed them out. And then we just kept talking about, Hey, they're trying to drive us, make sure you keep her in front, then block her out. There also was an awful lot of offensive rebounds in there that I was really upset with. But for the most part we played pretty well. You know, sometimes when you get a big lead and then it gets down to 10, all of a sudden everybody starts getting nervous, and then all of a sudden it's a close game. That game could have gone either way. But we had a couple players step up and hit some big shots. I thought Jessica Kielpinski hit a big shot. Amanda Adamson hit a big shot. And those are players that are not normally shooting the ball under pressure situations. So we've changed a lot over the year with our confidence in tough situations. Q. You talked about Dionne and Brandi having the experience in big games. How do you mentally prepare the younger players? Do you think the confidence that Dionne and Brandi have will rub off on them for tomorrow's game? COACH FLANAGAN: I thought their leadership ability has really improved over the year. When they first started out, they're both very quiet young ladies. They're not the type to -- rah-rah type of person. It was difficult for them to assume the role of a leader. They've always just played the game and somebody else has been the leader. I think that they've matured over the season and they've helped out the younger players. With their encouragement, them being positive with the younger players, that helped our younger kids to start to play with confidence like they do. Q. You've been in this league a long time. You've seen a lot of programs rise and fall. CSU's experience, a young team coming back, what do you think this could do for Colorado State looking ahead? COACH FLANAGAN: Well, I'm happy for them because they've had some tough times. I think Jen has done an excellent job of keeping them together, keeping them motivated. Now she has a team, I think, that has very good chemistry and good young players. I expect them to be very good in the future. I don't know how good or when. They'll miss Sara Hunter, as you said. At the same time they played very hard. This experience right here, this positive experience that they just had, is gonna help them a great deal. Q. When Colorado State in their first two games in this tournament made some defensive changes right after the start of the second half, did you see something like that? Did they do any of that to you today? COACH FLANAGAN: Yeah, a little bit. We kind of keep running the same thing, the same kind of offense. So it wasn't like we had to go to something really different. Basically we felt like the middle of their defense was open a little bit and we could exploit that. And it took us a while to make that pass. They did such a good job of denying the pass to the interior that we were a little hesitant to make that pass. But you got to throw the ball inside. And once we started throwing the ball inside, then good things were happening. We were getting the high-low a little bit. Dionne was starting to hit her shots. Then we were getting the second shots. Brandi started getting some rebounds in there. Once we started getting second shots, second-shot opportunities, then I thought the momentum changed. But I didn't see anything that I felt like -- you know, the zone right off the bat was a little bit better than I thought. But we were hitting our shot. We were a little hesitant to reverse the ball and move it where we wanted. But when we're hitting our shot, I think we were five of six from the three-point line in the first half. So she had to get out of that zone. Then she went back to it again. It's hard to guard Dionne one-on-one, so a lot of teams will try to throw in a zone. Q. Lack of production from the three has been kind of an ongoing thing this year. Offensively between Georonika and Amanda, is this maybe the best it's been? COACH FLANAGAN: Yeah. I thought Eileen went in there and played some good minutes, more defensively than offensively. Georonika is a different kind of player. She's not really a three, but she battled like a three. She rebounded in there. She had five rebounds at halftime, did a nice job there. Plus she hit some shots. She can handle it a little bit so she can play. She plays like a two. That helps us. Then Eileen is more like a real three, maybe even a four. She's a physical player. She's just got to hit her shot a little bit. I thought Amanda Adamson hit a couple big shots. I was happy with her progress. I'm starting to figure out how to use the threes so they're most effective. If I have three of them, I'm trying to get the best out of each person for a short period of time and then rotate them. Q. Could you briefly talk about the matchups tomorrow, whether it's San Diego State or TCU. COACH FLANAGAN: You want 10 matchups? I don't know who's going to win that game. First of all, both teams are very fast. Both teams are very aggressive. One team will play full court for 40 minutes. That's San Diego State. I don't see TCU doing that. But at the same time TCU has players that can really go coast-to-coast or baseline-to-baseline. You know, I don't know who's going to win that game. I think it's going to be a great game to watch. I'm just going to sit back and relax and enjoy the game. We'll play the winner tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|