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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: SPOKANEMarch 31, 2008Marissa ColemanBrenda FreseCrystal LanghorneKristi ToliverSPOKANE, WASHINGTON THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with the Maryland press conference. We'll start with an opening statement from coach. COACH FRESE: I tell you, sometimes it's just not your day. You have to give credit where credit's due and I thought that the Stanford did a tremendous job tonight for 40 minutes. Credit to them. I thought they continued to hit big shot after big shot. And really they played poised for a complete 40 minute game. And from our end I felt like we dug ourselves into a hole early and felt like we were trying to fight and come out of that for the entire game. But credit again to Stanford how aggressive they were, how they played us defensively, made it extremely difficult and obviously the shots that they hit from 3 were big time daggers. And they did a tremendous job. THE MODERATOR: Take questions now for the student-athletes. Q. Kristi, you and Candice put on a pretty remarkable show. Are you able to even realize that right now? KRISTI TOLIVER: Candice played phenomenal today. Made big shots, was their leader. She did a great job. Right now all I'm feeling is the loss and the fact that I don't get to play with my seniors any more and that's what's going on in my head. But, yeah, she played a great game. Q. Kristi, what was going through your mind in the second half though, you got 24 point in the second half, was there something that you wanted to do or you saw that you could take advantage of? KRISTI TOLIVER: Again, I just wanted to be aggressive. I think that I was just taking what the defense was giving me and I had open looks and I was able to create and then I kind of got in the zone. That was basically it. Q. Crystal, can you talk about what you're feeling right now and what hurts the most from this loss? CRYSTAL LANGHORNE: As a senior I didn't want my career to end and neither did the rest of the seniors. And it's never going to be like this any more professionally. The team atmosphere, it's never going to be like this any more. And we just didn't want it to end. Q. Kristi, Wiggins got her points but how disappointing was it to let somebody like J.J. homes get her career high? KRISTI TOLIVER: Yeah, she played great too. Again, Stanford knocked down a lot of shots and they did a great job in the first half and in the second half we weren't counting on them making those same shots again and they did. So you got to give credit to them for stepping up and playing big, not only Candice but her surrounding cast. Q. Marissa, even though they had the lead and as coach was saying that you guys were trying to dig out of a hole, it seemed that you never really were out of it until the final ticks went down. Did you guys feel that even though they were 12, 10 up that a couple 3s from Kristi and you're right back in it and you were there until the end? MARISSA COLEMAN: Definitely. We never thought we were going to lose the game until the final buzzer sounded. We have a lot of weapons on this team. So no matter how many we were down we always feel like we can get our self out of a hole with the great shooting we have on this team. Q. Crystal, could you talk about Stanford's inside game and how hard it was to score and stop them from scoring? CRYSTAL LANGHORNE: Well they had a great game plan and they just did a good job. THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll excuse the student-athletes and we'll take questions for coach. Q. When they started, when they came out hot from the outside did that cause you guys to have to change something that you were doing? COACH FRESE: They're just obviously so dangerous when they're hitting 3s with the kind of inside presence that they have inside. So we really felt like we wanted to stick to our game plan. That eventually those shots weren't going to continue to fall. As much game film that we had watched on them, we felt like the percentages were going to even up. But obviously like I said, all the credit goes to Stanford for just making so many great shots in this game. Q. Could you talk a little bit about Stanford's inside game. Particularly on defense against your girls? COACH FRESE: Yeah, I thought that they were very physical. Very aggressive. And I thought at times from our end we really shied away from the contact and which is something from our end that I thought we could have been a little bit more aggressive. But they made us with work for any shot that we got, obviously, with both Crystal and Laura, the touches that they got and the moves that they had to make, they made everything extremely difficult. They're just talented, big, post players for Stanford. Q. Last three minutes of the first half, couple turnovers, a couple air balls, how disappointing was that stretch and how important was that stretch? COACH FRESE: Well, yeah, that stretch was critical and I thought really to be able to cut for us into the lead and to be able to go in with some momentum into the locker room at half time. But again I think credit to Stanford's defense and just how smart they are, the plays that they were able to make tonight. Q. Another stretch was that stretch of free throws that you guys missed five of six, you cut it to six, Candice hit a 3, and then you had a chance to get some points back with those free throws and they didn't fall. Was that crucial to you? COACH FRESE: It was critical I thought. I mean uncharacteristic of us from the foul line. Again, I don't know if that's nerves or for us we're usually a better free throw shooting team and it always seemed like when we were starting to get some kind of momentum obviously Candice did what any All-American does, she stepped up and hit some big 3s and some big shots. Q. Was Kristi getting all those points on her own, or were you running things for her or was she in the zone? COACH FRESE: A little bit of both. In terms of our play calling we wanted to bring their bigs out as much as possible. We wanted to set a lot of them on ball screens. We knew they were going to make it extremely difficult inside with their great post presence, doubling, post to post, so a lot of that, some was play call and some was just a lot of on ball screens that we wanted to set. Q. Things got out to such a quick offensive start, a lot of points on the board, did you have a sense that it was sort of a keep up kind of a mode? COACH FRESE: Yeah, and I tell you, I thought the tempo was going to favor us, to be honest. Stanford likes to have more of a controlled pace and a controlled offensively. So at the time I thought it would favor us to be honest. But again credit to them, 98 points that they put up on the board and they were clicking on all cylinders. Q. Can you talk about the imprint the seniors have left on the team? COACH FRESE: Yeah, I tell you, as difficult as right now is for our team and for our locker room, I tell you, I don't want to be sad that it's over. I want to be happy that it happened. Especially with this group. What these seniors have meant to our program in their four years and like I told them in the locker room, to go through your college career and only be one of four teams to win a National Championship and obviously to be the first at Maryland and they have raised the bar, they have raise raised the standard for Maryland basketball and I think that's why the pain is there just because we have had such a tremendous experience with them, what they have meant to our program and what they have meant just as people. Not just basketball players, but what they have meant as people to each and everyone of us. THE MODERATOR: Okay, thank you, coach. COACH FRESE: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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