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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2009Amy BegginDon FlanaganJessica KielpinskiLAS VEGAS, NEVADA New Mexico – 84 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by New Mexico. We'll begin with an opening statement by Coach Flanagan, general remarks about the game, then we'll let you ask questions of the student-athletes. Coach. COACH FLANAGAN: Well, we know Air Force plays hard. Sometimes they don't have as much height or as much talent as some of the teams, but they're always going to give a hundred percent. They really played hard. We had to match that intensity. I thought that's one of the things, was our goal, was to match their intensity. We seemed to shoot pretty well against them. I thought our defense was excellent. Amy got us off to a great start, hitting her three-point shots. They were mixing up their defense with a zone and a man. I thought we did a pretty good job of adjusting to that. We stuck basically to our man-to-man defense. I had an opportunity to play a lot of different people, which is probably a good thing in a tournament like this, especially if your goal is to play four games. So we got everybody in. I thought a lot of people played well. Just two of the players that played well are up here, but I thought a lot of our team played well. So I thought it was a good start for us. We felt good the way we started this tournament. THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll open it up for questions to the student-athletes. Q. Amy, were you surprised at all when you were making your threes that Air Force stayed in the zone for pretty much the entire first half? AMY BEGGIN: Well, I thought we were moving the ball really well. My teammates were doing a great job passing. I mean, we struggled with some zones earlier this year. I mean, the last couple games we've been playing really well with it. I just give that credit to my teammates for finding me when I was open. Q. Amy, the first half, it seemed like you were able to get pretty much anything you wanted offensively. How good did that feel? AMY BEGGIN: It felt really good. We really wanted to get out to a good start in this tournament and just kind of get our nerves a little bit in check. I thought we did a great job coming out and starting the game strong. We had a good start to this tournament. Q. Jessica, basically the bench really contributed a lot of points. Is that something you're trying to emphasize in this tournament? JESSICA KIELPINSKI: I think so. We'll play four games to get to the championship. Uhm, I think that you need to keep your players in the game and going in off the bench, the beginning games, it helps to build your confidence. If going in in the early games is going to help you going through the end games, I think. Q. Coming into this tournament, knowing it's as wide open as it is, so many quality clubs, the mindset of you guys individually, collectively, if you get together as a team without coaches around, the mindset knowing that every game, every possession, every half has to be critical. AMY BEGGIN: Yeah, definitely. It's kind of a cliché. We really do want to take it one game at a time, try and focus on each opponent we're playing. The third time we're playing a team, so it doesn't really come down to scouting reports as much any more. Just executing the little things, getting after those loose balls, just hitting some shots when you're open. It's just a matter of determination at this point of the season. JESSICA KIELPINSKI: I agree. Just coming together all at the end of the season is the main time you all need to come together. We all are coming to play at our peak. I think we're really clicking right now. Q. Jessica, did you think Amy had to come out in the first half? She scored 18. Do you think that helped you out a lot in the second half? JESSICA KIELPINSKI: I think it did help us a lot. But I don't think that she had to come out. I think that other people, like we all were ready to take our shots. Amy, honestly, she was ready. She had all those shots. I think it gave us a huge boost going into the game. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. We'll dismiss the student-athletes at this time. We'll continue with questions for Coach Flanagan. Q. Last year at this time, this would have been a playing game day. Obviously a first-round game. Do you think you get more out of this game than you would if you just had a hard practice today? COACH FLANAGAN: Yeah, obviously. I think probably the most important thing right now is playing in a tournament and having success. So, you know, playing any opponent is excellent for you. And if you have some success, you win that game, you feel more comfortable in the tournament. I think feeling comfortable in a tournament is probably as important as any preparation that you could have. Q. A lot of the season you have been dependent on Amy. How important was it to get her some rest in the second half in preparation for the quarterfinals? COACH FLANAGAN: Yeah, you know, I didn't give her any rest the first half. We had a nice cushion. I was really hoping that the first four minutes of the second half we could expand that lead a little bit and then I could get her out, which eventually happened. And I thought Amanda Best, as soon as I got Amy out, I thought Amanda played very well at the point. She's not accustomed to playing the point. She ended up with 11 rebounds, 8 points, played really well. Amy wasn't getting back in. So it's really important that we get Amy a rest. But, you know, I think probably the most important thing is we got everybody a rest. I don't think anybody played more than 25 minutes. Q. Did you think Amy was going to go off like that in the first half? COACH FLANAGAN: I don't know. You know, she's had her moments. She's a big-game player. Usually during the regular season somebody was just nose to nose with her. So she doesn't get a lot of looks. They gave her some looks. If she gets a pretty good look, she's pretty accurate with her shot. Q. How good do you feel right now about your team in terms of where it needs to be in a one-and-done kind of tournament, in light of the fact there are four or five quality clubs that could win this thing, including you guys? COACH FLANAGAN: I'm glad we're included in that now. I thought some people were discounting us (smiling). I think that getting started like that is encouraging. I feel pretty comfortable right now that we can play well. We need a lot of people to play well, but at the same time I think we might be playing our best basketball right now, or at least being as comfortable as we've been and as poised as we've been all year long. I certainly think this is a very good team. I think they're capable - and we'll talk about it one game at a time. I think the most important thing now is focus on your next opponent. There's a lot of good teams out there. There's a bunch of good teams. I'm not talking about the first three either. There's some good teams that are playing this game and the following game. Q. You just alluded to it. You said a lot of people had discounted you, which is kind of odd considering you are back-to-back tournament champions. How has the team embraced that new role? COACH FLANAGAN: Well, I think, you know, we have had some players playing in this tournament and have won this tournament before. In fact, several have been involved in winning this tournament. So I think they feel comfortable playing here in this environment. So let's just see how we play. But I feel good. You know, sometimes as a coach you have some worries about certain positions, whether you can match up and things like that. I thought today we proved, through lots of players, that we can match up pretty well with most teams. Now, I realize Air Force is not one of the better teams in the conference. But they play very, very hard. I thought the way we played them showed that, with so many of our players playing well, that was encouraging. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH FLANAGAN: You're welcome. End of FastScripts |
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