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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2009

THE MODERATOR: The student-athletes with us are Jamie Smith and Shamela Hampton. Coach Kathy Olivier. Coach, we'll start out with some general comments and then take questions for the student-athletes.
COACH OLIVIER: Well, I thought our team did a great job. We were very focused, a lot of intensity out there tonight. You know, we talked about it throughout the season when we lost to BYU at home, then we played them in a very, very close battle on the road, and we said, We hope we play them again.
Our wish came true. We really stepped up to the plate with a great deal of intensity and a great deal of focus. It was a total team effort.
THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll take questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Jamie, you had a double-double in your first Mountain West tournament game. What was your preparation going into your first playoff game as an UNLV Rebel?
JAMIE SMITH: I think the whole team just focused up. Like coach had said, we had the mentality of going in there and getting them back for losing to them twice during the season.
As a whole, like we always just focus all together. And when we all go in there, we do our warmups. That's pretty much the preparation. It's like any other game.

Q. Jamie, they cut it to three, then you grabbed a key rebound, hit a three. Can you talk about how critical that stretch was.
JAMIE SMITH: Uhm, well, it was critical, like, for our team just to get that momentum swing. Getting the rebound was just a team effort. We all boxed out. I'm just the one that happened to grab it. Coming down, E did a nice penetration, which opens it up for me. That was to E, too. I think that was crucial for momentum because we started to get on the downward spiral, so we needed to pick that up, and we did. That gave us a little bit more momentum to even get ahead a little bit more. It went our way in the next couple minutes.

Q. When you have a freshman like this, you have the intentional call, she's the one to step in and push you back, she obviously is the one to have key plays, rebounds and shots, you saw it all year, but talk about when you first saw her play here, and has anything she's done surprised you? Tonight, would it surprise you she did what she did tonight?
SHAMELA HAMPTON: When Jamie first got here, she worked hard. She was one of the consistent players we had on our team. In practice, we was like, Okay, we have Jamie Smith coming in for us. She was a great rebounder. I was like, Coach, she can help us out a lot. That's what she did. I'm not surprised at all. She's a hard worker, consistent, does what it takes to help this team. I'm glad she's my teammate.

Q. Seeing as your next two opponents are TCU, and if you beat them, San Diego State, both teams that beat you at home, is this like the UNLV revenge tour 2009?
SHAMELA HAMPTON: Uhm, that's funny that you mention that. Coach said that once we beat BYU, we have a chance of playing -- getting back at TCU for it.
So I think this is the opportunity for us to show our conference, that we're here to play in a conference. I think you could call it a payback.

Q. When the game got tight, did you start thinking about the two previous games with BYU?
SHAMELA HAMPTON: I thought about it as a senior. I could talk about that. Like we played them, like coach mentioned, close at home. It is kind of -- felt like dÃ©jÃ vu a little bit. I kept my leadership going and made my teammates believe we could win this on our home court. I think my coach could speak on that.
JAMIE SMITH: Actually, I had pretty strong confidence in our team. Especially since Shamela is such a great leader, she would always step up. We always do those team huddles, if you notice, if anything is not going our way. In those team huddles, we have E telling us to come on, one of our top leaders telling us to come on. That's confidence for the rest of the younger players on the team, everybody in general.
I think that her being such a great leader helps when we are going on a down spiral.

Q. You did combined for 20 rebounds in this game. How do you feel you compare with TCU's front court, dominating the way you did against BYU tonight?
SHAMELA HAMPTON: Rebounding, coach put poster boards everywhere, in our locker room, in our lounge, everywhere. She told us that we had to rebound to win games. I think this is the key for us, in the Mountain West Conference, box out and rebound. We have to do the same with TCU tomorrow, rebound, rebound, work hard. I think we'll get a win tomorrow.
THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll dismiss the student-athletes and we'll open it up to questions for Coach Olivier.

Q. Coach, at the last game we asked about the foul situation. This time 30 minutes into the game you only had fouled four times the whole game. Do you feel that was one of your main points of emphasis for this game this time?
COACH OLIVIER: Well, as you heard Shamela, it was about rebounding. We were doing subliminal messages throughout the locker room about rebounding, rebounding, rebounding. So it was more about that.
As far as the foul situation, we did a very good job. We played a lot of zone, which allowed us to be a little more aggressive and not get in as many foul situations.
We just did a very good job. We were extremely focused. They were very, very coachable. We did a great job tonight.

Q. Coach, Hampton's free throws really seemed to be the difference. Was there a different technique? Was she fortunate?
COACH OLIVIER: I thought that was going to be one of the first questions tonight. Again, they were so focused. I mean, in that dressing room, we were in the locker room before the game, you could just tell. They were sitting on the edge of their seats, their eyes were big. We always thought we were good free throw shooters, but with that extra focus, they just got it done. For us to shoot over 80% from the free-throw line, it's a great day to be a Rebel.
Shamela, again, she was not going to be denied. She had a great deal of intensity going.

Q. You mentioned the zone. When you played in Provo, that zone brought you back in the game. Did that show you that's what it took to beat this team?
COACH OLIVIER: Again, we didn't want to send them to the free-throw line. They're a very aggressive team. We thought if we could make them shoot some outside shots and make sure that we rebound, which we again did, then we could play with them.
We just did a great job with the game plan. My staff did a great job preparing 'em. We just brought it home.

Q. Compare the TCU playing style with BYU's playing style and how much of a change you will have to make to the game plan on one day's notice.
COACH OLIVIER: Again, when you're in conference tournament time, you've seen these teams. For a team, when you were asking about preparation, what did you do differently, I mean, it's the end of the year. They're feeling more and more comfortable with the staff, more and more comfortable with each other, more and more confident as we go along.
TCU, did they beat us at their place? Yes. They crushed us at their place. They beat us at home. But it was a close game. We battled. I feel like our team feels like we can compete with anyone. We did that the other day against San Diego State, who is a great team. They're going to get into the NCAA tournament. I think TCU belongs in the tournament, too. They're a great basketball team, too.
If we can come in with the same kind of focus and with that same kind of intensity we did tonight, I think it's going to be a game. I think both teams are going to battle. Both teams are going to come to battle. TCU, great coach. They have some great players. Their point guard does an unbelievable job setting up the rest of the team. We're just gonna have to battle. We'll use some zone, some man, mix it up. I'm sure they'll do the same.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Coach.

End of FastScripts

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