	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 13, 2009

Angela Hartill

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Utah Â– 56
New Mexico - 55

THE MODERATOR: We're ready to go with the New Mexico Lobos, players Amy Beggin, Angela Hartill, Coach Don Flanagan. Some remarks by you about the game, coach.
COACH FLANAGAN: First of all, congratulations to Utah. Played an excellent game. I thought it was a hard-fought game.
Obviously, we had a lead throughout the game, and it was tough at the end. We needed to execute a little bit better. They got the ball in their best player's hands, and she converted it.
But throughout the game I thought we played well. I'm happy with our effort. I thought we played up throughout the game, defended very well, and just played an outstanding game.
But, again, congratulations to Utah.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open up at this time for questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Amy, can you talk about that last series a little bit. You obviously stepped up to the line with a chance to kind of put them in a real bind, but you played 40 minutes. Was fatigue a factor at all?
AMY BEGGIN: No, it wasn't a factor at all. I stepped up there with confidence, and both of them felt good. I just didn't convert them. They gave it, like coach said, to Warburton, and she converted.
I take all that responsibility on me. I've got to step up there and hit the free throws. I've been in those situations plenty of times before. Just frustrating to know that if I would have hit the free throws, we would have won the game.

Q. Amy, can you just talk about the defensive job you did on Morgan during the game and then just on that last sequence, just how you saw what happened when she made the shot.
AMY BEGGIN: I mean, I just tried to make her work the whole game and make her work for every basket she gets. She's a great player and just try to chase her all around.
They set up a ball screen at the end, and we tried to double it. She just kind of beat us a little bit and put a finger roll in the basket.
It was a nice shot by her.

Q. Angela, just talk about basically the way these three games have gone with this team this year, and even going back to last year. Is it a situation where you guys just really could never feel comfortable with them, even if you have a big lead in the second half?
ANGELA HARTILL: I thought we played well throughout the game. We missed a lot of easy shots. We didn't attack them on offense because they were attacking us. They were drawing the fouls. That's something we weren't doing.
We didn't hit free throws. Yeah, they're a tough team to play just because they're very well-rounded. They have two outstanding guards that are really tough to defend.
I don't know. Just a good game. But unfortunately, we didn't get the win.

Q. Angela, could you just talk about Amy's performance during the course of the game regardless of what happened in the last waning moments.
ANGELA HARTILL: Amy played her heart out. Everybody on our team played their hearts out. I absolutely trust Amy to have the ball at all times during that kind of a situation during the game.
So I don't put the blame on any one person on our team because it's a team effort: we play as a team, we win as a team, and we lose as a team.
Amy did all she could. Everyone did all that they could. That's just what happened.
THE MODERATOR: At this time, we'll dismiss the student-athletes. Thank you, ladies. Now open it up for questions for Coach Flanagan.

Q. Coach, I asked Elaine a similar question. Why does Utah have the gumption? You've had some leads, and they've just been able to take it away from you.
COACH FLANAGAN: They do seem to have a great deal of poise. They have two players that are very difficult to stop. In fact, I don't think anybody really stops them. We're doing our best to stop them, but slow them up a little bit.
But with those two players, they're exceptions, they're first team all-conference. They're not only exceptions on offense, they're pretty good defenders. So we have to help out off on them, creating other players on their team to have opportunities.
I mean, one player had two threes. She's shooting 22% from the three-point line. We've got to play percentages because you've got to help off on Warburton and Whipple.
So they had our number this year. I mean, there's been times when we've had their number. They have great players, and they are well-coached, and they don't make a lot of mistakes.
I thought we played pretty darn well. We just didn't make some shots that normally we could. But I thought it was a great game, a great college game. I thought we played very well. Not unhappy. I would have loved to have won, but at the same time, I'll take that effort. And if we'd played most normal teams, we would have won that game.

Q. Obviously, coach, you can't understand or know what the NCAA is going to do. Do you feel like this is a team that deserves a bid?
COACH FLANAGAN: Yeah. You know, we're 22-10. We have some good wins. We didn't beat Utah. That's unfortunate. I mean, we had three opportunities to beat them, and were in a position to beat them two out of the three. All of them were close.
But I think we are. I think we have the ability to play with NCAA teams. We've got some good wins over DePaul, Nebraska, Texas Tech. I think we're playing well again. I thought there was a period of time where we weren't playing great, but we're playing well again.
If I was on the committee, I'd vote for us. Of course, I'm not on the committee.

Q. Coach, this may not have made a difference in the outcome of the game, but we were curious about that call in front of the Utah bench when they called a foul. Was it a loose ball foul? And why you guys didn't go to the line on that particular case.
COACH FLANAGAN: That's what they called it, was a loose ball foul.

Q. That's not a foul shot?
COACH FLANAGAN: That was not a free throw. I was kind of hoping we didn't get fouled there because then we could have run some time off the clock.
But then it ended up that we did that and they fouled Amy, fouled our best free-throw shooter. You know, Amy had an exceptional game, and that probably gave her too many things to do. She has to play the best player on the floor defensively. She's got to bring the ball up and start our offense. And then she gets 16 points. I think she outscored everybody.
And then she takes it very, very difficult, as she's pretty upset over missing those free throws, and really she's an excellent free-throw shooter.
We had many more opportunities. It wasn't just Amy. We had lots of opportunities. We had layups and other people miss free throws. You know, we didn't defend that well. You know, there's 40 minutes. There's lots of opportunities to score and prevent people from scoring.
So I thought Amy played a great game. It's just that, under a normal circumstances, she hits those two free-throws, but she didn't. And the game's over, and we move on.

Q. Elaine probably won't like me much for saying this. But when you look at it, you say you would have beaten most normal teams in those circumstances. Do you feel that Amy steps to the free-throw line, your best free-throw shooter, how much has luck been an element in these games with Utah?
COACH FLANAGAN: Well, you know, I think there's a little bit of luck in winning games from time to time. But they won the game, and they won the game not through luck, but through execution.
You know, from time to time, you're going to get a lucky bounce in games. I mean, we had a game against Colorado State. Amy shoots a three. It goes straight up in the air and comes straight down through the basket. I don't think I've seen a shot like that.
So sometimes the ball bounces your way. And in a one-point win, ball could bounce anybody's way in a one-point win. It's not necessarily -- I mean, there could be an element of luck in it. But Utah won the game not because of luck, but because of execution. They did a great job.
THE MODERATOR: We'll conclude. Thank you, coach.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297