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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS & FINALS: OKLAHOMA CITYMarch 29, 2009Lakisha FreemanJodie HowellSharon VersypLindsay Wisdom-HyltonOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA Purdue – 67 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Purdue coach, Coach Versyp. COACH VERSYP: It was a game of runs, and Rutgers had been playing such great basketball and had balanced scoring and they were never going to be out of the game no matter if we were ahead by 20 or 30. We tried to keep that sense of urgency and our players stepped up. The rebounding for us was a big key and Rutgers gave us everything at the end, going one-on-one to the hole and they were able to knock down some key shots and we were able to knock some key shots down. FahKara and Danielle both knocked down shots, and our players stayed composed, and I think there was a big reason we were able to be successful tonight. Q. Lindsay, you've had games this year where you've had second half leads and let them slip away and ended up in a loss. What do you think was different today? LINDSAY WISDOM-HYLTON: I think learning from those experiences and those losses helped us get to where we are today, and I think we gutted it out. And when we were only up with 2 with a minute or two left, I think if this was three, four, five months ago, maybe we would have let it slip, but tonight we were able to battle through and come out on top. Q. Do you feel like throughout the game you guys were able to sustain your offense for longer periods than Rutgers? LAKISHA FREEMAN: Yes, I do feel like that. We had that inside/outside game which was tough for them to guard. Q. Lindsay, can you talk about that shot that FahKara hit? It's probably not often that you have seen her hit the fade-away shot. LINDSAY WISDOM-HYLTON: It's tournament time, anything can happen. We had a couple of buzzer beater shot clock shots, and when you're feeling it, you are hot and she had some key buckets down the stretch. And we're playing well as a team right now and anything can happen. Q. Lindsay, how important was it to get Jodie going today offensively? LINDSAY WISDOM-HYLTON: Jodie is awesome. She's playing so hard for us right now and she is getting those outside shots for us, and she is attacking the basket. And she did a great job with that today and her offensive and defensive play has stepped up for us today. Q. Lindsay, I read where Coach said that you guys were not stressed, not pressured, everybody has maybe overlooked you. How does this feel now to get to the regional final and how much is it where you guys are relaxed and playing and not under any pressure? LINDSAY WISDOM-HYLTON: I think that's when we play our best basketball, when we are relaxed and not tense and not worrying about things. We had nothing to lose here, so we had to go out and play our hearts out. And whoever plays the best wins the game, and we're playing our best basketball right now. Q. Lakisha, any nervousness at all when they kept closing the gap? LAKISHA FREEMAN: No, there was not. As Lindsay said, we learned from our experiences. A while ago the team probably would have got the win, but we're learning and today we were staying tough and we were able to knock down some key shots. Q. Jodie, being in the Elite 8, a lot of you players have been here in this situation before. Talk about being back in this spot. JODIE HOWELL: We're excited right now, we're probably going to enjoy this tonight and get back to business tomorrow. But it's a great feeling to be here. Q. Lakisha, three straight games now you guys have been shooting the ball well. Everyone says you want to peak at tournament time, are you guys doing that? LAKISHA FREEMAN: Yes, we have those who are starting the game and everyone is scoring well, as well as everyone that's coming off the bench, and everyone is scoring and playing great for this team right now and it's great. THE MODERATOR: Ladies, we'll see you back here tomorrow. Q. Coach, a lot will be made about your shooting percentage tonight. Talk defensively what you guys were able to do to take them out of rhythm there for the first 30 minutes or so of the game. COACH VERSYP: We started out in our one defense and we didn't look very good there briefly, so being able to make some adjustments, you know, because of how they set up, really working the deep corners. But I think the changes when we went man-to-man and they didn't score for 5 or 6 minutes and then we got into foul trouble, but our kids sustained it and were able to knock down shots. But our defense has been our bread and butter the whole time. I think that's been the key because we hope you shoot 50% or 60%, but that's not going to happen all the time. That will always be a key to our success. Q. Do they seem to have a different look about them? COACH VERSYP: We just have a lot of confidence right now. Every time-out, we say we're not going to let this slip away, every player on the bench. And it's a mind-set right now, everybody is physically gifted, everybody is playing great basketball when they get to that point. And right now it's mental toughness. We talked about that mental toughness early on and now we have it. That's when you want it to come out is in February and early March. Q. Your bench didn't give you necessarily a bunch of points, but I thought they gave you critical minutes, Guyton especially in the first half. Can you talk about that. COACH VERSYP: We need to be physical down low, Kia Vaughn is very, very strong and we have respect for her. When Danielle got into foul trouble, Natasha gave us great minutes. And Alex was able to bang because she is so physical and being able to knock down that shot and calling the play for her, it builds her confidence. And I think we brought our freshmen along well, but now they're understanding things more and it's not always about offense. Q. Coach, the shot at the shot clock there at the end, what was that? COACH VERSYP: That was a player making a play, they took us out of what we wanted to run, they did a great job. But at this point, sometimes the stars align right, there has to be some luck in this, and as soon as it released from FahKara's hand, I knew it was in. She stepped up big for us, she controlled the tempo, played amazing defense. Our biggest concern was her boxing somebody out, but that was huge. She was the one in the huddle saying "this is our game, this is our game," and she's that leader for us. Q. You talk about your defense playing, again, you've been shooting 50% the last couple of games and beaten two pretty good teams. Does the defense set up that offense or offense is a nice by-product? COACH VERSYP: For us, our defense always sets up our offense, but when you knock down a big shot, you don't have tired legs on defense. And I think when Jodie Howell knocks down 3 for her teammates, everybody gets the energy. It takes the pressure off, but everybody is talking about our shooting, but we almost lost the game on free-throws, so obviously that will be a point of emphasis, which it always has been. But these kids are enjoying it, they're enjoying the moments. We have talked about you can't get these moments back. Q. When Rutgers started making that run at the end and pulled within 2, was there any nervousness? Did you feel like they were playing the basketball you'd seen? COACH VERSYP: Rutgers or us? Both? Rutgers totally isolated and went one-on-one. They have phenomenal players and we were able to take it down low and play off the dribble, and we ended up going into a defense that slowed them down with the key rebound we got, but we've handled that before, we've learned from it. We've had a heart breaker when we played against Ohio State, and we're not going to try to allow that to happen again, so our memories went back to us. THE MODERATOR: All right, Coach, congratulations, we'll see you tomorrow. End of FastScripts |
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