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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2010Sharon Fanning-OtisMary Kathryn GoveroTysheka GrimesDULUTH, GEORGIA Mississippi State – 67 THE MODERATOR: Joining us from Mississippi State, head Coach Fanning-Otis and student-athletes. We'll take an opening comment from coach and then we'll take questions. Coach. COACH FANNING-OTIS: Second half, you know, at halftime we talked about taking better care of the ball, assist/turnover, just the fundamentals of the game. I felt like we did a better job. I know they out-rebounded us by one. We had to get boards. We had to block out. Five people in double figures and then 53% in the second half. That's a huge stat for us. Free throws, neither team took a lot. But connecting on just about every one you took is so very important. So I feel like those areas, those stats are very important to us. There were some key buckets and key plays. Might have been a defensive stand, it may have been Diamber Johnson taking a charge, it may have been Rack's three; it may have been M. Kat's jump in the corner; it may have been Ty hitting a bucket, going to the hole. Could have been any one of them. With those statements being made, you can say this was such a team effort for us. We were able to change defenses a little bit. They do a good job changing on you, play so hard. But we found a way to win. It was a great team effort. We had some foul situations. Shot clock is going down. We just had some big plays. Very, very pleased with this team win. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Does this victory kind of epitomize the connected toughness that you guys have been striving to get back? COACH FANNING-OTIS: We're headed in the right direction with this. You know, there were a lot of opportunities for a team to defer it or if there's a, you know, a missed shot or a transition bucket in the first half, foul trouble, different people in the lineup. In the second half when Ty had her foul, her fourth foul. But, you know, we just found a way. Found a way to stay together. That toughness, that connected toughness, I think that it is reflected in this basketball game. I think that as we look to the next basketball game, you know, Kentucky is a team that is very tough, and they continue to play. So this is gonna be an important, you know, element in each and every game. We knew that coming into this tournament. Whoever it is you're playing, this is a whole new season. You're going to have to play as hard as we played. You're going to have to have a passion for it. You're going to have to leave it on the floor. If we do that, as we came into this tournament, anybody can win it. It has to be the team that's more determined and makes the play at the right time, and that's what we were able to do in this basketball game. Q. Y'all shot a lot better in the second half than the first half. What was different? COACH FANNING-OTIS: We just drew it up a little bit different (laughter). No, we just encouraged the young ladies that you have to believe in yourself. You have to believe in yourself individually, collectively. You have to trust each other. You have to keep taking great shots. That's just something you have to believe yourself. You have to expect it to go in. So we emphasized extra passes. We emphasized touches in the paint get the ball moving, inside, outside. There were some good screens set. They took great shots. I think if you continue to take great shots, they're going to fall. You'll get the numbers you need. I think that success breeds success. Once a couple fall, it becomes easier, and it becomes easier for everybody else. Q. For the players, there was a point around 13 minutes left when Chanel had an offensive rebound to give you guys the lead for good. From my perspective, tell me if I'm wrong or tell me if you sensed it, it just seemed like the light went on and you guys started to really play more together, you hit a lot of really big shots, made the extra pass, and from there on you just kind of got rolling. Did you feel that at that point? MARY KATHRYN GOVERO: Yeah, there was definitely a turning point in the game whenever we were getting defensive stops. We were knocking down some shots which gave us a lot of momentum and confidence to keep hitting shots. Like she said, success breeds success. I think we all kind of felt the turning point in the game where we just put our foot on the gas pedal and didn't want to look back. TYSHEKA GRIMES: I have to beg to differ, because I believe that we came out with that intensity. I believe that we set our minds to it, you know, to come out and to execute and block out and rebound offensively, stop them defensively. We just came out with that mindset. I think we were prepared to do it and we did it. Q. How much do you talk about the opportunity to do something in this tournament that Mississippi State has not done before? MARY KATHRYN GOVERO: We don't necessarily talk about what Mississippi State hasn't done before; we just talk about what our goals as a team have been all season and how we can't look in the past. There were some games this year that we didn't play so well. We just decided that this is going to be when we're going to play Mississippi State basketball, how we know that we can play, and that we're going to come in and play as hard as we can every game, have no regrets, try to reach the goals we set for ourselves this season, which include hopefully winning the championship this weekend. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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