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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2010Elaine ElliottKalee WhippleTaryn WicijowskiLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Utah – 51 (OT) COACH ELLIOTT: Well, I just thought another really great matchup, you know, between us and New Mexico. There's such a history of those kinds of games. It's pretty amazing. You know, I want to say that, you know, I know that it's really hard for any seniors to be done with that last chance to be in the NCAAs. I thought -- I just give a lot of credit, I have a lot of respect for Amy Beggin. I want to be sure, you know, everybody understands the kind of career she's had and how hard we know it is to go out. As far as our kids and this team, I am so proud of who they are, really. It was a grind-it game again. It's so hard for either one of us to score against the other one. And, you know, you just have to sort of make the grind-it, gutty, ugly plays sometimes. Obviously an example is the shooting struggles of Whipple. What does she do, has a career-high rebounding night. That's how you show your character. That's how you show your competitiveness, is you find other ways. They defended well, which kept it close. In the end, you know, just a play or two for us, and we go home happy. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for the student-athletes. Q. Kalee, what happened tonight in terms of your offense? Why did you struggle? Talk about the big three, obviously. KALEE WHIPPLE: I mean, they had great defense. But I think part of it was I felt good. My shot felt fine. I just couldn't get it to go in the basket. But, like I said, New Mexico played great defense. They were covering me all night. The big shot, just felt like one was bound to fall. I was 0-11. I came off that screen and felt open, so just let it go and it went in. Q. Kalee, can you run me through the last play before the end of regulation where you got the rebound, kicked it out to the corner, set up your teammate for that three-pointer. KALEE WHIPPLE: Yeah, I think just like coach said, it comes down to hustle plays. Obviously I wasn't hitting a lot of shots. I knew when that shot went in, we needed a rebound. We were down three. If we don't get a three, we have to make stops. Just got the rebound, was falling out of bounds, saw Janita open at the three, had all the faith in the world she'd hit that shot and she did. Q. Taryn, can you talk about the overtime. Talk about scoring and the inside play, how rough it was. TARYN WICIJOWSKI: Uhm, I think that in overtime I just got some great passes from my teammates, places where I couldn't get double-teamed. So that definitely, I think, was how I was open so often in overtime. And then in the rest of the game, at the beginning, it was just -- I don't know, I just feel really confident with how I'm playing right now, getting up against contact. At the beginning, they weren't falling. Just stayed with it and ended up falling a lot for me. And then, yeah, that's about it. THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student-athletes at this time and open it for questions for Coach Elliott. Q. Coach, you are 8-0, all of them pretty close games. How much do you think it has become a case of mentality on both sides, your girls feeling like they can't lose to New Mexico and New Mexico feeling like they can't get over the hump? COACH ELLIOTT: You know, there's obviously a mental part to that. I mean, I remember when the tables were turned. I mean, they've had their runs over us. I mean, you know, Kim and Shona, Kim Smith, Shona Thorburn, we had such a good team and so did they. They, you know, kept putting it on us for a couple, three years. Kim and Shona never won at the Pit, that kind of thing. These kind of things can be cyclical. I remember when it was the other way around. I knew it was completely mental (laughter). You know, one game, one day, we had them at our place, and they beat us at least three or four in a row. You just knew there was that kind of, you know, stress thing, that worry thing. We didn't practice the day before, we played whiffle ball. There wasn't anything to practice. It was about getting into a different frame of mind. Actually we won that next game. Who knows. It's a crazy sport. Q. Can you talk about your defense. You held them to 27%. Wasn't falling for you, but the defense made a difference. COACH ELLIOTT: Well, there's no doubt that was the only possibility for the win, was defending well. You know, we weren't giving any kind of perimeter support to our paint game, I mean, by quite a bit. You know, the kids got to keep knowing that the shots have to be taken. You know, they did that. A couple of big ones at the end fell. I mean, 8 for 11 as far as New Mexico goes, there's a lot about that that you think you shouldn't survive that game. But we did because it was low scoring. We did because, though we couldn't hit, we got just enough. Q. Talk about the defense of Badon on Amy Beggin. COACH ELLIOTT: Well, you know, Janita is young. Actually, her biggest problems defensively are off ball. She's a better on-ball defender. Sometimes there's a little bit better matchups for her even against somebody's best player if it's a lot of one-on-one defense sometimes. Janita is very quick. She's not big. But if she really concentrates on keeping people in front of her, it's not easy to get past her. So it has been a pretty decent matchup for her. On the last play, their sideouts, when they kicked us so bad on the sideouts, we switched Kalee onto her. You know, we didn't get it done, so... I know, it didn't go to her, but she was the screener. I was really proud of Janita, obviously, because Amy is their heart and soul. She's the kind of player that Kalee is. If she's not their leading scorer, she's their leading leader. The bottom line is everything is going to happen because of her. Q. Talk about TCU, playing them. COACH ELLIOTT: You know, I haven't thought about it yet. I'd like to just take that day tomorrow and concern myself with it then. Just want to enjoy the moment, let the kids enjoy the moment. Nice to have that day in between. So I don't have anything to say yet (laughter). THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach Elliott. COACH ELLIOTT: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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