|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2010Hillary CarlsonJoe LegerskiAubrey VandiverLAS VEGAS, NEVADA San Diego State – 60 THE MODERATOR: We have Wyoming head coach Legerski and student-athletes. We'll start by taking an opening comment from Coach Legerski about the game tonight. COACH LEGERSKI: Well, I think what we witnessed tonight was a tremendous basketball game. Both teams came out and competed for 40 minutes. Every possession mattered. I thought at times San Diego State stepped up probably in the last three and a half minutes, made some big stops. We had our chances. With the experience of competing against San Diego State, I think it's a basketball game we'll learn from. It felt like playing the No. 1 seed out there. I think San Diego State creates so many problems for you on the perimeter, on the inside. I'm just so proud of my team that, you know, we got off to a shaky start and then we came back and closed down the half down, too, still had a chance with a possession about three and a half minutes to go. I thought Hillary Carlson was just huge tonight. Literally kept us in the basketball game. Had 17 at half, 25 total, 8 offensive rebounds, played 39 minutes. I tried to give her a break. But yet when she's carrying the load tonight, it was very important to keep her in the basketball game. I thought the heart showed tonight, Aubrey Vandiver had eight rebounds offensively. It gave us an opportunity when you're shooting 22%, a credit to San Diego State's defense, yet we just kept fighting and finding ways to just stay in the basketball game. THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll take questions for the student-athletes. Q. Hillary, what was in your mind the last stretch? You took the lead, then couldn't score till the final seconds. Did they do anything in particular? HILLARY CARLSON: I don't know. Around that time I think we had our opportunities. I had a couple free throws ahead of me. They didn't go in. Kristen had an open three that just didn't go in. Uhm, I don't know. The defense, you know, they always make it tough. Those were the shots that we needed to, uhm, you know, make the play, stay in the game. They just didn't go in for us. Credit to San Diego State for playing good D. Q. Aubrey, Hillary shouldered most of the load tonight. Was it just a case where the shots weren't falling for some of you other guys out there? AUBREY VANDIVER: Yeah. But they weren't falling. I think we got good looks at the basket. For me and Emma, a couple of other people, our shots just weren't falling. I don't think we took bad shots necessarily. They weren't going in. Hill stepped in and helped out a lot. Q. Such a big game like this. You want to win. What does that say to you, what you were able to do? This was one of your biggest games on a big stage. Does that mean anything to you at this point? HILLARY CARLSON: Uhm, it does mean a lot. But at the end we still lost the game. That means more, you know. Uhm, I guess I just know in the future I can try to step up in a similar situation and, you know, play as good, make the plays. But, uhm, we still lost. So I wish we would have won, you know, but... Q. The résumé looks a little bit better than last year. What do you do between now and Monday to make sure you're not a nervous wreck? COACH LEGERSKI: You know, I'll answer that one. I talked to this group. I think they're deserving of a post-season bid. But we're not on the committee to make that decision. Résumé at 19-11, as I told them, I've been doing this a very short time frame, seven years, and this is one of the best groups I've been associated with. They put up big numbers; 19 wins is an amazing season. So hopefully we have a chance still to play. But I'm not gonna lose sleep over it or worry about it. That decision will be made by somebody else. As I tell them, we only worry about what we can control, and that was competing tonight, and I thought we did a great job with that. THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student-athletes and continue with questions for Coach Legerski. Q. You've seen Hillary put up big numbers before. How big was it for her to do it on a stage like this? COACH LEGERSKI: Well, we talked that it always is, you know, a team effort. But without Hillary tonight, this game, we don't have a chance in the last three minutes. I thought she just shouldered this group, not only scoring-wise but also with her ability to go give second chances. You look at these numbers, 25, 18, 39 minutes for a post player to play in a very physical contest. She really demonstrated the caliber of player that she is and that's she's only getting better. I'm happy I have her back for another season. But it was just an individually tremendous effort by a young person. Q. Could a game like this be a springboard to bigger things for her as post-season comes along? COACH LEGERSKI: I think what this game does is, you heard Hillary, she's disappointed. I think she'd trade up quite a few of those points for a victory. That is probably what makes her such a tremendous player. She's a team player. Hopefully she understands that she can go out and make a game of this each and every night, and just put everything on the line. But yet I'm gonna keep Hillary Carlson. Q. Does this feel a little bit like déjàvu, close games where you needed somebody to step up at the end, the supporting cast, the shots weren't falling? Talk about the looks. Aubrey said you feel they got good looks. COACH LEGERSKI: Yeah, I take a look at it. We talked coming into this. Post-season play, Mountain West Conference tournament, everybody has to step up. Everybody has to make big plays. You know, unfortunately we did not have shots go down at times from players that baskets have been going. But I take a look at it. We get 23 offensive rebounds. They were working at it. They were working extremely hard to stay into this basketball game. I still give a great deal of credit to San Diego State. Very talented, very experienced. It was a contest all the way to the end. Q. And do you feel like your team should be in. Do you think it will be in the WNIT? COACH LEGERSKI: I have no idea to be honest with you. We can only do the amount on the court. Yesterday's victory was big to get us to 19. We just keep trying to plug away. There's so many good teams out there. I feel like this team is probably one of the best, 128 in the country. That's how many teams are going to be in post-season play. But yet we're going to go home and take a few days off and get back into school, then we wait and see what happens. And if it does, we'll get right back after it and be ready to play. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH LEGERSKI: Appreciate it. Thank everybody for the whole season. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|