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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2010Ashley GayleGail GoestenkorsKathleen NashKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Texas Longhorns – 64 COACH GOESTENKORS: I feel that's what we did today, it was a struggle, I thought we started off well, got up 10 and then we lost our focus a little bit and turn the ball over, and gave them new life. I thought they did a tremendous job, Amanda Hanneman in particular, I had been going through her stats and she missed her last 253's in away games, and I was hoping she would feel like this was an away game. But she didn't, she felt like it was a home game and she shot the ball well for them and they kept fightin', and I would expect nothing less of a Cindy Stein team, she is a tremendous coach, they've lost a lot of tough close games but she's always had 'em -- they've always fought and as long as your team gives everything you have you're happy and you've done a great job, and I think she did a great job. THE MODERATOR: Questions for your student athletes? Q. Gail, you touched it on this, this is your worst fear -- THE MODERATOR: Student athletes first, please. Q. Was this your guys worst fear that this team would come out here with nothing to lose, their coach leaving? They played better than the last time you saw 'em. KATHLEEN NASH: We knew they were going to play hard, I would say we didn't come in here ready enough and we were happy to be away with a win. ASHLEY GAYLE: I think we started the game off well and we got a 10-point lead and they started to come back and kept fighting. We were down halftime and we knew that we had to come back out and put it all out there because this could be our last game, too. Q. Kathleen, is it hard to not look at what you've done against a team like Mississippi before and bring that into the game tonight? You guys talked about being comfortable, did that play into knowing that you guys had won previously? KATHLEEN NASH: When we played them at home we didn't handle them that easily, we played 'em pretty tight during some of the games and we knew we needed to come out here and play. Q. Ashley, could you talk about the setting the school block record and the defense today? ASHLEY GAYLE: Well, Coach, before the game started she talked about how everybody has a role on this team and how playing for this team is made of 10 pieces and everybody has their role and one of my biggest roles on this team is defense and shot blocking and that was part of my job and I went out there and tried to go 100%. Q. Kathleen, when you look at the box score, Brittainey had 11 and then you have three players with 9, everybody who played scored. Is that when you guys think you're at your best when you have that kind of attack? KATHLEEN NASH: When we move the ball around and everybody gets a chance to score, for sure. Like you said, we were even in the box score and that shows we have a lot of talent on our team and it's tough for other teams to guard that many players when they can't just key on one. Q. I want to follow up on Michelle's question. Talk about the challenge of having to play out of day one, the possibility of having four games in four days and what having that kind of depth gives you an advantage to get through long weekends if it comes to that. KATHLEEN NASH: I think we're lucky on our team because we know that we can go in there and play hard and we can get a sub, it's not like we're having to rest ourselves the whole game because we know we're going to be playing forty minutes, we know there is somebody that can come in and play right behind us. I think that will definitely help and carry over in the four games. ASHLEY GAYLE: In the Virgin Islands we played three games in three days, so this isn't new to us and I think we're prepared and we've done a tournament like this before so we know we have to play hard every day and know that we have enough on the bench to get a breather during the game. Q. Just about the match-up with Texas A&M, you guys have had tough battles with them this season. KATHLEEN NASH: They're a great program and they have a lot of great players and every time we play 'em it's a game and it's a rivalry between us. I think we've started a new season coming to the tournament and we've got to go out there and play hard. THE MODERATOR: We're going to let the student athletes go back to the locker room and now we'll take questions for Coach Gail Goestenkors. Q. Gail you're misty eyed, does it have something to do with Cindy? COACH GOESTENKORS: I have a cold! I feel for Cindy, I really do. Like I said she's a good friend and a great coach and I know there are good things out there for her. I hated that this was her last game. Q. You shut Hanneman down and didn't get her get opportunities, what were you trying to do? COACH GOESTENKORS: Shut her down and try not to let her -- (Chuckles.) We had been switching on screens most of the game and they were doing a great job of taking advantage of that and we stopped switching and I put Yvonne Anderson on her, and I said do not let her get anymore three's, there is no excuse. So sometimes when you switch it allows players to say I didn't think I had her but when you know who you've got, and I thought Yvonne Anderson let her get one three. She got hung up on a screen, but other than that I thought she did a nice job. Q. Gail, understanding the situation with Cindy, did you discuss with your team the emotion they might be feeling? COACH GOESTENKORS: Yeah, I said they're going to play for their coach and it's going to be a war, and I wanted my players to understand it wasn't going to be easy, it was not going to be anything, I didn't think, similar to the game we had in Austin earlier. Q. Coach, it seems like Texas A&M has been the one team that's been consistently a challenge for you, other than the fact that they're obviously a good team is there something about them that's made it particularly difficult? COACH GOESTENKORS: Yeah, I think it's their athleticism and their physical style of play, they take you out of your sets. If you don't handle the physical style of play well, if you get frustrated then it's to their advantage and in the past we've let it frustrate us and we've turned the ball over and if you turn it over they're a great transition team so I think first and foremost you've got to handle their pressure and their physicality and take care of the ball. Q. Coach, when you said surpassed a thousand career points today, can you talk about that? COACH GOESTENKORS: I've always said Earnesia Williams is our warrior, and she was again tonight. She hit a big bucket down the stretch and caused a travel for them when they needed a bucket so two great plays on offense and one on defense when we needed it. That's what seniors do, especially fifth year seniors and I'm happy she decided to come back and play because I want her to end on a great note and she deserves that for everything she's given this program. Q. Gail, can you talk about Yvonne's development as a player. You mentioned how well she did on defense, on Amanda she was penetrating and getting to the free-throw line and contributing in a lot of ways. COACH GOESTENKORS: Yvonne has come so far, she is starting to play her best basketball for us the last couple of games which is important heading into tournament time, she gets tough mentality she gets from her dad and she loves to play defense. We went to the free-throw line one time in the first half, can to me shows that we're not being aggressive and in the second half she was determined to be aggressive and she had that attack mind-set we needed and got to the free-throw line. Q. On A&M, you talk about their physicalness, I guess the only way deal with that is to be physical yourself and what are you anticipating for tomorrow and how annoying is it that they have y'all's number like they have had? COACH GOESTENKORS: We will have to be physical but in the right way, if you're not used to playing that style and you try to play physical you get called for fouls because it's not normally what you do. We've got to take the physical play and get some backdoor penetration and cuts and so forth, and it's frustrating and to know that these seniors haven't beaten them I want to come way with a win for those seniors. They've given so much to this program and I want them to come away with a win. Q. Gail, that game in College Station was odd, I don't remember too many times I've seen a situation in the game where it's stopped and do you think that disrupted that game and sort of changed the flow of it in a lot of ways? COACH GOESTENKORS: I would like to say that it did, but it didn't. I can't really say that. We started off really well, I thought we played a nice game for the most part but down the stretch, they put a little press on us and we did not respond well to it and turned the ball over. That gave them some momentum so they had the momentum going into that -- whatever that was, that call, that play, the delay. That did not really affect us. We had already been affected. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much, congratulations on the win, we'll see you tomorrow. End of FastScripts |
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