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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2010

Whitney Zachariason

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Baylor Â– 72
Colorado - 65

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Coach Kim Mulkey and three of her student athletes, we have Whitney Zachariason, Kelli Griffin, Morghan Medlock; and Coach, if you would make a couple of opening comments. No opening comments? We're going to take questions, then, from the student athletes.

Q. Whitney, you got some big minutes tonight and early in the game I heard Coach yell from the bench "shoot the ball" and obviously you did that. Talk about making five 3-pointers.
WHITNEY ZACHARIASON: Our team got me the ball, and if I go in a game I'm probably going to go in to shoot and I was impressed with the way our team came in and played well together.

Q. Whitney, did Coach give you any indication before the game that you were going to come in so early?
WHITNEY ZACHARIASON: I think everybody knew we had to step up pause we had a few people out now and I think everybody on the bench did a great job tonight.

Q. Morghan can you talk about when you have a teammate like Whitney, what it means to the team?
MORGHAN MEDLOCK: Whitney Zachariason's performance was huge tonight. She's been knocking shots down all week and we expected her to do that tonight and she did. I can't praise her enough.

Q. Kelli, you guys went to the full-court press which is something you don't do a lot of but you feel like that was effective in the come-back?
KELLI GRIFFIN: Coach told us to get in and press and we had to gamble to make a run and get back into the game quick and get an early lead, and I think we had a lot of people playing out of position but I think as a team we connected and we did good as a whole and it helped us.

Q. How big was Jordan's shot there at the end, Kelli?
KELLI GRIFFIN: I think it was more exciting than anything, I think she was 0-whatever from the 3-point line. Everybody knew she was going to hit one we just didn't know when. We were excited for her and the team -- it gave us a lot of energy.

Q. Morghan can you talk about their zone, they stayed in it pretty much the whole game, and what that did to you guys offensively?
MORGHAN MEDLOCK: It forced us to penetrate and be more active, we couldn't penetrate. Coach told us to post flash, run low passing, X-cut and we did a great job collectively as a whole in following our game plan.

Q. Whitney, you feel like with the performance like this maybe you're auditioning for more minutes there?
WHITNEY ZACHARIASON: No, I think we have a great team, I'm ready to play whenever I'm needed and I think everybody does a great job off the bench.

Q. Kelli, how big was this game for you guys to get a win without Brittney Griner?
KELLI GRIFFIN: Any win is going to be good, it's hard to be without her but we're not a one-person team, and it will be great to have her back tomorrow.

Q. Kelli, the shooting tonight, does that build confidence for going further into the tournament and be able to knock down shots?
KELLI GRIFFIN: Sure it does, a lot of teams are going to play the zone, so with Whitney knocking down the three's like she did tonight it will open up things inside.
THE MODERATOR: Ladies, we're going to let you go back to the locker room. Congratulations on your win, and we'll see you tomorrow, and Coach Mulkey will take questions.

Q. Kim, you said before if you're ever going to use a full-court press you should do it when the other team doesn't expect it. Did you just need a lift of some kind?
COACH MULKEY: I can't speak for Colorado, but we were in a situation where we were down 8 and we needed to change things and we needed the momentum to swing in our favor. We are very, very young on the perimeter and I thought turn the athletes loose and that's what we did.

Q. Can you talk about Whitney's performance tonight? Sometimes in these tournaments unsung heros come up and she came off the bench and shot all night long.
COACH MULKEY: You go with your gut, and Whitney, that's what she does best, she shoots the perimeter shot. She did what she was recruited to do make open, 3-point shots and I couldn't be happier for a young lady who has sat the bench, has been the last one to go in ball games the majority of the year and yet she is just a great kid and she just never, ever pouts, she never thinks about herself, she thinks about the team, and the article needs to be about Whitney Zachariason.

Q. I asked her but does she get more minutes after a performance like that?
COACH MULKEY: If everybody wants to play us a zone I bet I can find a place for her.

Q. Coach, was it a game time decision to put her in 3 minutes into the game?
COACH MULKEY: Yeah, it was sitin' on that bench and watching us miss shots from the perimeter and I thought "hell, give her a shot," and that's what I did.

Q. When Colorado started taking the lead a lot of it was on the second-chance shots, controlling the rebounds --
COACH MULKEY: They're bigger than we are, Bryce, and we talked about it at halftime. We needed to get a body on them they were getting a lot of second-chance points, and I think it was 10-2 at halftime second-chance points and we talked about them rebounding at all five positions. We're not big with Brittney Griner out of lineup and our guards are 6-foot, 6-1, they needed to help our post players rebound.

Q. Coach, as Kelli said not many had faith in you guys pulling out this win what does it do for confidence now that you're getting Brittney back tomorrow?
COACH MULKEY: I don't know who those people are, they really don't matter to us.

Q. Kim, there was a moment in the game when the shot clock was winding down and the first person on your bench who jumped up and say yelling is Melissa Jones. I wonder if you can talk about how much she can do even though she can't be out on the floor.
COACH MULKEY: Melissa Jones is an epitome of what a student athlete should be. She is a great student, she's a Christian, a good athlete and goes to FCA. She wants to play in the worst way. I've chosen not to play her. There is a bigger picture called the NCAA and if I can get her leg another week's rest that's what we're trying to do.
If we're fortunate enough to play in the championship here that's the beginning of another week and I maybe can get her minutes on a Sunday, but right now I just have to think we're going to be better when she does get healthy at the end of this year and next year because of the minutes these young people have had to play early in their careers.

Q. Kim, Jordan shot 25 feet from the basket how big was that?
COACH MULKEY: Well, you're up 3, were we up 3 at that time and the shot clock was winding down and that was way outside the men's 3-point line and it's one of those shots where she had to take it. Jordan has done some of that this year. She might miss four or five that she takes and then shell hit a big shot for ya. She was left wide open and it was a big shot, and I'm happy for that kid, she is coming off an MCL sprain and she is an athlete and she was part of that run. When we were pressing in the back court she knocked the ball away if a girl when she beat her off the dribble, she was trying to do anything to help her team win.

Q. Coach, what do you think of the students and all the fans who made it out to Kansas City?
COACH MULKEY: I thought it was awesome. Our Baylor fans love us, and our men's game is going on. Can you imagine if they didn't have to split up how many would have been here tonight? They appreciate the effort that these kids put on the floor every day and had he love every one of them even when they're at their lowest moment.

Q. Coach you got to play Oklahoma tomorrow, you've played twice this year and it's always a good match-up.
COACH MULKEY: It will be another good match-up and the advantage is they got to sit today and the disadvantage is we used quite a lot of energy tonight and it will be another game that I don't anticipate to be any different than the first two. The only difference is Brittney Griner will be back.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much, congratulations, we'll see you tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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