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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS & FINALS: KANSAS CITY

March 28, 2010

Lindsay Schrader

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Oklahoma Â– 77
Notre Dame - 72

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Coach Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame. Your thoughts on tonight's game.
COACH McGRAW: I thought Lindsay Schrader and Melissa Lechlitner played great. They didn't want their season to end. I thought they did everything they could do offensively to help us win the game. I thought they beat us from the three-point line.
I thought Stevenson, she really played well, five for eight from the three-point line including the game winner. That was someone we were really, really trying to guard and just lost her for a second on a number of occasions, and that was the difference in the game. I thought they rebounded really well, too. We didn't do a good job on the boards, and our bench, which has been our strength all year long, just gave us nothing tonight.

Q. Lindsay, can you talk about your night offensively?
LINDSAY SCHRADER: Well, if I was going to go down, I was going to go down swinging. I always told myself that I had to attack the basket, and I sure did tonight. I should have done that all year. I don't know why I was kind of holding out. Yeah, I wanted to score. I didn't want to lose, and it just kind of took over me. But I left it all out there.
You know, people look around and see I'm not upset, but there's nothing else I could have done. That's just the way you've got to do it.

Q. Can you talk about Oklahoma's inside game and the problems that Olajuwon caused?
LINDSAY SCHRADER: Yeah, well, we were really, really focusing on Stevenson and her three-point abilities. So that left her wide open sometimes in the post area, and she's strong. She's a great player.

Q. Melissa, what was it about the mid-range jumper that was working today? I mean, when did you feel that comfortable with it and just stay with it?
MELISSA LECHLITNER: Well, the screens that Lindsay and our post players were setting were really opening a lot up for me. So right from the getgo, the very beginning of the game, my first one fell and so I just kept attacking and using their really good screens after that.

Q. Can you talk about you guys were down I think six points with about two and a half minutes, 2:40. Can you talk about how you guys regrouped and attacked and put it into overtime?
LINDSAY SCHRADER: Yeah, we decided to rebound a little bit and get some defensive stops, and we came down and had a couple of really good offensive plays, and Skylar hit that big three and sent it into overtime. We just kind of dug down a little bit.

Q. Melissa, can you talk a little bit about the legacy of this senior class?
MELISSA LECHLITNER: Yeah, such a great four years we had here. You know, it's been fun representing this University, and I wish we could have went a little further.

Q. Lindsay, Coach has already said that on a couple of occasions you guys just lost track of Stevenson. Were you surprised that she attempted the three in a tie game that late in that situation?
LINDSAY SCHRADER: No, I'm not surprised that she shot it. I got over there as fast as I could, and she let it fly. She was hitting them all game. I guess that was my fault. I should have been more conscious of where she was.
THE MODERATOR: Ladies, we're going to let you return to your locker room. We'll take questions for Coach now.

Q. Coach, can you talk about what you had planned for the final 4.4 seconds and how that all unveiled?
COACH McGRAW: Yeah, it was a play we've worked on quite a bit, but you know, it obviously went awry. Schrader was going to throw it to Skylar for three, but probably in hindsight should have just given it to Skylar right at half court and let her dribble it down. She probably would have made it because she's that kind of player. Yeah, it was obviously four seconds, you're going with your late game play that you've worked on all year long. We didn't -- the pass was a little off, and they defended it well.

Q. Can you talk about the comeback from six down with 2:40 left and talk about Skylar's three-pointer?
COACH McGRAW: Yeah, that was huge. We ran the same play that we got Barlow the three for in the Syracuse game, and she responded well. She hadn't been shooting that particularly well all game, but she has the kind of confidence that I thought she could make it.
Erica did a good job of screening for her to get her that last three. Lech did a nice job getting inside the lane to get the three-point play. It was only two possessions, we got back to back, three points for each, and were able to get a stop in between, which was the real key for the whole run.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Jasmine Hartman's defense on Skylar tonight?
COACH McGRAW: I thought that Skylar got a lot of lay-ups in the first half that didn't go in for her, and I think it probably frustrated her a little bit. You know, and then we went into Schrader for a good deal of the time in the second half. She was able to hit the three, got a couple in transition, but I think we probably didn't get her the ball enough to really let her do what she can do.

Q. Just because of injuries and other situations, you guys have really been kind of up against the 8 ball with size this year having to play such a heavy guard lineup. Was this a game where that kind of caught up to you in some way because of the way Olajuwon played and Amanda Thompson?
COACH McGRAW: I thought Olajuwon played really well, and I was disappointed in our post that we didn't do a better job on her. We worked on some different things. We were trying to double-team her, and she got some offensive rebound putbacks and just some easy, easy baskets off of penetration when we didn't drop in.
I was really disappointed in the defense we did on her. She played very well, and I mean, seven offensive rebounds. That's almost as many as our whole team had. She did a great job hanging on that weak side block and waiting for her opportunities and she used her size. I thought Erica Williamson might be able to defend her a little bit better. I thought Becca could be a little more quicker and Deb maybe could block a shot, but really we were 0 for 3 in guarding her. She just really outplayed us.

Q. From inside and outside tonight, was there one of those areas that was more of a concern to you going into the game?
COACH McGRAW: No. I think we were worried about both. We played about half man, half zone. I thought they hit some shots on both. They got it inside a little easier I thought against the man-to-man, but she hit a couple threes on the man-to-man, as well. You know, we had a really good plan, I thought, going in, and you know, we didn't get to the double-team as we had kind of worked on, so that was a little disappointing that we weren't able to get down and double her.

Q. This was the second time you've played Oklahoma this year. Did you see in any adjustments they made from the first time?
COACH McGRAW: I thought Olajuwon played a lot better. She just played better. I thought Stevenson made more shots. Otherwise I thought we did a pretty good job on Robinson. I thought Skylar's defense was really outstanding on Robinson. I thought she kept her in check, did a great job on her.
But their inside game I thought -- really just Olajuwon, I thought she really, really played well. We did a decent job on Thompson. So I thought Olajuwon and Stevenson both really stepped up for them.

Q. I wonder if you could sort of just reflect on the season that Skylar has had. It seems like she's been everything you could have wanted this season.
COACH McGRAW: She really was. Right from the getgo, she was MVP of the Paradise Jam. She's been our leading scorer all year long. She's been a close second in assists, leads us in steals. She'll occasionally be the leading rebounder if that's what we need her to do. She's our best on-the-ball defender. She had a sensational year. She really wanted the ball late in the game, and I was disappointed that we didn't get it to her a little bit more because she's such a game player. She's so competitive. She just wants to win, and just really -- she had a great year.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, congratulations on a great season.

End of FastScripts

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