|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 3, 2011Alyssa KarelLisa StoneLin ZastrowINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Illinois – 63 THE MODERATOR: Opening statement. COACH STONE: It's a somber locker room. Very disappointed in our play today. Give Illinois a lot of credit. They came out and were on fire right away. Made pretty much all their shots in the first ten possessions. We couldn't get a stop. And we didn't establish a real good offensive goal in the first half. Our team responded well in the second half. Got in a little foul trouble, but I thought Lin really started to take care of the paint inside and Alyssa really started to show up. So these two young ladies really did pretty much everything they could in the second half to get us back in the game, and within three. Couple costly turnovers here and there. But, again, every time we got close enough, Illinois answered. But it's tough right now. It's a tough loss. This is a team that was optimistic about making a deep run in this tournament and given a chance at the bigger dance in a couple of weeks. It's an awfully special senior class and I'm convinced we're not quite done playing yet. But it's hard to visualize much than what just happened in the game. It's a tough loss. We were not as sharp as we need to be by any stretch of the imagination. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players. Q. Alyssa and Lin, obviously a loss is never anything pleasant. What does this particular game mean to you as you move into your futures? ALYSSA KAREL: I think we just weren't ready to come out and play. Came out, they got a big lead on us, and we didn't respond. So it might have something to say about our preparation and our mentality coming into the game. We gotta be ready. LIN ZASTROW: You never want to end your season like this, but like Coach Stone said in the locker room this doesn't define the season. It didn't go the way we wanted. But hopefully we still have some more games to play and finish out strong there. Q. Alyssa, how tough is it when you're in the hole to, I guess, stay positive and get back in the game? ALYSSA KAREL: It's really tough. We've done it before this year where we've gotten ourselves in a hole. And we keep inching back. And it's really tough to get yourself out of that. You start the second half down 12. It's not easy. And we had a few tries and unfortunately couldn't come up with it. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Can you talk about what worked for you tonight and what didn't? COACH STONE: Not a lot worked in the first half. Offensively or defensively. Let's just talk strictly defensively in the first half. Illinois is known to be a team off the bounce and in the inside and a lot of drives. And they came out and we start, we double-teamed early. And they found the open person. Moore, Rukavina, and they found some shooters, and they knocked shots down, and that's been something they've not been real successful with in the past but they were this time. We came out of the double and we went to -- we call it choking in the down dribble, and that seemed to work better in terms of keeping the ball out of the paint. But they got some offensive rebound put-backs. We lost our vision defensively and Centrese McGee cut in front of us on the front side a number of times. And that affected us on the other -- on the offensive end. We tried to establish an inside game, and we couldn't pose our will very well in the first half. Thought we did a better job in the second half. Look at the points in the paint, there's a margin in the second half. But it took us a while to figure that out. Then perimeter shooting from our other guards. We couldn't get Taylor Wurtz going. Jade Davis found one late. I thought Alyssa Karel did pretty much everything possible she could to will this team to win. Ashley Thomas gave us good energy defensively. Cassie Rochel, a freshman, did okay in the first half but got in some foul trouble. And I thought Anya Covington was filling in for Tara Steinbauer, did a nice job, got a little winded down the stretch and in some foul trouble, but did a nice job. On ball screens with them, too, we were trying to again force them to take outside shots, and they knocked those outside shots down. We had to adjust. Give Illinois a lot of credit. They came in with knowing that the only way they're going anywhere is to win the game and get to the championship. And they've been in a lot of games. You look at their Iowa game as of recent. They just beat Michigan at home -- or lost to Michigan, 3-point shot at the end of the game. Or layup actually and a foul. So they're a good team. I'll take nothing away from them. They played better. They had a lot more energy. And they jumped on us early and we couldn't respond. Q. Can you talk about especially late in the second half the team started catching on fire? Did anything in particular lead to that? COACH STONE: Well, I think once -- well, first, Ashley Thomas's defensive energy and ability to rotate Lin and Anya off of Penn. When we scored, they answered. They never let us take the lead. We were going many games for the media and we couldn't get over the hump. But it wasn't without effort. Our kids, I thought they played really hard in the second half to try to get back. But that first half, that first eight minutes of the game was too much to overcome. Q. And you controlled Penn basically tonight but some of the other Illinois players stepped it up? COACH STONE: I think that's what they've been looking for all year long. I think GodBold wasn't playing very well, didn't score a lot, but it's just a tough matchup for us. Lydia McCully had her way in there. She played very well shooting the ball outside. She had her hands full guarding Lin and did a good job in the first half. We couldn't get our post players going in the first half. And Centrese McGee, might have been one of her best games of the year. Really good freshman player. She's very quick. She's a ball-getter and is very active on the weak side of the floor, and we kept missing her. Q. And what's next? Now you have to wait almost two weeks for postseason. COACH STONE: That's the tough part, it really is. There's a lot of reflection time right now and we'll head home. It's an early out. It's a sour taste in our stomach. There's no question. We're disappointed with today. In many ways we're embarrassed by our defense, but, again, I want to make sure it's clear I take nothing away from Illinois. They played well. We just didn't play with the type of intensity that we needed. And, you know, it's a woulda-coulda-shoulda deal, and unfortunately you can't blame it on that. You gotta get it done within the 40 minutes, and we did not. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports g Minnesota to 25 percent shooting, forcing 17 turnovers? COACH MCKEOWN: Jaeschke I thought did a tremendous job on Loberg, who really hurt us, especially in the game when they beat us at Minnesota. And I thought we didn't do a very good job at defending Antoine. We let her loose at the free-throw line. But Buford, who I think is the one of the best players in the league, we got to her and made her have to work for everything and she had a rough night. Q. Can you talk about the emotion your team was able to put forth at the end of the game with Jaeschke and Orban getting those huge 3-point plays? What do you think that did for you guys and how proud were you of your team for being able to continue the emotion until the very end? COACH MCKEOWN: I thought that's the best -- I have to go back in my head, but one of the best finishes we had all year, the last three minutes, the way we were shaky and we just finished. And didn't turn it over, made free throws, got her the ball inside, Brittany got an and one, Amy got an and one. I thought we showed a lot of poise in the last three minutes, and that's what you have to do this time of year. Q. You mentioned your players are obviously excited. You can see that. How difficult a challenge is it for you to kind of, you know, let them celebrate now but remind them that tomorrow you've got another big game coming up? COACH MCKEOWN: Well, you know, we talked before the game. Sometimes when you coach a long time, you try to keep an even keel this time of year because you don't want players too high or low. But right now, our team, I want them to be sky high. I want them to have fun, enjoy this and play really loose tomorrow night. I thought tonight we played uptight at times. So I just want them to be loose and just have fun, enjoy the atmosphere, and I think we'll play a lot better that way than worried about making mistakes. So we're going to try to stay on an emotional high, see how it goes. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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
|