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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 3, 2011Sharon Fanning-OtisMary Kathryn GoveroDiamber JohnsonNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE MODERATOR: We're here with Mississippi State. We'll go ahead with an opening statement from Coach Fanning-Otis. COACH FANNING-OTIS: It's definitely a team win. Last few weeks, we've been progressing as a team. It's really been a process in the SEC. The players have learned to be tougher and play through adversity. The second half is how we've been playing basketball a lot better. The first half, I thought we were just tentative in terms of taking the ball at them. In fact, we got on Diamber pretty hard, You have to stick your nose in there, you have to go take some shots, not looking to pass first. That aggressiveness is going to be contagious for our basketball team. There's always somebody guarding. Obviously, these two young ladies are going to draw a lot of attention. You have to find ways to win. May take an extra cut, an extra screen. The second half, I felt like we took better care of the basketball. Our field goal percentage went up. We kept theirs down below 40. Those were two keys. We still got out-rebounded. But I felt we had some key boards, but made some big plays. It was a team effort. I'm really, really proud of how they hung in there and kept fighting. That second half is a reflection of how we've been playing and I hope we can carry that over to the next basketball game. THE MODERATOR: Mary Kathryn, your thoughts? MARY KATHRYN GOVERO: It wasn't pretty, but it was a win. We'll take it. Like she said, both teams started off shooting the ball bad. We were thankful we were only down I think 7 at halftime. We rallied back in the second half. A lot of credit to Diamber. She kind of put us on our back for a spell there, took charge. Like coach said, we were able to pull out the win tonight. We had some key rebounds when we needed them. They had a couple opportunities at the end. Thankful to get a zero, zero, zero with more points than them. THE MODERATOR: Diamber? DIAMBER JOHNSON: Tonight's game was a great team win for us. M-Kat kept us on our back the first half. We stayed in there, me playing bad. Our shots weren't falling. We stayed together as a team. That's what helped us. Second half, we were like let it all go, leave it on the floor. That's what happened. We started playing like we've been playing the last couple games. We stepped up and got the win. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Diamber, I think you scored the last 11 points in the second half. Are plays being run to you? What's going through your mind? DIAMBER JOHNSON: I just saw that there was a couple times I jumped at the basket because they were all looking at M-Kat. I was just reading the defense, not necessarily going for the play that was called. At that point in time, I was looking at the time. Once a couple shots started falling, you get that feeling. I was confident. I was looking for my shot fore. Q. Mary Kathryn, when you were down 11 in the second half, what were the players saying to each other? MARY KATHRYN GOVERO: I think a lot of it was just, C'mon, y'all, let's pull together right now. Leave it all out on the court. We knew it's win or go home. We tried to rally together as a team. Whether it was going to be win or lose, we were going to leave everything we had out there. Q. Diamber, during the second half, what got you going? What was your motivation? DIAMBER JOHNSON: The first half I wasn't feeling good. I was, like, I don't want my season to end right now. Coach kept saying, You know you don't want to go home. I'm like, I don't. I zoned everything out, blocked everything out, just focused on what was going on on the court. Rubbed a little dirt on it, as coach says. I'll worry about that tonight. Q. How does this win feel? MARY KATHRYN GOVERO: Well, it was a must-win. If you the don't win, your season's over. So I guess it's special just to see how far our team's come from the beginning of the year to get to this point. When everything was on the line, we were able to pull together, you know, step up and make big plays together as a team, get a win. Gets us another game. I guess it's special because it's not the end yet. DIAMBER JOHNSON: This game will be remembered, it's special for that reason. It's our first win as a new team. The girls are experiencing a lot of new things. Hopefully we'll continue to enjoy our time this weekend. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, ladies. You're excused. We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. Pretty symbolic of this team. Mary Kathryn and Diamber. Was this about one player carrying the other for a little time? COACH FANNING-OTIS: For this team to be successful this year, those two young ladies had to step up. They were the ones coming back with some significant experience. Danielle Rector has been in the rotation. You had some off-season things on people recovering for some things. 11 new faces. Three kids coming in in December. It's really been a process. Our goal is to be the most improved team in the league by the end of this season. I felt like we finished the regular season on a very positive note. Now to begin today, get through this, as they're saying, the first game for some of these young ladies, it's a whole new season when you get to the SEC tournament, just like it is when you begin SEC play. February takes a step up. It's special as they're growing together. Our goal is to be the best team we can be. We're not finished yet because you have to put the halves together and you have to be more consistent as you go along to win the next game. Hopefully we'll step up in a big way, get the jitters out and understand what we have to do to win another ballgame. Every team in our league is a little different, they play in a different way. You have to play your best basketball at this time of year to keep progressing. Q. What is your assessment on Vanderbilt? COACH FANNING-OTIS: A very balanced team. Jence knows how to keep going to the rim until somebody stops her, Tuomi inside. You look at Lister, all of them. It's a very balanced team. They have good depth. They're very competitive. Clark has been playing so aggressively. So I think the depth, the fact they have transition, the fact that they have threes, hard to guard, very patient team. They're going to make as many passes as they need to get the great shot they want. We're going to have to be a lot smarter, play a lot harder. We didn't do a good job defending. Couple possessions where Smalley got some good looks. We're going to have to play better as a team so we're not isolated. We're going to have to do a better job blocking out and contesting first shots. I think I didn't answer your question a minute ago as directly as I should have with Diamber and M-Kat. This team has a number of people that can score. It's not just those two. But how they go, their confidence, their communication with the team, their look, even though they're playing different positions this year as well, have a little bit different responsibility, they will make this team go. So they have to have that right look. They have shared that this semester as we've gotten into SEC play and, in fact, this whole year. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH FANNING-OTIS: Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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