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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 4, 2011Jim FosterBrittany JohnsonJantel LavenderINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Ohio State – 71 MODERATOR: We can go directly to the player questions. Questions? Q. Brittany, is this one of the best games you've had, one, and, two, can you just run me through those last three 3s you had in the game? BRITTANY JOHNSON: Yeah, this is one of the best that we've had. We played together. We played hard. We didn't let up. And we just wanted to win really bad, so we did whatever it took. And I was just, you know, in the zone, I guess. I was focusing really hard. My teammates had confidence in me. Jantel threw me the ball after the rebound. She had confidence, and then Taylor and Sam threw me the ball. So I was just focusing on my shot. Q. Coach, can you talk about your defensive approach to shutting down the Ohio offense a little bit? COACH FOSTER: Well, we're just going to be very, very aggressive on the perimeter, switch, stayed down, not go for ball fakes. And I thought Jantel was a good match-up for Alexander, just only took me four years to figure that out. Q. Jantel, you were up 52-40 and you were really kind of excited, and all of a sudden they're going on -- they went on a nine-, ten-point run. How were you able to basically withstand that and would you have been able to do that maybe a month ago? JANTEL LAVENDER: I think we just had to stop getting them at the foul line. Once they were getting to the foul line, the clock stopped. So we just had to play good solid defense. And Iowa was very capable of getting those shots. They have great perimeter shooters in Jaime Printy and just basically all their guards. So we weren't really closing down well and letting them get a full head of steam driving to the basket. So we just tried to stop them from going to the foul line and getting stops and just really focusing on executing our offense. Q. This one is for Brittany. It really seemed like every time Iowa came down, hit a 3, you came right back, answered with one. And it was in the heat of the game. If you weren't in the zone, quote/unquote, would that be a shot that you'd feel comfortable taking? Or did you just feel like you needed to step up for your team? BRITTANY JOHNSON: I think that's a comfortable shot for me, but I just wanted to step up, help my teammates out, and that's what I did. Q. Jantel, to that point, Printy hit like a 50-foot 3, and she came right back and hit one, and then Kelly Krei hits one and she comes back and hits another one. How much did that mean to everybody on your side? JANTEL LAVENDER: We have the utmost confidence in her shot. And it just kind of went that way. It wasn't like a plan like, you know, they hit a 3, we're going to hit them back with a 3. It was like the play opened up that way. And I either got a rebound, passed it to Brittany, or we reversed the ball and hit her in the corner. But she did a great job focusing tonight, and that's what we needed to win. Q. Brittany, did you call bank on that one from the corner, or did that just happen? BRITTANY JOHNSON: It just happened. I was shocked myself. Q. Jantel, this was a game where one team was going to the free throw line a lot. Was that frustrating for you guys and how did you manage? If it was, how did you manage to play through that? JANTEL LAVENDER: It definitely was frustrating, because I thought it was very, very physical, and especially in the post, just when we're getting rebounds, just post defense. And we could just touch them, and they were going to the line. It was frustrating, but I think we showed poise and we showed activeness by playing through that, because we really didn't get calls. I mean, only got to the line ten times this game. It was kind of frustrating. Q. Jantel, did you feel like Brittany and Sammy and Tayler did a pretty good job locking them up on the perimeter? It seemed like everybody was really pushing them out far. JANTEL LAVENDER: Yeah, definitely. I think that we pretty much eliminated the 3s that they shot and beat us with at their place. That's what they like to do. And I think that once we sprinted back and got in the lane and met them down there before they could shoot the 3, they started to try to penetrate, and we were kind of playing them for the 3, so we had to adjust to their penetration after we realized they weren't really getting the 3s off. Q. Jantel, I don't recall you ever guarding somebody like Kachine Alexander before, and basically were you surprised they asked you? And then how did you handle it once? JANTEL LAVENDER: I'm up for the challenge. I think that Star Allen did a really good job two years ago when we were in the tournament against her, and I kind of watched a little bit of film on her and what she did. And I just wanted to do whatever I had to do tonight for my team, and it was just close down, make sure she doesn't, you know, kill us on the rebounding, and just play solid defense. And I think I did a good job. MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student-athletes? Thank you, ladies, and congratulations. Now open it up for questions for Coach. Q. Again, they're coming at you really hard. I know the way the games play out that those things happen, the runs happen in a game. But just what enabled you to hold on this time and just to answer it and keep it going the other direction? COACH FOSTER: Execution. We took care of the ball. We thought we were a little careless with the ball forcing too much in the first half. In the second half I think we had six turnovers and just much better ball movement, six turnovers, 44 points, that's a good ratio. In the first half I thought we stood still and forced; second half I thought we moved and took care of our business. Q. Coach, it seemed in the second half with about ten minutes left you were on the verge of landing a knockout blow, then they come back, hit a 3, just like that it's a five-point game. What, if anything, did you let your players know to kind of calm them down a little bit? COACH FOSTER: I think they pretty much calmed themselves down. We had a freshman make a freshman mistake, and she won't make it again. That's how you -- you learn from things that you do. And she'll be smarter with it the next time for sure. Q. Going back to the foul situation, how do you think your kids handle it? Because, again, the one team was going a lot and you guys hadn't gone -- COACH FOSTER: I pretty much felt that this was like a road game. I always think on the road you've got to make field goals. I always think the home team is going to go to the foul line. And I just felt, you know, we had to make field goals. We had to make field goals. Because we weren't getting to the foul line. And what we did, we shot the ball well. Q. Brittany, again, as a senior, and as a fine 3-point shooter, but how much has she grown this year in terms of taking that kind of shot without hesitating? COACH FOSTER: Well, heck with the shot, how about the shot block, how about a full-court layup off a steal. I mean, that's growth. She's always been a great shooter. I shouldn't say that. She's developed herself into being a great shooter. A lot of hard work. A lot of hard work. And has a better understanding of footwork, et cetera. But I thought that the defensive part of Brittany tonight was every bit as exciting as the 3-point shots. Q. Coach, you play Michigan State tomorrow, they absolutely demolished Northwestern today. What does your team need to do to make sure that something like that doesn't happen and that you can win that game? COACH FOSTER: Guard them. And make shots. Ball movement. But we've got to guard them. Q. Has there been a time earlier this year where 40 minutes of especially perimeter defense you might not have seen like that out of your team? COACH FOSTER: No, I've seen it. Q. For 40 minutes? COACH FOSTER: Yeah. Yeah. I think our perimeter defense has gotten -- I think at the Penn State game I thought our perimeter defense was absolutely terrific. I thought against Purdue at the Nationwide -- I thought our perimeter defense was absolutely terrific. So, yeah, I've seen it. I've seen it coming. I've seen it getting -- I've seen it -- it's a long way from Oklahoma. MODERATOR: Further questions for the coach? Thanks so much, Coach Foster. Congratulations. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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