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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2011Kristy CurryKierra MallardMonique SmallsKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Texas Tech – 75 THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Texas Tech, Kristy Curry. Coach, your comments, and then we'll take questions from the student-athletes. COACH CURRY: I thought the second half, our energy, defensively and on the boards and going to the offensive glass on both ends was outstanding, and we did a much better job the second half. So really proud of my team. And I thought it was important down the stretch that we understand the difference in putting a period on tonight and an exclamation point, because we're fighting for seeding. And our goal coming into Kansas City, it's a brand-new season, and our goal -- we feel like we can win this tournament. I'm really proud of my team and the way we came out tonight, especially the second half. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Mo, can you just talk about the way the offense was clicking in the second half and just running so smoothly? MONIQUE SMALLS: In the second half, everybody was looking to score. We weren't trying to be so passive. If you were open, we took the shot. If there was a drive there, we took it. Instead of just taking our time, we just saw the open areas. Q. What sort of adjustment did you feel like you made in the second half with the 26 points versus 49 the second half? What did you guys feel like you did differently? MONIQUE SMALLS: We picked up our energy. We encouraged each other. If we did something bad, we were like don't worry about it, shake it off, it's in the past, keep moving on. Q. Kierra, first half there, you know, you guys get down 8-0 and they're playing that zone. Seemed like you guys were really patient and didn't panic and start jacking up a bunch of shots in the outside. Is that kind of the way it felt for you guys, you kind of took your time and looked for shots against their zone? KIERRA MALLARD: In practice we've been working on our zone, getting better. The coaches told us to look at the open area. So we just got the ball in the middle and go high/low and then go rebound. Q. Can you talk about defending McIntyre and keeping her from getting the open looks close to the basket that she got the last time you guys played? KIERRA MALLARD: Yes, I've just been moving my feet around trying to meet her early so she won't get her open position. Basically just moving my feet. Q. Both players, about your opponent tomorrow, Oklahoma, you beat them last time. Great shooting by them one half, poor shooting the next. What's the best recipe for beating them tomorrow, starting with you, Mo? MONIQUE SMALLS: I would say defense, stopping penetration, stopping 3-point shots, and getting through screens. KIERRA MALLARD: Just talking on defense and just playing offense, our game. Q. Kierra, after all that Jordan's been through, how good was it to see her play ten minutes, have five points and just really be involved tonight? KIERRA MALLARD: What happened in the past is the past. She worked hard every day in practice. She can play anytime. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. How much did you feel like defense was creating offense for you guys in the second half there? COACH CURRY: We feel like our defense is our best offense. A lot of ball pressure. We got some deflections. We did a great job of giving them one opportunity. We just were aggressive on both ends of the floor. When we can come out and be aggressive in that mindset, we feel like good things are going to happen on the defensive end and it's going to give us more energy on the offensive end. I loved our aggressive attack, passionate energy the second half. Q. When you see the 24 to 5 bench points, what does that mean to you to see that sort of depth? COACH CURRY: I saw Kelsi Baker, Shauntal Nobles, when you look at the energy Nobles and Baker had tonight off the bench, you know, at Oklahoma State they were absolutely horrific and they know it and they've grown from it. That was the difference in the game was our bench energy tonight. And I'm so proud of how hard our fours and fives -- there's no letdown when they come in. I thought Kelsi and Shauntal's energy was absolutely spectacular. Q. OSU seemed to get a lot of close shots but they didn't seem to be easy shots. Can you talk about the interior defense you played, even when they had the ball near the basket? COACH CURRY: We wanted to do a good job of making sure that every shot was contested, that we were trying to be physical and aggressive inside. I thought one thing that really made a difference, we brought the double tonight. And we haven't done that in the past two games from our 3 spot. I thought we were running four hands at them instead of two, even when they caught it inside when we were moving on the pass instead of when they caught it. We were trying to stunt them a little bit as far as not just two hands there but four and being really aggressive, and I thought it was effective. Q. Could you talk about why your team appears to be the hottest in the best league in the country right now, playing really good basketball? COACH CURRY: We have one senior, and we've really grown up a lot. Our maturity. But I will say Casey Morris and Monique Smalls and Chynna Brown and Christine Hyde, that sophomore class, they're just our heartbeat. We went through the rough six-game stretch and a lot of people questioned that. Mo lost her grandmother, flew down a week and a half early to go see her and say goodbye, and then passed away a week and a half. We went through a lot of things off the floor that -- no excuses, but these kids have been through a lot and they fought through some adversity that we had. And, again, from our point guards to our twos and threes, they've been our heartbeat lately, their energy and passion. We're really growing up. We've had to make mistakes and we've learned from them. You can make mistakes. They either work for you or against you, and we've grown from those. Q. Facing Oklahoma again in such a short time, what sort of challenges does that pose for you? COACH CURRY: Well, I think the thing that we have to draw upon is the fact that -- the same thing with Oklahoma State, we played Oklahoma State and then we turned around and played OU. So hopefully we can approach this the same way. And I think the thing about it is, I mean, they're a great basketball team. Obviously we understand how to be successful against them and how to be unsuccessful. And we need to draw from both experiences. I mean, we had the lead there at halftime and felt we turned the basketball over and made a lot of mistakes on the offensive -- didn't rebound and we improved at home. And, again, we've played 640 minutes of basketball in Big 12 play, and we understand when we've been most successful. And we're going to use all those experiences tomorrow. We've got our hands full. Q. In the first half, the poise and patience you guys showed, getting down 8-0 and playing against their zone, a lot of teams in a tournament atmosphere could have got a little panicky but it didn't seem like you did. COACH CURRY: No, you know, like our poise at the one, two, three, I think we've grown up there. They've learned a lot along the way. We want to make sure that we do all the little things against the zone from our ball reversal, shot fake, pass fake, still dribble. We were patient and poised, and patience is a virtue sometimes, and it really paid off for us. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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