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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 2, 2012LaSondra BarrettNikki CaldwellAdrienne WebbNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE LSU – 41 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by LSU head coach Nikki Caldwell, and Adrienne Webb and LaSondra Barrett. COACH CALDWELL: First off, I love this time of year. I love being back in the SEC, what this is all about, one of the toughest conferences in the country. Arkansas is a great team, knew it was going to be a battle. I'm proud of my team for showing resilience, staying together and coming out with the win. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Adrienne, talk about the play. Tell us about that winning basket. ADRIENNE WEBB: Well, we pushed the ball up the floor. Kicked it ahead to me since I was open. I'm used to hitting three‑pointers. But, I mean, nothing has been bigger than this three‑pointer. I just kept thinking back to the speech that coach gave us in the locker room about, We are champions, just thinking about that moment. I just kept thinking, We are champions, we are champions. It showed in the shot. Q. LaSondra, if you can talk about the final sequence. LaSONDRA BARRETT: Originally, we were supposed to foul. But she did foul, but they didn't call it. I don't know, I just made a play on instinct. I knew she would try to attack because she had just made the last couple baskets. I don't know, just tried to have my teammates' back and just be there. Q. Back to the speech, what inspired you to send that message? COACH CALDWELL: Well, it's one of my favorite motivational speeches that I've heard. It's entitled, Who am I? It talks about things that you won't accept. You won't accept defeat. It talks about how you will stand together through thick and thin, through adversity. You lean on your teammates. They would then chant after. I would say, Who am I; they would chant, I am a champion. I feel like this team, through all of its ups and downs, adversities, that they have exemplified the characteristics of a champion. Tonight it showed in their play. I definitely have seen it all year. Q. Coach, part of the final run, points were tough to come by, a lot of turnovers. Do you feel like Arkansas caused those or what happened there? COACH CALDWELL: Well, credit to Arkansas for getting after our guard play defensively. But we turned the ball over a lot throughout the entire year. That has a lot to do with players playing out of position. We had the swing players with the loss of Destiny. We talk about good turnovers versus bad turnovers. Some of those turnovers led to transition points for them, so those weren't the good turnovers. Arkansas did a great job of executing their game plan. When you're only scoring 40 and 41 points, that's a defensive battle. We obviously wanted to make it just as tough on them as they were making it on us. Q. LaSondra, were you frustrated during the game? You had to sit a long stretch. What did you feel when you came back in the second half? LaSONDRA BARRETT: I mean, it's always frustrating not being able to contribute with your team. But, I mean, it's part of the game. I just tried to be the biggest cheerleader on the bench, not get in my own head, because that wouldn't help the team. In the second half, I just tried to get aggressive, get in the paint. They had a smaller guard guarding me so we ran a lot of high‑low action, ball screens. I mean, I didn't have to do much when Adrienne Webb shoots the ball like she does, so... Q. Something I've noticed that is a trend for you this year is you don't have to take a lot of shots to win games. Where does the patience come from to not want to rush in the offense? LaSONDRA BARRETT: I think we just want to establish our tempo. We get our transition game going, knowing when and when not to push the ball. I think when we establish that, we dictate the pace of the game. I think that fits us. That fits us in the halfcourt set. Although we can run, but just slowing things down, slowing the tempo. Arkansas had a lot of guard play, drive and kick. Just slow that down, get a lot of stops on defense helps us out. Q. Coach, you probably feel like you have to take your game up a notch tomorrow. Talk about the Kentucky game. COACH CALDWELL: Again, we felt that tonight with Arkansas. Just watching this tournament, you feel the same way when you looked at the games prior to our game. Everybody feels like they have to dial it up a notch because it's truly, truly competitive in our conference. Games have gone either way. Florida had a great game plan. Kentucky did, too. Kentucky just pulled away at the end. So the competition as far as dialing it up a level, now you got to really dial it up because everybody has continued to advance. But it's been that way all through the conference. When you look at this year, in particular, the versatility, the different type of players you have in this conference, we have some of the best players in the country here, which obviously is why there are records. But against a team like Kentucky, they're going to be aggressive, they're going to want to turn it over. We're going to try to stay patient and take care of the basketball. We're not going to deviate from our game plan or feel like we have to rush or anything. But there are some areas we have to change as far as our mentality, that starts with our board play. I thought tonight Arkansas exposed us on the boards, and we've got to do a much better job of doing that in our next game. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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