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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 4, 2012Nikki CaldwellCourtney JonesAdrienne WebbNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Tennessee – 70 THE MODERATOR: We are joined by LSU head coach Nikki Caldwell, Courtney Jones and Adrienne Webb. Coach, if you could start us off. COACH CALDWELL: Well, first off, I'm proud of this group. I can't tell you enough how much this group has been hit with adversity, and even tonight they were hit with a little adversity. I saw fight in them. I saw a team that stuck together. Even though the outcome didn't come out our way, much credit to the Tennessee team. But this team has grown a lot over the last couple days. It's going to only help them in post‑season. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Can you give us an update on what you know about LaSondra's condition? COACH CALDWELL: All I know is that we're going to make sure that our trainer is with her. They're going to monitor her and make sure she's okay. I know she went down pretty hard. We're just going to, you know, keep playing and making sure that everything is going to be okay. But we're definitely going to take every necessary precaution to make sure that she is okay. Q. For the players, you guys are in a really tough fight out there, everything is real competitive, then something like that happens. How hard is it to come back, especially after you have to stand in the huddle for five or ten minutes? ADRIENNE WEBB: We could have easily folded after LaSondra went down. But we took it as a challenge, to not go out there and quit, but give it our all, put our hearts into the game. Even though we fell short, we still played a hundred percent and gave our all out there on the floor. Q. Courtney, yesterday we were asking you about filling in for LaSondra when she went out with foul trouble. Talk about filling in for her. Were you distracted? Was your concentration affected for a time period at all? COURTNEY JONES: I don't think so. Of course, LaSondra, you're always going to worry about her health, if she's going to be able to get back with us.  We just took a little grace period to get ourself, evaluated what we needed to do on defense and offense, tried to execute coach's plan as great as we could, so... Q. Can you put in perspective what you have done, especially over the course of the last nine to ten games, the way this team came together, how well you feel you can play in the NCAA tournament? COACH CALDWELL: I feel like this team has shown that they cannot only play with some of the best teams in the country, but we've beaten some of the top‑ranked teams in this country. This team has a uniqueness about them. We talk about whenever there's a setback, there's a comeback. This group has shown it time and time again. We got a lot more basketball in us. We got a team that is starving to advance one game at a time. But as we reflect over the last month, six to eight weeks, this team has grown so much, tremendously. They've matured. They've become closer in the sense of not just cooperating with each other, but collaborating with each other. So they've already taken it to another notch. We've got players that can make plays. When you get into post‑season, you're going to need everybody to contribute. Tonight I saw a team that played with a lot of heart and a lot of courage. Q. Coach and the players, how tough was it to stop Glory and Shekinna? COACH CALDWELL: You have two very skilled basketball players. I thought our players matched their intensity. I felt like we missed some defensive assignments on some screening action. But, you know, this group did an amazing job considering. Even though, again, you play a team like a Tennessee, they've got two very, very good players, I felt like our team played very courageous. I can't explain that because you know their accolades, you know what they're capable of. But I never felt like we backed down from either one of them. This is something they both can carry with them. THE MODERATOR: Same question to the players. ADRIENNE WEBB: They're both tough opponents to compete against. Our coach said we missed a few defensive assignments coming off screens and box outs where they got a majority of their points from. We need to work on just establishing our defense, letting it be known that we do box out, we do crash the boards, and that we take pride in doing that. COURTNEY JONES: I think with any team, you have top players on each team. You shouldn't let that stop you from, you know, going your max, giving it your all. Glory Johnson, Vicki Baugh, that Shekinna are all great players. That's just their game and you have to match their intensity. Q. For the players, I want to know what it is that Coach Caldwell has been able to bring to y'all to give you the confidence and composure to play the way you did in in SEC tournament? COURTNEY JONES: One thing that Coach Caldwell does for me is get me to believe that I can excel in my full potential as a player and as a person, that you should never be satisfied with what you are doing, what you have done. Just go out and have confidence in yourself and belief in yourself that you can do whatever it is you want to do. ADRIENNE WEBB: For me, coach has instilled in me to also go out there and do my best in everything I do. Luckily we have the rest of this tournament and I also have another year with coach. She's still teaching me things that I may encounter in the real world after college. Q. Coach, you came into this tournament on a pretty good streak. At that point you already looked like you were set to host your tournament and play in it. How do you think the performance this week might have affected your seeding or the momentum going in? COACH CALDWELL: Each game was a game to help prepare for NCAAs. We really focused in on, you know, again, sliding our name one more time across the board and hopefully being the last name up there. We didn't really worry too much about where we'd be seeded. This team has really been focused on one game at a time. I think that's why we've been able to string along back‑to‑back‑to‑back wins. As soon as we win, we leave it and move on to the next opponent. That's been their mentality. Even when we lose, we do the same thing. But this team going into a tournament, they have every belief in each other that they can win it all. If we actually won it all, we knew we were going to get an automatic bid. It was about how we were going to play through this tournament. And I thought this team played under the radar, because a lot of people didn't expect us to be in this championship game. But they laid it on the line. You can't ask anything more than that from your student‑athletes, to be gracious and humble for the opportunity, and go out there and perform to the maximum of their ability. They did that. That's why I'm extremely proud of this team, for the body of work that they've accomplished, not only these last six, seven games, but the whole season. Q. You mentioned how courageous you thought your team was playing. You've been in this atmosphere yourself. To be on the other side, how daunting is it to be on that other side playing against Tennessee with a title on the line in this tournament? COACH CALDWELL: Well, you know, it's something that you accept and you face that challenge. A lot of credit to Tennessee, Coach Summitt and her staff. But I wouldn't be the coach that I am right now without that competitive spirit by playing at a Tennessee. We know when they face each other, I'm going to have every team ready. I'm going to make sure our team is prepared to beat not just Tennessee, but anybody that steps up in front of us. They have taken on that attitude, and that's why they've battled and competed. Like I told them, they stood toe‑to‑toe with a giant today. We gonna keep doing that. You enjoy the journey and you experience so many great memories. We're going to have some fun memories here. Even though this stings right now, I told them, You need to take this with you. Every day you go to practice, you need to remember today and use it to get better in the next couple weeks. Again, when there's a setback, there's a comeback. Q. Was the baby kicking? COACH CALDWELL: No, the little one was calm today. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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