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BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2012Skylar DigginsKayla McBrideMuffet McGrawNatalie NovoselHARTFORD, CONNECTICUT Notre Dame -73 THE MODERATOR: Joining us is Coach Muffet McGraw along with Skylar Diggins, Natalie Novosel, and sophomore guard Kayla McBride. Coach, an opening statement, please? COACH McGRAW: We were happy to avenge our loss. I thought we played well right from the start. We got out of the ball and shot the ball really well. Defensively did a much better job on their guards in particularly and thought we did a good job. We had really good balance today which we didn't have last time. So overall really pleased with the win. Q. Kayla, can you talk about your game today? You are 17 of 30 shooting in your last three games hire in Hartford on this court. Can you talk a little bit about your shooting performance in this stretch? KAYLA McBRIDE: I think it's just taking advantage of my opportunities. My teammates gave me the ball, so I think I just like the atmosphere, and I was just letting it go. Q. Natalie, we sat here last Monday night and you guys said how winning the Big East outright was something you guys wanted to do for Coach. You're now one game away from a similar position trying to take your first tournament championship for Notre Dame. The same sort of feeling? NATALIE NOVOSEL: Absolutely. We are right in the position where we want to be. Tomorrow's game, there is no doubt in our mind that's we want to go in and win that for Coach. Q. Skylar, can you talk about Kayla's game and how she's stepping it up at the right time of the year? SKYLAR DIGGINS: I think Kayla is a player who can score, who can rebound, who can guard a big, guard a guard. She can do it all. She's really taken advantage of her opportunities when she gets the ball. She said we're giving it to her where she's comfortable and she knows where to go. She makes herself very available to the high post area. I mean, you can give it to her when she has a mismatch. She has a great handle. She can create her own shot. She's a player that's really shown what she has and she's a great shooter, but she also can bang in there with the bigs. I think she's doing her job and playing her role to a T. Q. Natalie, can you talk about the way you guys started this game? Did you come out here with attitude? NATALIE NOVOSEL: I think we came out here with a little fire in us. We were excited when we saw we were playing West Virginia, and it gave us a chance to avenge our home loss. We came out and started out really well. We shared the basketball tonight, and I think that was huge to balance the scoring. Q. Skylar, can you talk a little about the opportunity to play in the Big East tournament championship game? SKYLAR DIGGINS: I think it's great for our school, particularly in the season that we've been having. This is great for us being able to avenge. We're excited for the opportunity to compete for a Big East championship. We mentioned, all of us have, what that would mean to us, as a program and to Coach McGraw. So it's a great opportunity to show we have an atmosphere like this in a tough conference like the Big East. Q. You just looked like you were really emphatic in that pregame huddle just before the game started. Can you talk about the tone you tried to set before the beginning of the game? SKYLAR DIGGINS: Just the intensity. I wasn't pleased with the start. Wanted to make sure we didn't come out with that start against a team like this who had beat us. I didn't need to light much of a fire underneath us. We were up for this game already. But just making sure and reiterating some things that we needed to make sure we needed to do. One of them in particular was making sure that we start off with a lot of energy. Q. Kayla, are you doing anything different in terms of looking for your shots? Are you reading defenses better? How are you getting more space to get that shot that you want? KAYLA McBRIDE: I think it's just being more comfortable playing with my teammates. After sitting out last year it took me a little long tore get back in rhythm. But I think right now in this stretch I really need to step it up for my teammates and just do what I do best, and that's get the ball in the basket, I guess. Q. You guys made I think eight of your first ten shots or nine of your first ten shots, something like that. It looked like every one of them was open, and you guys ran through your stuff. Offensively, was that as well as you guys could execute that first four, five, six minutes of the game? COACH McGRAW: Yeah, it really was. We came out with fire. We were ready to go, and we were open. I think we took advantage of the opportunities and converted early. I think that set the tone for the game. Q. What was your plan with Bussie and Dunning, the two West Virginia posts? I know they got some points tonight, but you pretty much shut down everyone else. Is that pretty much what you were looking for? COACH McGRAW: Initially our plan was we were going to guard everybody individually. We weren't going to double down until they started to beat us in the posts. Devereaux was in the front as opposed to being behind. When she got in foul trouble, we were going to double down off the other post. So we didn't do that quite as effectively. Brittany did a good job of leaving her man in the second half. I think she was able to get out and really see it coming. She's a really smart defensive player, so we relied on her to get the double team for us. That was really the plan. Everybody guard their own man and see if we could take them one‑on‑one in the block. Q. Can you talk about what it means when Kayla's getting her shots and how it helps your offense? COACH McGRAW: She hasn't missed much tonight. We were trying to go to her as much as we could. She had a big guy on her, and I didn't think they could guard her on the perimeter, and they couldn't. So we were trying to work the flair screen, and the ball screen with her in it. She was able to get free. I think that was a difficult assignment for their post to guard her on the perimeter, so we took advantage of it. Q. Off topic, but this is West Virginia's last game in the Big East. Lots of people have made comments about team's leaving and the whole mix up of stuff. But they've been a Big East school for the last long while, and they've been a favorable school. Everyone seems to enjoy them. What's it mean what they've brought to the Big East in their time here? COACH McGRAW:  I think West Virginia's always been a tough place to play. He's done a really great job, especially this year, losing four starters and coming back. When you play their teams, you know that they're going to be well coached. They're going to be great defensive teams. They're one of the best defensive teams in the country. Mike does a really good job. This year he could have been "Coach of the Year". He really got that team going. I think they're a team that's always in the hunt. It's always a difficult game for us. So we wish them well as they leave the conference. Q. Devereaux only played 20 minutes tonight. Was that a preventative thing to stretch her out a little bit? COACH McGRAW: Well, we're just resting her up for tomorrow. I would have played her more if she didn't have four fouls. But once she got into foul trouble and we didn't need her at the end, she was able to get a lot of rest. So I think that was probably a good thing? FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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