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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2012Kristen HoltKim MestdaghHayley ThompsonLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Boise State – 68 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Colorado State. Coach, if we could start with some remarks on tonight's game. COACH HOLT: Well, obviously we're disappointed that the result wasn't different. But I think I'm very proud of this team. I told them in the locker room that, you know, we had a really, really tough non‑conference schedule, and we were 4‑11. Most teams would crumble or they wouldn't have the confidence to maybe continue on. I think we just really hit some milestones this year by being undefeated at home. We finished third in our conference. We just didn't play well today. Tournament time, it's a matter of making plays, both offensively and defensively. Boise State was very good today and they made more good plays than we did. But Kim obviously is one of the best players to ever play at CSU. I'm very proud of what she's done. And Hayley had a tremendous game tonight with 15 points and 10 rebounds. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Kim, how difficult was it? It seemed like you lost a lot of your flow offensively when Sam and Kelly had to go to the bench in foul trouble. KIM MESTDAGH: Uhm, yeah, with Sam and Kelly on the bench, it's hard 'cause we didn't have the normal inside threat that we used to have. That was gone. And then they kept pressuring to outside, so it was hard. They were really physical, too. Meghan kind of had to do it on her own in the paint. All of that makes it a little harder. We were just kind of like out of it. We couldn't find a way to get back in and get good shots and easy layups, so... Q. Did that make it easier for them defensively to focus their effort on you? KIM MESTDAGH: Uhm, yeah, there's definitely a player on me really tight all the time. They just had one post player to focus on, just collapsed every single time she caught it and it just makes the hard. We didn't make any plays. We didn't use their pressure as an advantage I think. We made it a little harder for ourselves by playing really frantic. Q. Kim, all that was going wrong, nothing going right in the second half. You were able to battle back, pull within three on the jumper. What happened on that turnover there? Seemed like you lost control of the ball. KIM MESTDAGH: Yeah, I don't really know. I don't think she tipped it or anything. I think just lost control of the ball. I think we couldn't come up with it. Yeah, scored a layup on the other side at kind of a crucial moment in the game. Q. Hayley, you obviously had a pretty good game tonight. What was working for you? How frustrating is it to have one of the best games you've ever had and go away with a loss? HAYLEY THOMPSON: It's really frustrating just because, I mean, it doesn't really matter how good of a game anyone has if we don't win. Coach gave me the go to shoot today and encouraged me to be aggressive. I felt like they were leaving me pretty open for some shots. I just took 'em and felt it pretty good today, so... Q. Hayley, obviously you lose Kim and all, but you had a lot of young players that played big roles. What does that mean for this team down the road? HAYLEY THOMPSON: We'll definitely miss our seniors. We're going to lose a lot with them. At the same time we have people out injured, like LaDeyah, our freshman point guard, has been playing for us and has grown so much this year already. I think we have a bright future because we are so young. At the same time I think we're going to miss Kelly and Kim not only on the court but their leadership. Q. Kim, with the flight being delayed and all, do you think that played any factor? Did that not matter at all tonight? KIM MESTDAGH: I think we had an entire day to prepare. I don't think we had yesterday's delay in our head. We were ready, really fired up. We came out with a lot of energy. It seemed like that went downhill in the game. We couldn't keep that up. But I don't blame the delay on anything. THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss our student‑athletes at this time and continue with Coach Holt. Q. What did Boise do differently than in the previous two games to finally get you guys, so to speak? COACH HOLT: I thought their pressure was very strong. You know, my team has had really a problem at times of getting frantic. I think a lot of that is due to the fact that we just have really one penetrator on our team, and she's a freshman point guard. Really, everybody else relies on screens. I just think when teams‑‑ if we had another game I wouldn't be saying this so everyone can hear it, but I think they were really smart to get in our face and pressure us. Now you're asking some of your bigs that play on the perimeter to handle the ball and that causes us to get a little bit frantic. I thought we did a nice job of getting the ball inside the first half, then we got in a mode of panic. I think that's the gist of what happened. But I thought they did a nice job at the other end executing offensively and making tough shots. We got in foul trouble. Then Sam was in the middle of that zone and they went right at her. She was trying to, I think, protect herself from fouling out. So I thought they were very smart about the game plan and the way they executed it. Q. Obviously you worry about their two top scorers, but they also had two other players in double figures. How much did that hurt you? COACH HOLT: Well, you know, coming into the game obviously Lenhardt was a big focus, and Isham, and Brady had hurt us in the two games we played prior, too. So now when you add a couple other kids that are scoring in double‑digits, that's not going to help your cause. I thought we were getting some good looks inside. We didn't make a lot of tough plays today. I thought they were the tougher team. They got more aggressive certainly as the game went along. We didn't handle that real well. It's disappointing. It's disappointing we didn't get more shots for Sam. However, I do think Sam backed off a little bit. When she missed her first three, I don't think she seemed as aggressive after that. That certainly contributes, too. Sam needs to score for us. That's just the way it is if we're going to win in a big game like this. Q. How difficult was it to have two of your best players sitting on the bench for such a big part of the second half? COACH HOLT: That doesn't help us when we have such a small bench anyway and we rely on those kids so much. We didn't play smart. I think some of the fouls we got were out of frustration in the backcourt, get a turnover immediately that we hack somebody. Just the game, you got to play it composed and poised. I didn't think we really handled ourselves very well today. Q. Obviously tonight didn't work out the way you wanted it to. The season as a whole, the conference record especially, you feel like this program is moving in the right direction considering where it's been the last couple years? COACH HOLT: Yeah. Like I said, we had a lot of firsts again this year in the fact we protected our home court. That was awesome for us to be able to do that. I think if you're going to be a championship team in this league, if you can be 7‑0 at home, then you can find more ways to win than we did on the road, you're going to be right where you need to be. We were picked to finish third, we did. The non‑conference was extremely tough. But at some point this program had to go to that level. We took our lumps. But our kids are really good kids. That's the saddest part about this day coming to an end is I don't have a chance to coach this group in particular another day. They're great kids. Never have to worry about them. They take care of themselves. They're great students. This program is moving in the right direction. Q. What happened to Meghan there at the end? COACH HOLT: I think she just got smacked upside the head. Meghan is always sticking her nose in there, so I'm not surprised. She was available then to come back into the game. She got beat around quite a bit. Obviously she didn't finish very well in there today. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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