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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2012Joe LegerskiChaundra SewellAshley SicklesKayla WoodwardLAS VEGAS, NEVADA San Diego State – 73 THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by Wyoming. Coach, if we can start with you, your comments on today's game. COACH LEGERSKI: We talk all the time about being able to play 40 minutes. And I thought the first half was a tremendous basketball game, up and down, both teams scoring, rebounding. We were making some free throws. And then in the second half, SanDiego State stepped it up to a different level, specifically with Hopkins. We could not get her slowed down in transition. That became an issue for us. Then we missed a few free throws. You could just see the drain of a season starting to wear on this group. But I'm so proud that they ended up turning things around in January from what we were doing in November and December, and played tonight just a tremendous effort by a young team that I'm very proud of. THE MODERATOR: Now we'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Chaundra, 50 points in the paint from them tonight. How tough of a team are they to defend? CHAUNDRA SEWELL: They're really tough. They have really quick post players, strong girls. Just a diverse group of inside players. Kind of have to be ready for anything when you're playing inside with them. Q. Chaundra, you were in a lot of foul trouble tonight. How hard was it to defend them 'cause they're good players but also because of foul trouble you were in? CHAUNDRA SEWELL: Yeah, that makes it tough. You have to watch your fouls and be very careful in that situation. With how physical they are inside, it made it that much more difficult to defend them. Q. Ashley, coach talked about after the first five minutes in the second half, you were right there, then they made that run. How much did that hurt you guys? ASHLEY SICKLES: We talked. Teams are going to make runs. You have to go out and make a run yourself. We tried hard but we weren't able to get the run we needed to go ahead and keep winning. I think our team went out, we did extremely well. We've done a lot better than people anticipated at the beginning of the season. I think our team did awesome. We're all coming back next season and looking for a good season then. Q. You all do come back next year. Winning a game here and experiencing that, knowing what it's like, seeing the type of play that goes on, what is that going to do for you towards next season? ASHLEY SICKLES: I think it just gets us motivated. We have to really work hard in the post‑season, you know, on the court and off the court, and just come out next year with a fire, come out knowing that we're going to take it to every team that we play and produce as many wins as we can. Q. Kayla, can you reflect on this season a little bit, particularly the last two and a half months, where this team has kind of come. KAYLA WOODWARD: Like Ashley said, a lot of people weren't expecting us to be very good this year. They thought it was just going to be, you know, kind of just working on, like since we're younger. I don't know, I think we set the bar high for years to come. I think we need to go out next year and prove people wrong next year. Q. Chaundra, getting a tournament victory here, playing this team tough for 25 minutes, do you think that will carry over into the off‑season? CHAUNDRA SEWELL: Yeah, I think what we've done here at the tournament, what we've done all season, is really going to motivate us, get us excited for the years to come. We're all very excited for what the future holds for this program. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. We'll dismiss the student‑athletes at this time and continue with questions for Coach Legerski. Q. Chaundra said a diverse group of post players. What makes them so effective down there in the block? COACH LEGERSKI: I look at it a little differently. I think their point guard was able to get to the basket. When Hopkins is able to get to the basket, you end up rotating and trying to take her away. She is such a tremendous passer, has great court vision. So all of a sudden she's able to find players that are within two, three feet of the basket. You know, it makes it very difficult because you have to give help, but then when you provide help, she could also find the open person. So that became a bigger issue. So I see the points in the paint, but so much of that I look at is because a point guard is creating all that rather than just, say, we couldn't handle somebody at the block. Q. You mentioned Hopkins. Did she just step it into another gear? What did she do different where she was able to take over there? COACH LEGERSKI: I'm an older man. I remember driving that standard. Most of us go from first to second, maybe to third before we get up in speed. Hopkins goes from second to fifth. She can move in a hurry, make a lot of things happen. That is really where it was at. And we did not have an answer. And then you have Clements running the other side who can score in a number of ways, putting it on the floor, shooting the ball from three. Her midrange game is very good. That puts so much pressure on everybody individually defensively, and that's not what we do best. We have to be able to rotate. We have to be able to help. SanDiego State was just very good today. I give Coach Burns credit. She has 'em playing at a very high level and they really came out in the second half. Like I said, they jumped a couple gears. Q. How much did you think those free throws hurt? COACH LEGERSKI: When you take a look at it, we shoot 36% in the first half, they shoot 58%, the free‑throw line was a big benefit. We were 8 of 10. That became a big part of it. All of a sudden you start missing the front end of a one‑on‑one, you start missing two shots, we go to 50%. Not the difference in a basketball game, but maybe the difference in keeping the game, maybe breaking a run, giving you some hope. Free throws missed are very difficult. You could see it in the expression of the players. They know they're missed opportunities. Q. It's tough right after a game, but just reflect on what this group accomplished, particularly after the New Year's. COACH LEGERSKI: I told them in the locker room I couldn't be more proud of a group. I remember our last non‑conference game, we end up going out to Eastern Michigan, a very talented team, and we got beat really good. They had to make a decision of what they wanted to do as a group. I kept working with 'em, pushing 'em. They responded. For this team to be able to come out here and win a game in the Mountain West tournament, I couldn't be more proud of 'em to be able to get to this point. It's very difficult. They're going to find this out next year. This just didn't happen. You have to put so much work in to even find a way to get a victory out here. This league was very good, very evenly matched. When I reflect back, and I'll do that over the next couple weeks, I'll be very proud of the effort I was able to get. We were so undersized most of the year. Brenna Freeze steps up, has to play on the inside at 5'10", starting three freshmen. I'm pleased with where they're at. We have a great deal of work to do. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. COACH LEGERSKI: Thank you, everybody. I appreciate it very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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