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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2012Nikki NelsonYvonne SanchezPorche TorranceLAS VEGAS, NEVADA San Diego State – 57 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with New Mexico. Coach, if we can start with you, your remarks on today's game. COACH SANCHEZ: Yeah, I want to first congratulate SanDiego State and Coach Burns and her staff for just a terrific season. They've led from beginning to end. They did a nice job in the tournament. They did a nice job in the championship game. It took hopefully everything they had to beat us because I know we gave everything we had. But that's a terrific staff. It's a terrific bunch. They set the bar high. So that's what we're going to aim for. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Porche, is that a bittersweet situation? PORCHE TORRANCE: It was a tough loss. But one thing I will say is our teammates did come out, we fought till the end of the game, till the buzzer went off. We made it to the championship. Not a lot of people expected us to get this far. I think I'm proud of my teammates and the coaching staff for this year. Yeah, it was a tough loss. But, you know, this was an adversity year. We lost, but it was good to make it to the championship game my senior year. Q. Porche, how much do you take with you as seniors knowing you were able to build something here at the end after all the struggles? Do you take a lot of pride in thinking you might have laid the groundwork for success in the future? PORCHE TORRANCE: Definitely. We haven't been here since my freshman year. So to know that we started the legacy back up, to know that we are capable of making it to the championship game, and hopefully the future Lobos coming up, they can actually get past what we accomplished. So hopefully they can win a championship next year. Q. Nikki, you closed it to four in the second half. What were your thoughts? NIKKI NELSON: You know, sometimes you just give it your all and it doesn't quite work out (tearing up). Q. Porche, this is your third straight game. How much of a factor was fatigue today? PORCHE TORRANCE: You know, back‑to‑back games, normally we have a few days off. I was a little tired. But I told myself, This is my last. I have to fight through the fatigue and just give it all for my teammates and hopefully we come up on top. We were a little short today but we fought till the end and that's what really counts. Q. Lauren, the first couple minutes of the second half, you had the two three‑point plays? Did you discuss something at halftime that you thought you might be able to drive and get those shots off like that? LAUREN TAYLOR: We knew we needed to get to the free‑throw line more because that means we were being the aggressor. We kept saying, Get to the free throw line, get to the free‑throw line. If the shots aren't falling, that's where you can get your points. So that was discussed a little bit at halftime. Q. What did it feel like when you scored those two? LAUREN TAYLOR: Awesome, obviously.  I felt like we turned the tide and had the momentum going for us. I think that picked the team up. The fans got behind us and helped us push back closer, you know, take that lead down. Q. This has been a tough season for you in a lot of ways, starting with defections, coaching changes. When you stop and look back on it, is it a tremendous accomplishment for you? Or was it just an unusual year for all of you? LAUREN TAYLOR: I think we accomplished a lot. I think we showed people that through every trial we stuck together. There was a core group of us who just dug in our heels and said, We're not going to give up. Then we built on that. I'm immensely proud of the team for sticking with it through everything because we could have given up. We could have just written this year off, but we didn't. To get to this championship game is a testament to the will of this team. THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student‑athletes at this time and continue with questions for Coach Sanchez. Q. You only scored four points in the first 13 minutes of the game. What was going on out there? Why were you struggling so much on the offensive side? COACH SANCHEZ: Because SanDiego State is a very good defensive team. You got to give them credit. They're the No.1 team in our conference. They've been from beginning to end. They're a great defensive team, both full court and halfcourt. It's tough to score against them. At our place we only scored 10 points in the first half. We know that. We remember that. But everything that you get from SanDiego State, you have to earn. Tonight was no different. They do a nice job. We tried to execute what we could. But their defense is good. Q. Have you zoned that much in any game this year? COACH SANCHEZ: Not the entire game we had. We mixed it up quite a bit. But, you know, they're very quick off the dribble. Their penetration even hurt us in the zone. But we felt that that was the best opportunity that would give us to win the basketball game. They didn't shoot particularly well from the three, but they hit threes when they counted in the second half. I think Harvey hit a big three there when we were cutting the lead. I mean, good players and good players make good plays, and SanDiego State did that. I give them all the credit. That being said, I give my team a lot of credit. We were led by a great group of seniors. They never gave up. They could have written the season off. Six other teams thought they should be here. They watched our team play in the championship game. That's the thing I'm most proud of. You know, the champions are SanDiego State. I give 'em a ton of credit. They're well‑coached. They have a great staff. But I told our kids to hold their heads high because they have nothing to be ashamed of. They did a great job, not only these last three games, but they did a terrific job during the entire season. I've seen teams in my tenure that are much more talented than we are just pretty much hang up the season, and our kids never did that. Q. Specifically even in this game, down 19‑4, you got girls diving all over the court battling. What kept them going? Is it a sign of their character for this game? COACH SANCHEZ: Absolutely. They have a passion to play for the Lobos. They wear their uniform proudly. As the fans are very passionate about our players, our players are passionate about playing for the University of New Mexico. We've got a great university. We've got terrific leadership in that university. I think it's the best in the country. You don't see the leaders in other universities do what our leaders do for us; our athletic administration, our president. So our kids feel proud about playing for all of them. They get well‑educated. When they put the uniform on, it's a privilege to play for UNM. They handle it very well. That's why you see them never give up. Q. The rebounding is one thing. You had 16 turnovers. Was that a particular problem, something you had trouble with? COACH SANCHEZ:  Well, we had 24 yesterday, so... We went down a little bit against a team that pressed us. But that's plagued us all year long. Out of those turnovers, they had 15 points off turnovers to our two. Again, you give a team like SanDiego State opportunities, they're going to take advantage of it 'cause they're that good. They do a nice job. They've done a nice job the entire year. But you can't give a team like that second and third chances because they will take advantage of it. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. COACH SANCHEZ: Thank you, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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