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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: SPOKANEMarch 17, 2012Khadijah RushdanC. Vivian StringerApril SykesErica WheelerSPOKANE, WASHINGTON Gonzaga – 86 COACH STRINGER: You can ask me any questions. Q. Just general impressions about your defensive play and Gonzaga's offensive play. COACH STRINGER: I think we had to pick it up. We had to be much more intense, and that's why we changed, started picking it up to the full court level, which wasn't what we intended to do. We were hoping that we would get them‑‑ cover their transition much better, but we weren't. And they are a very good team, and Kayla and Bowen, the whole group, Palmer, they did what they were supposed to do. We studied them on tape, and it was nothing new; they did what they did. Obviously I thought our defense would be more destructive, although I think when we began to put more pressure in the backcourt, they were having problems running the half court offense, and so that was one key, because once they got it into the half court, they had nice size and people that had nice skills, and they were able to get the stops today. I hoped to double the big girl on the inside. We obviously didn't, and she did everything. We knew that Palmer had had 28‑point games, and it could have been any one of them, but we played hard, extremely hard. It just wasn't our day. We seemed to be just a half step‑‑ I'm not sure why, but maybe a half step short, a half step slow, but we worked hard, extremely hard. I'm sure that they could appreciate the energy, the enthusiasm of the team and certainly the fans. It was a great atmosphere. Q. True to your word, your freshmen saw more minutes today than they did in the Big East Tournament. What did you see out of them today? COACH STRINGER: You said true to my words that the freshmen were going to play more minutes? Yeah, because I needed to tell the upperclassmen some things that were going on. It was loud in there as you know, so we couldn't just yell. We had to make substitutions so that we could personally tell them and give them a chance to see what was going on. One of the things in particular is that there was a big girl that was coming down for the block, and when it happens, it forces us to not send as many people to the offensive boards, and yet they seemed to be getting that second and third opportunity at the beginning. It wasn't anything intentional. It didn't matter, it was just a matter of putting people in that we thought could make a difference, maybe a size versus another player that they were playing. But they shot the ball well, rebounded the ball well, did what they do. Q. Khadijah, noticeably you looked like you twisted your ankle in the first half and were limping after that. How big a factor was that the rest of the game for you? KHADIJAH RUSHDAN: It wasn't a factor at all. I twisted it, but I got it taped. I was fine. My adrenaline was going, so I did my best to play through it. Q. For any of the players, just thoughts on the crowd and how they might have played a factor, especially when you guys were trying to mount a comeback in the second half. APRIL SYKES: They were supposed to play with that. They're at home. At Rutgers our crowd probably would have played a factor. That's an advantage you have playing at home, and they have a great crowd, great atmosphere to play in. The team responded to their crowd, so they went on runs and we couldn't sustain it, so they got the upper hand today, and that's how they won the game. Q. Erica, in this game and also the game against UConn, you really haven't shied away from the big moments. How have you changed your game to be able to put together that effort for 40 minutes? ERICA WHEELER: Just mainly playing for another day, just mainly playing hard for the seniors. The seniors really deserve to play for a long time because they work hard, and you have Khadijah that came back for a fifth year, so she really deserves it, to play in extra games, so I was just mainly playing hard for the seniors. That was it. Q. Erica, you and Haiden Palmer were having a pretty good one‑on‑one battle at times. She nailed some shots. She looked to me like she was right in your face several times. You drained threes. What can you say about her game and the little battle between the two of you? ERICA WHEELER: She's definitely a great player. She was knocking down shots, we both were knocking down shots, but credit to her that she's just a great player and I was just competing.  That's what I do. I was just competing. Q. You referenced the full court you went into earlier maybe a little bit earlier than you had planned, the pressure defense, but it did have a visible effect on Gonzaga, 19 turnovers, and that keyed your comeback in the second half, but if the players could go into what it was like during the comeback and if there was a moment you thought you might have been able to take this game. APRIL SYKES: We were supposed to press for the whole game. It's hard to get into a press when you're not scoring the basketball. We weren't making shots, we weren't getting to the free‑throw line. But other than that you have to make shots to get into your press. You can't get into a press when (indiscernible) break, so it was complicated. The game plan for us was score, get inside, press, and it's hard to do when you're not scoring the basketball how you should, and that's what made us struggle so much. Q. Can you girls talk about the first ten minutes when you got into a hole and you weren't making those shots? Were you pressing or what did you feel about the offense in the first ten minutes? APRIL SYKES: It was kind of confusing at first because they was just packing it in on us. One time it looked like a man, the next time it looked like a match‑up zone, so it was confusing. We couldn't hear each other and the crowd was loud, and they were making shots. We can't match any team for threes. We're not a three‑point shooting team, and when we're not getting it down low to Monique and when we're not penetrating and finishing drives and lay‑ups, that makes the game long for us, when they're coming down and executing and scoring. The first ten minutes we were getting shots at the rim, we just weren't finishing lay‑ups.  It was frustrating for us, but we never stopped playing. Q. Khadijah, Gonzaga was having their way with their fast break offense. How did that affect your own play as a point guard? KHADIJAH RUSHDAN: That was actually one of the things that we've been working on for the last week, just trying to make sure that we stop them in transition. We compared their transition game to UConn, and we felt we did fairly well when it came to that, and just tonight, I don't know, we just‑‑ we rushed that too slowly you could say. It's difficult when you have a team that's getting out in transition and they've got wings that are out there hitting threes or they've got a post that's in there just grinding and being able to finish. I mean, it was tough for us and we struggled a lot. Q. There was a moment in the second half where after a made basket you tried to get the referee's attention and call a time‑out but it didn't seem like they could hear you amid the crowd noise. Can you talk about that, how big a factor that played today? COACH STRINGER: Well, I mean, for them it was a great atmosphere. Great, great, it pumps you up. But the problem was when I was trying to get the attention of our guards, which we're experienced to know at these events, but we weren't enough. We couldn't hear each other. Like there were several times, you'd have hand signals, but withinsome of the patterns that we run, there's very specific tips that we're looking for, and the point guard, I was trying to get her attention, and I told her what we were trying to do, but by the time it was communicated to everybody else, 12 seconds were off the clock and we're scrambling. Then I'd have to substitutes at times to get the message clear in terms of what we were getting at. That was really disappointing. So it might break the rhythm of the player on the floor, saying what did I do wrong. It's nothing you did wrong, so I said, we need to communicate something very specifically that they need to do, because they couldn't hear. It was a great atmosphere, probably looked great on television, and it was good for them. And the rest of us who are playing just got to learn to play in that particular atmosphere. That's what it's like playing away from home. But you've just got to be able to handle that, and we didn't. I wouldn't say that would be a totally‑‑ this is a very, very good team, and they execute extremely well. I mean, they're blue‑collar workers, if you will, blood and guts. They go after everything. I think the one thing that we knew is that good defense will never fail you. If you just play defense, defense will not fail you. We weren't doing that as well in the first half, and as well in the first half, we were settling for jumpers, and when you're in other people's place that's great if you can hit some, but great frankly you need to go to the hole, and I knew that. We knew that. But we worked ourselves into such a hole in that first half that it became extremely difficult in the second half to get out of that. They were shooting threes, but these are their rims and they know them and they could shoot them well. We haven't shot extremely well from the three‑point line all year, so we need just to be a lot more poised, a lot more comfortable, and take our time to see what they were doing. But they did a great job. They're well‑coached. The players play extremely well. The fans should be credited because they truly are great fans. I'm sure that they don't have all their fans because some of their fans are probably supporting the guys. So that's a real testimony to the kind of support that Gonzaga has. I feel like I would rather play in a loud, boisterous atmosphere than to play in a quiet atmosphere. Q. Can you reflect a little bit on the intensity and fight shown by Erica and a couple of the freshmen in the second half, midway through the second half, and also, do you think the trip across the country maybe contributed to that, being that half step late on plays? COACH STRINGER: You know, I'm going to just be tempted to say what I think quite honestly, so I'm going to give you these words, okay: We enjoyed our trip. It was very good. We got a chance to meet and we had a nice long conversation. It was wonderful. Okay? That was good. And Khadijah, I credit her because I saw that she was hurt, but she didn't look for that. I think that an athlete understands that's the arena that you compete in. That's the arena we competed in. That's the arena that we compete in. If you want to know what I really think, I'll tell you later but not now. Q. You've been speaking all year about how the team puts in great effort even when they're not shooting the ball particularly well. But they still managed 73 points today, which is from what I can remember a good total for them. How much does their effort and will to win, how much did that play into it? COACH STRINGER: That's the thing. That's what Erica was saying about the seniors having gone through the things that they have this year. I'm sure that they could tell you a story. It hurts because we couldn't ask more for Khadijah. They played their hearts out, and to score as many points as they did says a lot. But we got into the same thing that we did against UConn. I think that with less than nine minutes to go in the game we were within nine at UConn, but what killed us is what happened in the first ten minutes, and that's also what killed us today. It was a bit much to overcome. We just need to be settled and a little more confident. It's not to blame them because this team did everything that it possibly could. I really admire, appreciate, respect the kind of effort. A coach couldn't be more proud of her players than I was of the effort and the way our team played today. I don't hang my head. I'm sad because I wish that they could play a little bit longer because they really deserve to. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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