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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2013Jim FosterTayler HillAmber StokesHOFFMAN ESTATES, ILLINOIS Penn State – 76 THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. It's 39‑39, probably four minutes into the second half, and then just everything started going away. What happened in that 10‑0 run that allowed them to get away from you? TAYLER HILL: I think we just had some missed assignments on defense. And then offensively, we weren't really moving the ball, make quick shots. AMBER STOKES: I say we lost focus. Q. Did they change anything they were doing in the second half from what you'd seen in the first half? AMBER STOKES: No, I don't think they changed. We just got out hustled on a couple of plays. We weren't really doing what we were doing in the first half for a couple of segments. So... Q. Tayler, what were you doing that was working against them? You were up at least five points with the biggest lead in the first half. What was working early for you? TAYLER HILL: Reversing the ball and not taking quick shots. Q. Amber, was there something there that you were seeing that they were presenting to you? You were getting aggressive, got a lot of good looks. AMBER STOKES: We were moving the ball. My teammates were finding me and I was able to make the shots. So it was just ball movement that allowed me to get open. Q. It's kind of out of your hands right now, but as you look toward the postseason, Tayler, just what are you thinking right now? TAYLER HILL: Like you said, it's out of our hands. We just gotta wait and see. AMBER STOKES: We've got to stay positive, that's all. Keep our heads up and see what happens. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. When it was 39‑39, did you think it was going pretty much your way, and did that 10‑0 run, that came so fast, but that's them, did that kind of shock you? COACH FOSTER: I just think we had about a three‑minute flip, four‑minute flip of individual play. People forgot what was getting us great looks and getting us opportunities was great ball reversal. And at the first sign of, it was a little bit harder to reverse, we had people just trying to go get their own shot. We're not that kind of team. We can't be that kind of team. When we moved the ball, I mean, obviously 19 assists out of 25 baskets, the ball was hopping. And what we wanted to do, we were able to get done. Our turnovers were bad turnovers and our mistakes were bad mistakes. Fouling Maggie Lucas on a 3‑point attempt in transition, the fact that she's open, we had two people back. You have to cover that. That's a mental mistake. The foul makes it even worse. But those things in the framework of a game happen. And you can't let them bite you. You gotta‑‑ you've gotta come back. And remember what got you there. Remember good, solid ball movement and getting everybody involved. Q. They talked about basically they felt like they tuned up their defense a little bit after the first half and were making it harder for you guys to find shots. They were hedging screens and they were doing all those things. But did they play better defense in the second half? COACH FOSTER: I think we made poor decisions. They did not do anything differently in the second half. They hard hedged in the first. That's who they are. That's what they do. But in the first half, we were patient enough to take them wide, kick it back to the other side of the floor, and spread them. That's why Amber had such success scoring and that's why Ashley Adams had such success scoring, because they got extended defensively. In the second half for that blip of time, we didn't spread them. And now they're in the lane and we're attacking the lane. And without spreading them, you know, that's when Greene's size and their shot‑blocking ability is going to become part of the game. That wasn't involved when we reversed the ball, when we got them extended. So it was just more a mental thing. And I can't attribute it to any one thing. Yeah, we've got a young point guard. But a lot of games, a lot of experiences. Grow from it. Q. You talk about you have a young point guard, but they have a senior point guard. Seemed like she really made a lot of big baskets in the first half. COACH FOSTER: Well, Bentley, she's really grown as a player. I think nothing more obvious than her patience. Like the 3s that she took today, sometimes she gets a little restless, but she seems to be getting a little more patient and knows when to strike. Knows when to. And I just think that she's gotten savvier, as she's grown. Very instinctive player as young player, could really push it. Very gifted with the ball. I think she played much slower tonight and with a lot more composure. Q. Are there things that Ameryst can learn from watching her then? COACH FOSTER: Ameryst is going to be a good player. She's got a good skill set. And the game we played without Tayler Hill and Amber Stokes, the Purdue game, Am had 24 points. Am averaged quite a few points in high school. I think as a freshmen, she has deferred to couple of senior guards out there with her. I don't think she'll be deferring too much in the next three years. You could say the same thing about Bentley when she was a freshman. Q. Your first 10 years here, your first 10 years with this team, you pretty much knew you were going to be in the NCAA Tournament. And I don't know that you think‑‑ I don't know what your thinking is right now with an 18‑13 record coming in, but what are you thinking right now about that? COACH FOSTER: Well, stranger things have happened. I don't know. They always‑‑ if you asked me today, were we one of the best 64 teams in the country right now, my response would be certainly we are. But there's X number of automatic bids. And you can look at things in many different ways. So I don't expect, but you never know. You never know until people get together in a room. Some things, sometimes maybe it was just taken for granted at a certain point in time. You gotta grind for these things. Something we talk about all the time, talk about in November, December, January. What I like about this is that this team sort of was in a perfect storm there for about two, three weeks, and figured out how to get out of it. And it was very competitive and a good basketball team at the end of the year. Q. Is it too simplistic to say if you got a lot of the contributions you've gotten these two games, scoring‑wise, from Ashley and Raven and Amber helping out, Tayler, that you wouldn't be in that situation? Were there things that you guys‑‑ COACH FOSTER: Yeah, you can always look back and say things like that. I think Ashley‑‑ I'll give Ashley a lot of credit. Essentially she's been a one‑leg player for the last couple of months. She can only pivot off of one. And you could have mailed it in. You could have mailed it in. But I'd say her last seven games is the best basketball that Ashley Adams has played. She was solid. She's double figures, she's rebounded the ball, and you could depend on her to get numbers. And I think a lot of that is her developing a little bit of a tougher veneer and more of an understanding. Q. So you go home tomorrow. Would you take a couple days off and then just come‑‑ COACH FOSTER: We'll probably get back in the gym Wednesday. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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