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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2014Katie MeierKrystal SaundersGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Florida State ‑ 72 (OT) COACH KATIE MEIER KRYSTAL SAUNDERS  COACH KATIE MEIER: Obviously a frustrating result for us, especially feel like you're leading most of the game and have it kind of go away at the end there. But the start of the second half was probably our worst 4 minutes of basketball we played all year. And I think that segment right there was really where it changed our emotion, it changed our toughness, it changed our guts. It just changed our whole demeanor. Really disappointed in that performance in the second half, especially the fact that we were concerned about live ball turnovers and them getting steals and that ignited them. A lot of what we prepared for and a lot of what we were concerned about actually happened. That's frustrating as a coach and I'm sure as the players, as well. But it's frustrating that we know that Florida State needs to win, and we kind of gave it to them there in that 4 minutes. I will say, and I mean that sincerely, for Cheetah Delgado to have that game is unbelievable. It's a great response by a big‑time player who played with a ton of guts. Tasha Howard is Tasha Howard, we doubled her and she still got her numbers. She always does very, very well against us. The reason why we couldn't stop Howard is because Cheetah was scoring. It took away our game plan. She scored throughout the game and she hit the big shots for them. If she's going to do that, then not only are they an NCAA team, they can make it deeper. Q. Two games were pretty tight in the regular season and this one goes to overtime. Was it fitting that you guys played an extra 5 minutes when you played Florida State ‑‑ COACH KATIE MEIER: We're both probably sick of playing each other. I did think this would be one of the best games in tournament because of there was so much coaching going on, so much. And Florida State made some tremendous adjustments in their zone this game that they did not make in our last game. And they frustrated us. And I think the emotional immaturity of our team, lack of experience in certain positions, they got us to that point. I'm trying to give them credit without blaming my team. They did a really nice job of not giving us the looks that we were certain of. So then we became uncertain. And so most of our turnovers, if you could see my face, I had all these weird looks, like, What? I realized during the game if you were a player, you expected one thing, and they took that away and got us off balance. I'm frustrated, and I truly am, I do want to give them credit, because I hate when coaches don't give credit to their opposition for what they did to make us feel that way. They did do that. They are very long, they played very physically. In the crunch time when I was trying to go to Krystal, suddenly they were covering up Krystal really wide in their zone. We had people taking shots that aren't usually our game winners. And that's kind of what happened towards the end there. Q. Krystal, what makes the two teams so even, do you think? KRYSTAL SAUNDERS: What makes Florida State and Miami so even? It's a rivalry. That's our motive. We're playing Miami, it has to have some toughness in that. When we play each other it's like, who wants to win? Who wants it more? And today Florida State wanted it more. Q. Did you have a chance to win that tournament? You've been in a good situation like that before. COACH KATIE MEIER: That tournament, which we'd be proud and blessed to play in, if Krystal's legacy, Krystal and Maria four straight postseason bids as a class, that's a big deal. And I think that's going to happen for us, which is great. We have the ability when we play, with emotion, to beat anybody. We really do. The consistency this year has been very difficult at times. I've said all year I think if Suriya McGuire and Keyona Hayes play well on the same night, based on the consistency we've gotten from Krystal and Motley, you watch us on film sometimes, and you go, Wow, that's a top 25 team. No doubt. It's my job to make sure we get that performance every night and play consistently. The most excited team, the team that's happiest to be in that tournament, usually goes very far. And I will be very excited if we get that opportunity. Q. It didn't end up being moot, but how big was that Necole Sterling three, and overall her contribution tonight? COACH KATIE MEIER: Huge. Necole has been a very fun story for us. We are not an easy system to play in because you've got to have creativity and establish trust with me to understand what I'm thinking to play that free. It's not ‑‑ the inmates don't run the asylum. But there is a certain, Am I okay to take the shot, am I not okay to take the shot? I don't understand, Coach. I get that a lot with my first‑year players. There was a moment in the game she missed the shot. She didn't want that shot. She wasn't confident in the shot. I said to her, No, you've got to know you're good. Don't take a shot if you don't know you're good. You've got to know you're good and you've got to knock that down. She hit the next one and then she hit that big one. That was all her. She was supposed to either roll or pop, but the fact she was confident and took that shot, that's real exciting for us. Those type of sparks from all different players. Jessica Thomas had great minutes for us tonight, and I probably should have trusted her a little bit more down the stretch, to be honest. But that's fine. And as disappointed as I am right now, it will take me about 30 minutes to get my motivation back up, to get in the gym and fix what we need to fix and have more fun stories to pop up for us. This season there's a different story every game. And it's a great thing. We have nine players on the team, at one point every one has been a leading scorer. Which is probably no other team in the country can say that every one of their player has been at some time a leading scorer this year. But it also makes you a little bit crazy to figure out who to go to. That's the team this year. So we all decide that we're going to be leading scorer in the same night, we'll be great. We just want to keep playing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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