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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2014Chiney OgwumikeLili ThompsonTara VanDerveerSEATTLE, WASHINGTON Stanford – 69 THE MODERATOR: Welcome, and congratulations to Stanford. We have Coach Tara VanDerveer, Lili Thompson, and Chiney Ogwumike. Coach, an opening comment? COACH VANDERVEER: I thought Colorado came out and they were very aggressive. Brittany Wilson hit some big shots for them; and they made a decision, I think, to really double Chiney, and it took us a while to kind of really get ourselves going. Credit to Colorado. But then in the second half I thought we struggled in the first half. We missed open shots, but we made those shots in the second half. I thought Bonnie hit some big shots, Chiney made her three, Lili hit her three. Just getting out and getting some more energy. I thought Alex Green did a great job first coming off the bench. I thought Karlie helped us coming off the bench, and I thought Mikaela Ruef had a really good game. Q. In the games in the last few weeks you've gotten off to a slow start or had somebody that's played with you into the second half. Is there a common denominator in those games? COACH VANDERVEER: At this point with your conference teams, they've scouted you. They've played against you for three or four years twice a year. So I think that this is the best preparation for the NCAA Tournament. They're going to make you do things that maybe aren't comfortable. They put you out of your comfort zone a little bit. I think that Colorado did that a little bit to us. But, again, I think credit, Lili's poise. We did a better job in the second half with our free throws. First half we were bricking free throws too. We hit some shots in the second half. It's hard when you're not making shots, you're not making free throws. One thing that we did pretty well, we took care of the ball pretty well. To have 12 turnovers against an aggressive defense is a good thing for us. Again, I thought Mikaela's play was really, really important for us to do well in. Obviously, we count so much on Chiney, and she was missing some shots that she ordinarily makes. We're used to the gym now, and we did a much better job in the second half. Q. Chiney, in the first half, five points, what were they doing to stop you? What was that like for the whole team, basically, in the first half? It looked like you folks hadn't woken up yet or something. But obviously it was their defense that did it. CHINEY OGWUMIKE: Yeah, I think it was the physicality. I mean, it was unconventional physicality. It was different. I think they sagged off a few players, they always had that person sagging off helping. I think throughout the year we've had a good balance inside and outside game. So when they doubled, we had people hitting shots. It just took us a while to hit our shots. But at the end of the day, I think our perseverance showed. I'm really proud of my team, because Lili had a big plays. Bonnie was diving on the floor. Alex gave us quality minutes. So if teams are going to play that way, I think we now understand that a little bit better. We're going to get everyone's A game and get an unconventional A game to make us shake it up a little bit. So as long as we just weather the storm, I'm really confident for my team. Q. Can you take us through that three‑pointer? Was that designed or did you find yourself wide open? How much fun was that? CHINEY OGWUMIKE: It was absolutely not designed. But Coach Tara always tells me, throughout the years she's said, Chiney don't let your shot be an after shot. I love being close to the basket that I force things up close to the basket a lot. So it's sort of like YOLO a little bit. It's the end of the year, you only live once, if you don't know what that is. It's the end of the year, and we shoot a lot. Coach has so much confidence in me, and she said, Chiney, just shoot in rhythm. I'm like, all right. It's tough inside, I'm going to just take this with me outside, and I felt confident. It was fun. I mean, if they're going to take away the inside, I have to diversify my game. It just felt good. I was a little hyped afterwards. Q. Lili, can you talk about that stretch early in the second half when you folks made that big run and you made that off balance shot from the baseline, everything seemed to be working for you. You didn't seem at all nervous in your first Pac‑12 tournament. What was it like for you during that particular stretch? LILI THOMPSON: I think we kind of‑‑ it started in the timeout with everyone kind of getting their energy going. I was feeding off of my teammates starting on the defensive end, trying to get some things to go our way. I could just see it in my teammates eyes that we just needed one little spark just to get going. I just wanted to come down because I found myself in a position where I could score. It kind of just got everybody hyped up and everybody going. It really allowed us to pull away there. It was fun. It was good. Q. Tara, do you know what YOLO means? COACH VANDERVEER: I do not. CHINEY OGWUMIKE: That's why I gave the definition, you know? She has so many Taraisms. I'll say that's a Chiney Ogwumikeism. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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