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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2014Chelsea GardnerCece HarperBonnie HenricksonOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA KANSAS – 87 BONNIE HENRICKSON: It's how rivalry games should go down, don't you think? Just, it's a rivalry game, it's a rubber match and in the Big 12 Tournament, and it's we win or go home, and it was go back for us and it was all that. Couldn't be more proud of the toughness we showed to get it into overtime. They get the offensive rebound but we scored‑‑ think about it how many‑‑ three of our out‑of‑state games, or seven games have been three points or less, we've played more one‑possession games than any team in America I really believe but we've not found ways to make plays on both ends. Chelsea's free throws, we get the 50/50 loose ball finally and we get the stop at the end with the three‑point game, and in those moments we've not done that. We've been that close all year, and just excited for the kids that we were finally able to get one, and it was that close. Q. Bonnie, just yesterday you were talking about being down 21‑0 to Kansas State the last time you played them. This time you come out and get down pretty big early, as well. Talk about the result of coming back from that? BONNIE HENRICKSON: Yeah, once we became more aggressive and they got eight offensive rebounds probably in the first six or seven minutes, and we finally cleaned that up. The difference was at our place I think we were still down double digits and this one was a two‑ or three‑point game and we had a little momentum going into the locker room because we cut it to nine at our place and then it went back to 14 on three layups. So we didn't feel like, even though we had cut it from 21, it was still 13, 14 so it felt different in the locker room. The energy in the locker room was much different than at our place because we still really hadn't gotten back. We eventually at the six‑minute mark tied it up at our place, but it took us a while to do that where we cut back into the deficit and made it a game at the half, and that worked different. But give them credit, they came out just like they did at our place and hit shots. They didn't shoot as well as they did at our place, but they offensive rebounded and hit free throws, Wesemann hit three threes and Katya hits a couple and it change defensively like we did with her. But a little bit different in the locker room this time than at our place. Q. Chelsea, can you talk a little bit about down six in overtime, just the resiliency and the fight that you guys had to just capture this game? CHELSEA GARDNER: I thought we had a lot of energy and just not letting up and just wanting to fight and staying with them and just making plays and going to the free‑throw line. Q. Coach, you guys handled Romero pretty well tonight and she didn't shoot very well. Did you do anything special to defend her? BONNIE HENRICKSON: Well, probably nobody more excited a player than that kid coming into this one coming into this after the showing at our place. Honestly, we didn't have an answer. She had 26 and nine assists. We tried to switch up the on‑ball screen and we played it three or four different ways with her and then we started to go underneath, because she is trying to drive and facilitate. She became a facilitator. At our place she was a scorer. She was a scorer from the first possession. She took two pull‑up jump shots, so her mentality appeared to be a little bit in this one early, where she just got people shots. She did both at our place, but then at times she took over certainly and scored and the kid's got mid‑range game and a three and the ability to score at the rim. I thought we were a little bit more disruptive, I thought, how we played and switched and tried to switch the match‑up a little bit and not give her the same thing the whole time. Although we switched how we played her in screens at our place as well. I think she became more of a facilitator early here than she did at our place. She's good, though, heaven's sake, she good. Q. For both players, you guys get another shot at Baylor tomorrow. It would seem you guys are one of the few teams in the league that would be extremely confident going into a game against them considering the last time you played them you beat them. Can you talk about that momentum? BONNIE HENRICKSON: Keep in mind we play them tomorrow. CECE HARPER: I think it's all about just coming out confident and coming out playing our game, just the prep that the coaches give us is amazing, just knowing what we needed to do to put ourselves in the situation to win tomorrow. BONNIE HENRICKSON: That's a good senior answer. CHELSEA GARDNER: I think we just need to fight, fight like we did tonight and just fight, fight, fight. That's what I feel like we've got to do. Q. Coach, can you talk a little bit about CeCe's play down the stretch in regulation? BONNIE HENRICKSON: Yeah, probably three of the biggest ones in her career, the and‑one and the two to grow the lead and get it to three. CeCe, defensively how much different it feels when it's a three‑point game then it is a two‑point game because we're switching everything, we're getting on everybody to get beat off the dribble, let it go to the rim, let it be a two, fine, you know what I'm saying where it's a two‑point game you're worried about match‑ups switching everything because we're worried about it going to the rim. Get an offensive rebound, you don't have to go rebound, you just stay at the three‑point line. So those free throws turn into a three‑point game, but essentially it's a whole lot different and we've been in those games where we needed a three and the same thing happened to us to get that good look in because of the switching and pushing and running off the line, and it was nice for us to be in that situation where it was a three‑ and not a two‑point game. Yeah, CeCe was aggressive and got to the rim and made good plays, and Nat could be sitting up here with us, too, because she drove it, got fouls and made free throws. When you look at a game like that, about being able to score, when you're down six, you better find a way to score when the clock is not running, honestly, and that's where we get back in it because how many of those are when the clock is not running. Because we get back in it, because I'm starting to talk to them about who we're going to foul. We call black, black on, and all of a sudden we're back in it and I call 50. I was worried for a second they were going to try to foul and I don't think they realized that they could've got themselves back in it in two possessions because of the and‑ones and the free throws. Q. Coach, can you talk about that match‑up and just what you were able to do against them last time? BONNIE HENRICKSON: Well, we played a similar defense to them and honestly we played the same thing when they had Griner. It's the exact same thing and Iowa State has played it against them, as well. You're not going to‑‑ I don't think it's possible to slow down‑‑ I haven't seen the Iowa State game. I watched our game with them and what we did defensively, and I thought our coverage was good, I thought we kind of hedged and got back and recovered and didn't really commit, and with her we did. In the locker room we said, okay, what killed us the first five minutes, they said she offensive rebounded on us, for a guy that we're trying keep from touching the ball, she shot it and got her own rebounds and other guys shot it and she got those rebounds, because it was 16‑3 at one point. They got all over us right away, because we got back in it one possession at a time, we got some rebounds, we scored in transition, and we rebounded the ball and they changed kind of how they played in the second half and kind of answered that. They had to defend, and we don't have anybody in our league that can play her one‑on‑one. We don't have anybody, let's just speak for me. We don't have anybody that can sit down and guard her one‑on‑one because of how many different ways she can score. I thought we brought help early, we got back and rebounded and we made some big shots and drove it on them a little bit in transition and we got some defensive rebounds, same thing how we got back in this, we defensive rebounded and get some opportunities in transition. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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