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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2014Stephanie BairstowJerry FinkbeinerJennifer SchlottLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Utah State – 69 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Utah State. Coach, just some general comments on today's game. COACH FINKBEINER: I think on paper going into this game, looking at all the first‑round matchups and possible second‑round matchups, I thought this game would be the closest one probably played in the next 48 hours just because the two games we played this year against New Mexico were all five‑point wins and a two‑point win. My biggest objective was to convince the girls if you beat them twice, you can beat them a third time. I really like the way we kind of grinded it out. I knew it was going to be a tough matchup. There's some reason our two teams, our two programs cancel each other out in some key positions. I thought these two here obviously came through for us and put us over the hump. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Talk about the defense you played in the second half. JENNIFER SCHLOTT: I thought we really clamped down, especially on the defensive boards. We got a couple really good ones. I thought our effort was just key, though. We really just knew where the shooters were. We talked through some things. It was great. Q. Can you take us through the last play. You were defending the three ball they were trying to get. JENNIFER SCHLOTT: Yeah. Well, we knew they needed a three. We didn't want to give up anything. But we just switched everything, kept our hands up really. That's about it. Q. Stephanie, can you talk about your game today. You've been finishing strong lately. Had a good game at Wyoming. STEPHANIE BAIRSTOW: I feel pretty good about today, the way that I played. I think I came out and did what I needed to do, took the shots that I wanted to take, yeah. Q. Talk about Mak's four‑point play at the end. STEPHANIE BAIRSTOW: That was huge for us, really, really big. We were sort of getting down on momentum. We came out the second half with that good feeling that that brought. Q. Jen, talk about Stephanie's play. JENNIFER SCHLOTT: Steph was huge tonight. She made some really good shots. I thought her one face‑up jumper towards the end was huge. It was a big‑time shot. It's just what we expect from her. She's a great player. She's just going to do this night in and night out, I think. Q. Let us in in terms of the short turnaround time for tomorrow's game, how you get ready for tomorrow's game. JENNIFER SCHLOTT: Well, we played them twice. We know them. They know us. But, yeah, just watch film. Just try and focus up really. We know what we have to do. They know what they have to do. But I think it's just taking all that energy we had from this win and just bringing it to the next. STEPHANIE BAIRSTOW: Yeah, I think we're just going to go home, get some good food, get some good sleep tonight because it is a very quick turnaround. Come out ready to play tomorrow. We know we can do it, so... THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. New Mexico had 17 first‑half field goals, then you cut that down to six for them. What was different with your defense in the second half? COACH FINKBEINER: You know, first of all, we're very inconsistent defensively. We don't know what defense is going to work from one game to another game. Sounds like bad coaching, and it may be. But we went to several different defenses. I thought New Mexico had a free spirit about the game. They just let 'em fly. They surprised us with attacking the basket in the full court against us. That's what really surprised us. We were just playing on the defensive the whole game. The second half, we told our girls at halftime, sit in a 2‑3 zone and match straight up, let's just kind of collectively gather our breath here a little bit and try to slow the game down a little bit. Then I think, too, like Stephanie said, that four‑point play at the end of the half really helped us. We were struggling I think emotionally even, just kind of questioning some things. When Mak hit that four‑point play, instead of eight, we're down by four. Like Steph said, we had a new lease on life. We realized, Hey, let's go attack, and defensively let's try to get a little more stability about us, protect the basket better. Because I thought New Mexico did a good job out of the gate attacking the basket from both the full‑court and the half‑court offense. Consequently we got a lot of free throws, too, the first half. So we just controlled defensively, slowed the ball down defensively. I think that kept them off the free‑throw line and gave us a better chance to get rebounds, too. Q. We hear a lot about Jen and Mak because they put up a lot of points. Talk about Elise Nelson and the hustle play she makes for you and the difference it makes in the game. COACH FINKBEINER: Good question. Elise, when the conference awards came out this week, we knew Jen was up there in stats, exposure. I was keeping my fingers crossed. The eighth‑placed seed we still get the MVP out of it, because she's that good. The crazy thing about Elise Nelson is she's that good defensively. I really appreciate the coaches in the league recognizing that. It's almost Elise kind of covers for Jen defensively, and Jen kind of covers for Elise offensively. We have a pretty good package there. Elise is a two guard, but we play her as a three because we need defense in the back line. She's typically our leading rebounder every night. She was tonight also. Just a strong kid that has a lot of character, a lot of fiber about her. That's a good combo. Jen is our poster girl and Elise is our blue‑collar in the back line. I was happy for Elise this week to get that all‑defensive award as I was Jen being the MVP of the conference. They cover each other. Q. Talk about Stephanie's play tonight. COACH FINKBEINER: I joke with Stephanie. She's my first recruit to Utah State. I've got a little bit of a protectiveness over here, a little bit of pride, just kind of a mentoring, you know, thing about her. She's a good player. She's kind of fought through some things this year, questioned herself last summer. She lives in her brother Cameron's shadow. I've been joking with her a lot lately. Play a little bit more like Cameron, Steph, and you'll be okay. She hit her stride six games ago. We played good ball the last six games, seven tonight. I think you'll see this is the Stephanie Bairstow of the future. She's an inside‑ out girl. We'll work on her foot speed this spring and summer. Motivated. Her big brother is her idol. If I ever want to challenge Steph, I say, What would Cameron do? Her eyes really brighten up. Sometimes she tears up a little bit. I don't use it to make her feel guilty, I just know that's her idol. Steph being an inside‑out player, that's a valuable commodity in the men's or women's game. Stephanie, you saw a little bit tonight, what we're going to feature next year. It's going to be the Mak and Stephanie show offensively. They're both starting to get it, both being sophomores. Q. What is the message you'll give to the team for tomorrow? COACH FINKBEINER: Good question. I told this 20 minutes ago, We have to play the best game of the year tomorrow.  We have 22 hours to rest up, prepare, get after them. Colorado State, they're the best team in the conference. They beat us easily both games. We're just going to have to play really well. Jen is going to have to get hers, Steph is going to have to get hers, Mak is going to have to get more than hers. We're going to approach it the same as New Mexico today. We want to go up and down, score points, run, gun and have fun. Don't count us out. But at the same time we're realistic, we have to play our best game of the year tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. COACH FINKBEINER: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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