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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2014Sam MartinGritt RyderRyun WilliamsLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Colorado State – 72 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Colorado State. Coach, just some general remarks on today's game. COACH WILLIAMS: Well, when we saw this draw, Utah State right now is the hottest team in the league. When you've got guards like Schlott and Williams, we knew that was going to be a very, very tough draw for us. With them having nothing to lose, we knew we were going to get a great shot. Utah State was exceptional today. They were exceptional. I credit our kids with keeping the poise and the composure. We've said it all year long, they just kind of find a way to win. Sometimes we win pretty, sometimes we win ugly, sometimes we win shooting it, and sometimes like tonight you don't win many games shooting 5 of 22 from the three. A pretty gritty and gutsy group. Happy with a victory against a Utah State team that is as hot as anybody and is as good as anybody. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Sam, what was going through your mind when they took the three‑point lead with a minute? Were you seeing your senior year and your career flash before your eyes at that point? SAM MARTIN: Well, it was a little stressful at the end. Honestly, I really believe in my team and I believe in these girls. We always find a way to win, as coach always says. I had a lot of faith we were going to be able to get this back. We just said, One more score and we're there, one more stop and we're there. That was our mindset, just most important play. We kept that in mind during that last minute there. Q. Gritt, can you talk about your team's poise in the final couple minutes. GRITT RYDER: I think like coach said we find another way to win every time. I was confident that we were going to find a way. Maybe wasn't going to be a three, but an offensive rebound from Sam or a drive by Elly. As Sam says, just take one play at a time. I think we did that and I think that's why we won. Q. Sam, can you tell us what it was like for you late in the game knowing you had the opportunity to tie it up? SAM MARTIN: It was fun. Every time Hayley and I always practice, every time we shoot free throws, it's like, This is for the Mountain West.  It was like, I've been here before in my head. I was more excited when Elly hit that layup. It was a fun game to play with my team. Q. Gritt, you shot more free throws by yourself than Utah State did as a team. What were you seeing out there on the floor? GRITT RYDER: We know Jennifer Schlott was an important player and she was guarding me. They ended up fouling me. That's why I ended up at the line. Q. Sam, it seemed like the first half you were content to play their style of game. In the second half you seemed to turn more to play your style game with the quick inside post feeds, quick buckets. Did it feel that way on the court? SAM MARTIN: Definitely. I think that we went out in that first half a little timid. I think we were playing good defense, it just our offense wasn't rolling. We weren't playing CSU basketball. We went in at halftime and talked it over, Let's play our game, let's keep getting stops and play confidently our offense. We came out a little timid in the first half, I would say. But we definitely came back out and finished with CSU basketball. Q. Gritt, you had to guard Jennifer Schlott. What is it like having to guard a player like that? GRITT RYDER: She's really, really, really good. I'm happy I'm not playing against her next year. It was a collective effort from our group to keep her from scoring. I think we did a really good job in the second half. But a player like that, you can't hold her down. I have a lot of respect for how she played tonight and has been playing all year. Q. Sam, can you talk about Gritt's game today. SAM MARTIN: Gritt played really, really well tonight. I think that our team as a whole wasn't able to make a lot of things, and Gritt was there being consistent, making the plays, doing a lot of things to keep our team in there. It's easy when you're not making anything to stop. Gritt kept our team going. I think she showed great leadership out there and composure in the end of the game with getting stops and did everything today. I think that was huge for our team. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. What was the mood like at halftime? What did you say to these kids? COACH WILLIAMS: Our mood was fine, very matter of fact. Here is what we have to do to win the basketball game. That's not the first time we've been down. I think the last four or five games we've had close games at half or been down at half. The strength of this team is the composure of this team. That's exactly what our halftime message was. You do have to take it possession by possession. Let's just go out and execute the way we're capable of executing. I thought we needed to do a better job defensively on Schlott. She had a really big first half. We kind of walled her up much better in the second half. Then offensively we needed to get the ball to Sam inside. You talk a few adjustments. But these kids are smart basketball players. They made the right plays at the right time tonight. Q. Now you have two days before you play again. A little bit different in a conference tournament to have this break in the middle. What do you do the next two days? COACH WILLIAMS: We're going to hit every show in Vegas, I mean every one (laughter). No, we're going to treat it just like a normal conference season where you play on Wednesday and then you play again on a Saturday. We're going to treat tomorrow like a Thursday. We need to rest our bodies. We'll get a nice little practice in and get some treatment on some kids. It flows right in nicely with how we've gone all year. We're not going to change anything with our game routine. Q. Can you talk about Elly's three‑point play that put you ahead. She stayed in there and put you ahead. COACH WILLIAMS: Elly has made some big plays all year in crucial situations. She just stays with it. She just keeps playing. That was the perfect example. That was a huge basket. The shot clock was going down. We did have them spread out there in our late‑game situations and we needed to attack. That's why we got to the foul line late. Elly is a really good driver. She saw her hole. It was a great finish. To make the free throw, that got us over the hump. Q. Stephanie had two points in the first half. Were you expecting her to go off like that in the second half? COACH WILLIAMS: First of all, Bairstow, what a terrific game. You can see her grow as a basketball player. You saw that in her brother, too. Let's hope she doesn't get that good. But she was somebody that we were always concerned about, first half, second half. This time of year it's about players stepping up and making plays. Bairstow, she did that today. You got to give her credit. 9 of 13. It wasn't that we weren't guarding her or competing on her; she made plays. Q. Coming in in your first game and playing a Utah State team that if healthy is probably at least a four or five seed in this conference. Do you feel like this is as big a challenge you might face in the tournament? COACH WILLIAMS: Maybe. Everybody in this tournament's really good, right? We've talked about the parity of this league from day one this year. This tournament is no different. But playing a Utah State team with those guards, I mean, those guards are big‑time players, terrific players. So they're not an eight seed like I said earlier. It surely gets our urgency level where it needs to be early on in the tournament. It surely got us spurred and ready to go. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. COACH WILLIAMS: Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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