|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2014Marquelle DentChelan LandryJoe LegerskiFallon LewisLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Wyoming – 61 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Wyoming. Coach, if you'll just give some general remarks about tonight's game. COACH LEGERSKI: I think the game is what the Mountain West is about. Two teams giving everything that they have out there. You knew it was going to come down to maybe the last possession. Sure enough, we're up 10 with three minutes to go. We have to make a stop defensively. You give Boise State credit. They came at us in the last three minutes to create either a lay‑in or a three‑point shot. That was something we were trying to take away. I thought that was a big part of our game plan. In the first half we had to go small when Kaitlyn Mileto was in foul trouble. I thought Chelan Landry came in and gave us a big lift. We talked about being more aggressive. Marquelle Dent sure was that today. We had things designed to give Marquelle every opportunity to make things happened and she delivered. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. How hard is it to keep being aggressive when you're getting bumped and hit, maybe a couple fouls not called? MARQUELLE DENT: I think it potentially being our last game, you just have to keep going out and giving it your all. No matter what the foul calls are, you have to keep being aggressive, go to the basket, find your open teammates and stuff. Q. What was the game like for you, Fallon? Seemed like a prize fight. FALLON LEWIS: It was extremely physical. We knew coming out that it was going to be a really physical game, that we had to match that energy. Like Marquelle said, any game could be our last. We keep driving and forcing the ball in. Q. Fallon, it was a game where you got out early, they came back and took a lead. You don't always respond well to that. You did today. FALLON LEWIS: I think we had a great start coming out. That really gave us some momentum to keep pushing. Coach told us that we were going to have runs and they were going to have their runs. We just had to hold our ground, stay in the game. Q. I know they held you scoreless in the first half. Did anything change in the second half? FALLON LEWIS: I kind of just calmed down. I was kind of forcing things, forcing my shots. I kind of let the game come to me. Marquelle is great, and Chelan both, finding the open player. We calmed down and found one another. Q. Chelan, you had a big tournament last year. When you were called upon, were you confident or nervous? CHELAN LANDRY: I think we all were a little nervous in the beginning. Right after the tipoff, I think we were fine. Q. Marquelle, it seems like last couple games here you've been even more aggressive, on the throttle. Has that been a mindset for you? MARQUELLE DENT: Yeah, it's definitely a mindset just to be more aggressive. I think when we are more aggressive, it opens up a lot more shots for my teammates and stuff. That's definitely been a mindset throughout these last couple games. Q. Fallon, Joe mentioned after Friday's game that Marquelle was running, but the other players weren't running with her. How much did you put that as a premium? FALLON LEWIS: Earlier in the season, I think we all were running. That's how we were getting open looks. We had to find that again, come out with her today and run with her, we knew she would find the open person. I think we did that. Q. Fallon, what was it like, you play well at home. What was it like having that kind of support even in Vegas? FALLON LEWIS: Yeah, just coming out for warmups, seeing all that gold in the stands was awesome. They really gave us that home atmosphere. We felt very comfortable playing in front of them. So it was great. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. How big was it having this kind of fan support, creating that energy throughout this game? COACH LEGERSKI: One of the things I mentioned at the start of the game when we got into our huddle before tip was that you need to give this group something to cheer for. Wyoming fans are great supporters of this program. To see the number of people in the stands today, just to hear the roar during introductions, I think that really energized this team. We talked about giving them something to cheer for. I thought that we did that today, right through the very end. It definitely helps having that energy. It makes my team play a step harder than maybe what they want to do. I know there's going to be a lot of them here Thursday for the men's game and again for ours on Friday. Q. You talked after the CSU game on Friday where you feel Marquelle is becoming the emotional leader of the team. Are you surprised when she has performances like this and takes over a game? COACH LEGERSKI: Sometimes we forget she's a sophomore. She really came on at the end of last season. It takes a little bit of time to adjust to that role of where we want the basketball in her hands to make decisions. We did a lot of high pick for her today and she delivered. That's the biggest thing you ask a player to do. It was difficult. When you look at the stats, you see that Fallon and Kayla were 6 for 28, baskets were not going to come easy. We needed somebody to be able to step up, and that's Marquelle. I thought we really ran today. That's the big thing, is that you cannot have Marquelle attacking one on three. We have great shooters on the wings. They need to get out with Marquelle and give her options. When they do that, it makes the game a lot easier. Q. Fallon didn't have any points in the first half. Were they taking anything away or did something change? Did you make adjustments in the second half for her? COACH LEGERSKI: First of all, Boise State is very good defensively. They create some issues for you. One of the things that I thought with Fallon is she understands being a senior. Everything that this year has meant to her, from a small school in Wyoming, to putting on that jersey. She wants to keep putting it on as many days as she can. I thought she was tight early. We just talked to her to let the game happen for her. There will be enough people to help her out. I thought she did that in the second half. We moved her a little bit, we adjusted how we were attacking to try to free her up. And Marquelle and Chelan found her with easy shots. There's nothing better than to get an easy shot when you're not making any shots. Q. It seems like at times she was hitting the floor pretty hard like a prize fight. Did it get a little more physical than maybe you thought or expected? Was that kind of typical? COACH LEGERSKI: No, I just think with tournament play, everybody's giving 100% effort. We talk about you win, you advance; you lose, you go home. Give everything you have. I thought Fallon did that. She was diving on the floor. In fact, I thought both teams gave everything they had today. I think that's why you saw such a great basketball game. Very entertaining, exciting right to the very end. Then Marquelle Dent steps up and makes two free throws. For all us Wyoming fans, I'm very proud of what Marquelle was able to accomplish today. Q. You just mentioned it, but there's been a couple games during the season where you haven't finished quite as well. With them making that run, what allowed you to put an end to that? COACH LEGERSKI: One of the things we talked about is that every team makes runs. Boise State happened to make theirs in the last three minutes. We had to remind them we were the team that was ahead and to play that way. Do not get tentative, keep attacking the basket, keep rebounding, let's win the final four minutes. As it ended up being, we won the game. It's a learning experience for this group. A year ago we just threw the ball to Chandra Sewell. It's a little different this season. They're still trying to figure out where the leadership comes from, where the points come from every night. Even when Kayla doesn't shoot the ball well, she had nine rebounds and five steals. That's an important night. Jordan Sibrel had six offensive rebounds, gave us extra opportunities. Every play becomes so important in close basketball games. Q. The last time you played them, they were really hot from behind the three‑point arc. Did you do anything differently to try to cool them down a little bit? COACH LEGERSKI: When you take a look at the box score, we knew we could not give up three‑point shots. We gave one up at the end where we made a defensive mistake. To their credit, they made us pay for it. Only to give up three, I'm very happy with that effort. That was an effort going into this game that we knew we had to take that away. The last time we played them, they shot the ball extremely well from three. We didn't have many answers to try to guard what we were trying to get done. I thought tonight we did a better job. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. COACH LEGERSKI: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|