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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2014Jane AlbrightEmily BurnsArielle WidemanLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Fresno State – 82 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Nevada. Coach, we'll ask you to make an opening remark about tonight's game. COACH ALBRIGHT: Well, I'll just first of all start out by congratulating Fresno State for being in the championship game again. Last year they started at a completely different place at the end of the year than we did. They were in the championship game, they won the championship game, they got to the NCAA I don't know how many of the last years. We don't have that history at our school. I'm really, really proud of our young ladies because we were picked at the bottom, I think 10th. I think Fresno State was picked 1. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. But to be able to get to this game and play as well as we played and as hard as we played, really proud of them. There was about a four‑minute stretch in there that they got away from us. Moriah Faulk was the X factor in the first half. She hit five threes. We were trying to key in on Taylor and Bree because they're the ones that usually kill us. I saw Moriah play yesterday's game and I thought she had a great game. She's really a great player. Obviously a transfer from UCLA. Did a lot of things. Their senior leadership is very evident in Bree and Taylor, a lot of experience. We really hadn't been in these type of games before. The experience we have you see in our seniors. Arie was all heart and soul today, seven assists and 17 points is a great line for her. Emily, you know, she's the other person that has experience, not a senior. She's logged a lot of minutes. 14 rebounds and 13 points, so a double‑double in a game like that. It wasn't lack of effort on our part. Again, they're great shooters. They only hit three threes in the second half. Again, Moriah was definitely the X factor in the first half until it got away. I felt our kids kept plugging away, did a good job on the boards. I think we out‑rebounded them. We turned the ball over carelessly in the game, but that comes in a game like that. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. How disappointing is it to have this loss? ARIELLE WIDEMAN: It was disappointing because I felt like we've had such a great season. We only didn't play well for about four minutes, and Fresno can get away from you that quick. 36 out of the 40 minutes we played well. They shot the lights out when we slipped up. It's disappointing, but I know we'll get to play in the post‑season. EMILY BURNS: I disagree with Arie. I think there are four minutes where we let it get away from us. But otherwise we played a great game. It's disappointing to know the regular season is over. If we made it to the NCAA tournament or not, it's one season down. I think we're looking forward to keep playing and show people that we're not done yet. Q. Talk about the second half. They came out and they very quickly started doubling the point trying to deny inside. Were you prepared for that? How did you react to that? ARIELLE WIDEMAN: It was a little different because it was a twilight zone. We prepared for it, but we didn't execute as well as we practiced. They kind of got us off balance, so... Q. For a long time, Fresno has been more than just a little bit better than Nevada last couple years. Do you feel like you're closing the gap, leaving this school with a better legacy than it had before against the top teams? ARIELLE WIDEMAN: Yeah, I definitely think we changed the culture here. We've closed the gap. I think two out of the last four we've won. I think the gap is just decreasing between us and Fresno. I think coach Jane is just helping turn this program around so it's top in the Mountain West Conference. Q. Emily, how much more difficult is this team when they're hitting their three‑pointers the way they were? EMILY BURNS: They're pretty difficult because they do have big post players. It's not like you can just say let's guard the outside and leave the inside open. They keep us spread out and that's something we need to work on. But I think it's something we can do. It's definitely going to be coming up in our practices now. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. Jane, if you could address the second half when they decided they wanted to double the point. How much more difficult was it for you to get into your offense? COACH ALBRIGHT: To be honest with you, that's how they play. You hadn't really seen it, but that is their system. We have prepared against it all year. They didn't do it in the first half. We just had a couple of back‑to‑back turnovers against it, then I think we panicked. The twilight zone is a great thing. They've had a lot of success with it. We certainly, like Arie said, did not execute. But we were not surprised. We shot the ball really well. Pretty much if you look at the statistics, I'm a number's person, check the free throw count. That's where the game was. Mimi was on the bench, I think she played four or five minutes. So that was one of the things that we weren't able to do, is block shots like we normally do. But the foul count, and I'm not saying we didn't foul, I don't want anybody getting me in trouble, but free throws, you know, they all shoot‑‑ you're all sitting in the stands thinking, there's only 10 points fouling. Well, they all shoot like 80% from the free throw line. There's always a reason Taylor has the ball in her hands, because she's never missed a free throw since she came over from Australia. I mean, it's free throws. But that is their system. Q. How difficult is it when they are hitting their threes? I think they were 8‑13. COACH ALBRIGHT: They were. Moriah usually doesn't hit five threes. Certainly you can only guard so many three‑point shooters, which is why they're great. When they don't win, it's because they don't hit those shots. But when they do hit 'em, that's a lot of threes. I thought our defense was decent on it. But when you break down, they make you pay for it. Moriah's shots were all uncontested. I told you yesterday, I don't want to play these people in horse. We know that. We have to contest. That was at the top of the list of what we knew we had to do was contest shots. We had a few blocks. We contested them. Their numbers went down in the second half from the three because we contested three. I think it was two in transition for Moriah, Taylor got one from our 2‑3 zone at the top. They were total breakdowns. They just make you pay. We can't guard them man. We tried, but that was really a disaster. Q. Was losing Mimi to so many minutes, was that tough? COACH ALBRIGHT: That was very tough. Yeah, it was really tough. It's part of the game, but it's really tough. She's our starting center. She's co‑defensive Player of the Year. Taylor played how many minutes? 38. So, I mean, yeah, 16 isn't enough minutes for her for us to be good. Look at the rebounds. That's why I felt like Emily really stepped up. Aja and Nyasha, Julia, they had good minutes, but they're not 6'8". Q. Talk about the post‑season. COACH ALBRIGHT: Getting 3 spot in a major conference like this, we feel pretty confident we could get an NIT bid. A lot of it for sure I don't really know. I've been told there's a good chance. I'm really disappointed in the system of the RPI because I know we certainly are worthy of having a couple of teams. Colorado State and Fresno State should both be in the NCAA tournament. Only one of them will get in. I don't think any way RPI‑wise both will get in. I'm sad for our conference because they're both NCAA‑worthy teams. Wyoming, in my opinion, is, too. I think those would be the teams that get to go. Maybe even Boise. I don't really know. I know a lot of teams that get to go to the NIT. I think it's 64, isn't it? We're pretty hungry to go and they know it. Q. The season overall. Pretty happy with the way it's gone? COACH ALBRIGHT: I'm ecstatic. This is my 30th season. This was one of the most enjoyable seasons I've ever had. They're a group that they work hard. They done what we asked them. They don't always cover shooters. But if that's the worst thing they have... You saw them, they take these little things with them. We ask them to change the culture of our program and I believe that they have. I think we've had a great recruiting class coming in. I think I can legally talk about that. We've got a kid playing in the state championship down in New Mexico. She's already the district MVP. We have two more playing in the championships in California. Last time when we got to post‑season, we really had a drop‑off. We knew we would because we had gone the junior college route with Tawny. This year we feel like we're loaded up like you're supposed to be. I feel our freshmen are pretty good players. I don't play them because we have so many seniors. But I think we'll be all right. Q. This rivalry has been one‑sided for so long, where do you feel it is now? COACH ALBRIGHT: Well, I mean, if you say this year, yeah, I think it's a rivalry. Before people would say Fresno, are they your rival? How can they be your rival, we never beat them. I think they have some respect for them. I think Raegan has done a tremendous job of taking over. Adrian left them with a boat load of players. Goodness gracious. She knew exactly what to do with them. They've all worked really hard. She's tweaked the system, but kept them doing great. I think it's a pretty good rivalry. Q. The other night when you were talking about Fresno State, you were saying, Boy, aren't they fun to watch unless you're coaching against them. When they were clicking tonight, how would you describe that when they're at their best? COACH ALBRIGHT: It's harmony. If I had paid to come to this game, I would have loved watching them. I was unfortunately on the bench not enjoying it a lot. Look how many assists they've got. 17 assists on 26 baskets. It's really, really good basketball. They're very good defensively. Very fundamental. They're very, very, very good. They just have so many people that you have to guard. I'd like to throw a little‑‑ Ron Stewart has done a great job as their coach, too. He was with us. He's come in and brought some things. We can see his touch on them. Congratulations to them. We maybe played‑‑ we probably played about 80% of what we are. I don't know if they played that high. For a few minutes they did. You saw the game. We were 5 up, then just like that (snapping fingers). I don't think I've ever used my timeouts with how many minutes left to go. I just felt like it was getting away from us, so trying to stop a run some way. Q. They ended on a 10‑0 run. How did that affect you guys? COACH ALBRIGHT: It took the wind out of us, for sure. We were able to run. We did some things today we hadn't done before. I think it might have bothered them a little bit. We played some 3‑2 zone. Never played that against them. Didn't take them long to figure it out, so... But certainly that was the minutes we were talking about. That and the beginning of the second half, I still thought we would be okay. That's when they kind of threw the twilight. We had a plan against it. We had back‑to‑back turnovers there, I believe, at the beginning. Again, give them credit, we did not have the composure in a big game. But we hadn't been in that game before. Then we had to watch a doggone triple overtime game. We warmed them up three times. They did, too. We weren't the only ones waiting. This was a huge deal for us. For them, they're just getting to the finals like they do every year. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. COACH ALBRIGHT: Thanks to the Mountain West. Y'all do a great, great job. Good luck the rest of it. We're headed back to Reno. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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