home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com
ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT


March 7, 2015


Mike Carey

Averee Fields

Bria Holmes


DALLAS, TEXAS

Oklahoma  - 67
West Virginia - 55


COACH CAREY:  Well, I didn't think we would come out with much emotions the first half, kind of stood around.  They were taking the ball out of our hands.  I think they had 18 second-chance points first half.  Second half, I think they only had four.  So that tells you right there.  We just wasn't -- we were a step slow, we weren't ready to play.  Oklahoma was.  But I thought the second half, we cut it to 7 and then couldn't cut it any deeper than that.

Q.  This question's for Averee.  It seemed like when Lanay Montgomery or even Kayla Montgomery was out there, West Virginia had a sizeable size advantage and almost seemed like they were a little intimidated but when Leary had to play center, it was almost the opposite there.  Can you talk about how Lanay's foul trouble affected this game?
AVEREE FIELDS:  It did hurt us a lot, just because she had a lot of high energy and she really wanted to be out there, but foul trouble was keeping her on the bench, so we're used to having her out here, her size does help us with not only their center but also helping with blocking shots and from our guards.  When Crystal's in, she played hard but she was just undersized and it was a lot easier to play when Lanay was in the game?

Q.  This is for Bria.  Bria, a couple times you cut it to 9, got it down to 7 at one point.  Seems like every time that would happen maybe someone would get free underneath for an easy basket or someone on the perimeter throwing down a 3.  What was going on there, just little breakdowns kept occurring?
BRIA HOLMES:  Yeah, I just felt like we had a lot of breakdowns that we didn't need.  Like Coach Carey was telling us, when one breaks down, we all break down together, all five of us.  So we just need everybody to communicate and talk, which didn't really happen so we broke down a lot.  Coming up in these next games that we're going to have, it just can't happen.

Q.  Averee, with all the people in foul trouble throughout, I know your defense obviously, you're always very aggressive, but when you get those fouls that's got to be in the back of your mind that you just can't do some of the things that you would like to do defensively?  Was that an issue throughout the game tonight?
AVEREE FIELDS:  I think the most with Lanay since she was in the most foul trouble, but we do play an aggressive defense but honestly, our defense is up the lane so we shouldn't be touching our person, we shouldn't be fouling.  So I think when we're not doing what we're supposed to do is when we get in foul trouble and I think that did hinder us a little bit tonight.

Q.  Bria, the ladies scored 20 points going into halftime and coming out of half you kind of went on a scoring barrage, scoring 20 more points by the 10-minute mark of the second half.  What happened during halftime that really changed your offensive mindset?
BRIA HOLMES:  I feel like we came out more aggressive and more energy coming off from when we first started.  When we first came out, I don't think we really had -- we came out with a quick start with a lot of energy, being aggressive, attacking the basket, find our players.  The second half I think we just regrouped and came out stronger but we just couldn't finish.

Q.  For Averee and Bria, I guess your resume is complete now with 18 wins.  Your thoughts on NCAA, do you feel like you're an NCAA team?
AVEREE FIELDS:  I feel like we're definitely an NCAA-quality team.  We are on the bubble as Coach Carey's told us, so we're just going to have to wait and see where we end up.  But whatever tournament we're in, we're going to go hard and hopefully get some wins and win the tournament, whichever one we're in.

Q.  Coach, Averee was talking about this, the way you played defense up the lanes, you shouldn't be fouling.  What was so frustrating tonight with getting all those fouls?
COACH CAREY:  Yeah, you know, we were a step slow and you know what, that's no excuse.  I don't care if we did play last night, we were a step slow, we weren't ready to play.  I thought Lanay Montgomery was ready to play.  I thought she came out there, had her quickness, was making a difference in the game but got in early foul trouble and kind of took the energy away.  Second half, like I said, they had 18 second-chance points first half, they only had four the second, so that tells you all you need to know right there.  And here's the thing, if somebody don't front at the block, somebody's got to come and help, somebody's got to rotate, if somebody don't get up the lanes or somebody loses their man, now we've got to rotate, or if somebody lets them drive the lane and we've got to rotate.  You know, one person that keeps messing up cause the other four people to do different things.  The night before against Texas Tech, we weren't doing that and they were just as quick, if not quicker.

Q.  Coach, it seemed like the girls were more inclined to pass on a couple possessions when they seemed to be driving the hole and they seemed like they had the shot, they still passed out for the 3-point attempt.  Is that something that you addressed at all during the game or is that something that it just seemed to like manifest itself?
COACH CAREY:  Yeah, I mean, we've addressed it all year.  Sometimes we play 5 on 4.  We addressed it all year.

Q.  Coach, the pick-and-roll coverage, you guys never really seemed to collapse on the roll.  Did you want to change anything about that?  It was a really effective play for Oklahoma today.
COACH CAREY:  Second half they didn't get it one time, I don't think.  First half we weren't moving, we weren't getting to the ball, we weren't going over top ticks, we weren't off moving our feet.  I mean, they could have run anything the first half.  We just didn't defend the first half and when we don't defend and we don't get turnovers and get our running game going, we struggle to score on the other end, too.  Our defense leads to offense and we wasn't creating any.

Q.  I'll just ask the same question I asked the players at the end.  Your resume is complete now with 18 wins.  What are your thoughts on where this team should play its next game?
COACH CAREY:  Did you ever see those bubbles you blow out of one of them things?  That's where we're at.  I told them in there, you know what, hopefully we do make the NCAA.  If we don't, we make the NIT.  Either one, I expect us to go in and play hard and try to win some games.  We're going to try to get better no matter what tournament we're in.  If we don't get in the NCAA, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




About ASAP SportsFastScripts ArchiveRecent InterviewsCaptioningUpcoming EventsContact 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