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March 10, 2015
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Fresno State – 74
Wyoming - 66
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Fresno State.
Coach, some remarks on tonight's game.
COACH WHITE: I was pleased on how we started the game. I think it's always nice, Alex had three threes right there in the first 10 minutes.
Defensively I thought we struggled a little bit with some of their motion stuff. They run it really well. Obviously Marquelle Dent, nice player, just to be able to handle the ball.
I was pleased with our only eight turnovers. We've been averaging a little more than that. Forcing 14. Also down the stretch, I just thought we did a good job. Mo did a great job down the stretch of attacking the basket, drawing some fouls.
I thought defensively we were a little smarter, got a couple key rebounds to kind of push us over the top.
THE MODERATOR: We'll now take questions for the student‑athletes.
Q. Was this Wyoming team different than what you had seen during the regular season?
ALEX SHEEDY: No, it wasn't any different. I think they played pretty similarly when we were at their place.
They're a good team. They have players that know what it is to win, so they've got some great shooters. I think that the difference is that we just wanted it more down the stretch.
I think they're basically the same team they've been all year. They're pretty tough, so I'm glad we got the win.
Q. Mo, was it just a matter of being part of the team and contributing as much as you can?
MORIAH FAULK: I just wanted to do whatever my team needed me to do. I came in the game, followed the game plan. Wanted to get the win for my team. Whatever I had to do I was willing to do.
Q. What was the pivotal point to that 14‑0 run you went on?
ALEX SHEEDY: I think Q getting that charge was pretty big. She gets pretty pumped up. Everyone feeds off everyone else's energy. I think the fact we all got up, connected in that way, got positive and aggressive after that, I think that was part of it.
Generally we feed off each other. After we hit that three, as I said before, we wanted it more down the stretch. I think that showed.
Q. Alex, did you expect the game to be this competitive?
ALEX SHEEDY: Yep. Yeah, the tournament is always competitive. Wyoming is a great team. We faced them I think this is the second time in the tournament. We had a really competitive game at their place where it came down to the last four seconds. We knew coming into this game it was going to be tough.
Q. It's tough to beat a team three times in one season. Did you experience anything that this team was coming to play?
ALEX SHEEDY: No, we were more focused on us. Honestly, it hadn't even crossed my mind about that three times per season thing. I think at halftime we really came together, made the decision, you know, that we wanted to win this game and we were going to.
Q. Have you started to think about facing New Mexico tomorrow?
MORIAH FAULK: Yeah, we've thought about it. But like Sheedy said, we're more focused on us. If we do what we have to do, I feel like we're able to beat any team.
More just focused on ourselves, and whoever we are facing in the next game we feel like we can get the W.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies.
We'll continue with questions for Coach White.
Q. At what point in the second half did you feel was the turning point?
COACH WHITE: Well, Mileto hit that three, it can go one of two ways, to be honest. I felt like our kids were in a zone, in a zone defense. Alex Furr came to me and said, Coach, can we go to 51, we can do it. 51 is our man stuff. She said, We can match.
We had gotten hurt a little bit in the post matching. She said, We can do it.
You know, that's a kid that's played for six years. She's been in every championship possibly that we've had. You don't tell her no.
We let them go back. Then right after that, Q got that charge I think it was. I think that really did give a lot of energy because we were struggling stopping Dent. When she got that charge, I think that really showed that, Hey, we can stop her, turn around and come back on the offensive end.
Then Mo attacking the basket. They were in zone at the time. I thought Mo did a great job attacking the basket and getting some rebounds.
Q. With their big three, if you were able to shut Woodward down, how much did that play a role?
COACH WHITE: For them to have only made two threes, is that right, I think that was huge for us. That was our goal initially. We gave up some twos on it. But we took out those players that can really hurt you.
Mileto obviously showed she could step up. Keeping them down at the three‑point line was really key for tonight's win.
Q. We know you hate turnovers, especially when they're against you. Wyoming went on a run in the first half. What was it that you told the team to get them out of that funk, maintain their focus?
COACH WHITE: We felt like we were‑‑ they weren't forcing those turnovers, we were creating those ourselves by forcing it a little bit.
Feel like we were rushing our offense. We talked about slowing our offense down and continuing to run our offense. You saw Bego and Toni take a couple high‑post shots. We wanted to continue the offense and get a little movement in the offense. I felt we were a little stagnant in the offense.
Defensively they're a good team. When you have that many good shooters, it's really hard to cover everybody. I feel like they communicated really well. We switched off on some shooters.
I felt like if we could stay close in the first half, I was not upset with the tie at halftime, I felt like that was where we needed to be. We had a second half to change a couple things and come out strong.
Q. You touched after the game about Mo coming up big late. Your bench had 26 points, theirs had zero. Why was your bench so effective in this game?
COACH WHITE: Athleticism, speed. I mean, Raven Fox is as quick as they come. She found a couple lanes to the basket, I'm not sure how. She got through. We spread the offense a little bit so we could drive a little bit more. That's obviously been our strength at times.
She found some seams and got to the rim.
Q. You probably didn't get a chance to see the game before this one, but New Mexico won on two missed last shots from SanDiego State. What are you expecting tomorrow?
COACH WHITE: Their same stuff. They have been playing really good. They've been playing good team basketball. They move the ball well. They have multiple people that can score.
Our challenge is going to be identifying how their individuals score and matching up with them defensively. We always talk about the defensive end first anyway. Then rebounding, defense, and then continuing to attack the basket. I think that's something that we definitely have to have.
Q. Fresno State's largest lead was with a buck 14 left in the game. Is that something you like to see?
COACH WHITE: Absolutely. We've had those great first halves and some trail‑off second halves. Especially right now, that's the most important time to go on those runs.
We had some situational stuff late. Again, we played with a guard‑oriented lineup tonight, which is good because we haven't really done that all year. That was nice to see.
Wasn't impressed with our failing the three‑point shot. They could not be impressed with it themselves.
Q. Why the guard‑oriented lineup?
COACH WHITE: Because Wyoming has a similar guard. Jordan Kelley, when I worked at Wyoming, she came from our camps from about 10 years old up, and she was always a guard. We knew we could match with them if we played more guards.
Q. Fresno State has never lost a Mountain West tournament game. This is your first experience here. What was it like?
COACH WHITE: It was fun. I've been at the Mountain West. I was with Elaine at Utah and Joe at Wyoming. So this is familiar for me. Being in Vegas is familiar.
It's fun. You know, every team is a different team. As much as the tradition is what it is at Fresno State, this is a special team. I wasn't here obviously in the past years, but this team really wants to win. They've really come together in multiple ways. We have players that haven't played a lot, haven't been in these games a lot, so we're leaning on some of those older players. But those players that are younger are excited to be here and glad that they're getting those opportunities.
So it goes without saying, we don't have to say much about that, we want to win because our goals are big. That's all we have to say.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach.
COACH WHITE: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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