|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2013Alex BentleyNikki GreeneMaggie LucasCoquese WashingtonHOFFMAN ESTATES, ILLINOIS Penn State – 76 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Penn State group. We've got Head Coach Coquese Washington. We're joined by Alex Bentley and Maggie Lucas and Nikki Greene. We'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Maggie, talk about those two 3s you made and the momentum it provided your team. MAGGIE LUCAS: Alex set those up. First time down, she caught our little set up play and found me the next time down. I was just able to knock them down, but that was just her being aware on the court. Q. Alex, did anything change for you guys in the second half as you guys kind of got on that hot streak shooting? ALEX BENTLEY: I think our defense definitely changed. When we went into the locker room, you know, Coach, she was telling us that if we wanted to win we had to step on the gas defensively. So we had to get out in the passing lanes. We just had to turn our energy up. And my teammates responded really well. And that's how we started going in transition. Q. Nikki, what changed for your offensively in the second half? NIKKI GREENE: I think I was more patient. Just reading the defense and whatever they gave me, I just kind of did what I needed to do. Q. What does it mean to the women to make it to the semifinals? MAGGIE LUCAS: It means a lot. We were focused on one game at a time. We were glad to get this first win. Ohio State was playing well coming into this. They played well tonight. We were just glad to get the W. NIKKI GREENE: Like Maggie said, we were taking each game one game at a time, and so this game helped us advance to the second round. ALEX BENTLEY: I think my teammates just said it all. Q. Maggie, you were the Big Ten player of the year, but what's it like to have a senior point guard like Alex to; play off and to basically when they were playing‑‑ well, I think she came in twice after a short rest and just immediately seemed to tune up her offense, which I think got you guys going? Didn't she get you guys going when she came off the bench. She sat down early in the first half and early in the second half, she came out in and immediately was in attack mode? MAGGIE LUCAS: Alex is an unbelievable player. She can pretty much do it all, and it is a pleasure to play with her. And it's just awesome. She can do it all. Q. Alex, your coach sat you down pretty early in the first half for just a little bit and then again in the second half. Was that just to see what's going on, or to give you an idea what you might be able to attack, or is it just basically she wants to talk for a second and you come in more aggressively? ALEX BENTLEY: It can be many things. She might have something she needs to tell me. She might want to rest me a little bit. Coach has a lot going on in that head of hers, so I just trust what she tells me to do and I just keep playing and listen to her. Q. Alex, what did it do for your offensively after you see Maggie go hit two 3s back to back? Only had one opportunity, especially from the offensive standpoint, what does that do for momentum? ALEX BENTLEY: It's huge. Every time Maggie hits a 3, our energy offensively and defensively, I mean, the team, it just changes the game. It's very exciting. I'm sure it's exciting to watch because we get excited playing with her. And she's just that dagger. When a player is that hot, hitting 3s, just hitting you with those throughout games, it's hard to bounce back, and she's a great shooter. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Coach, I asked Alex what changed for you in the second half when you guys got on that run? COACH WASHINGTON: I thought one of the things that we did a better job the second half‑‑ well, two things. We kept the ball out of the paint better, and we contested shots better. And those two things allowed us to get going in transition. But we just‑‑ as Alex alluded to, we had to be a little bit more attentive defensively. In the first half, they just got the ball inside too much and we made a few adjustments and kind of limited that the second half. We did better at it the second half than we did the first half. Q. After those two 3s that Maggie hit in the second half, seems like your offense got a jump‑start. What does it mean, first of all, to have Maggie being able to do that from outside, and how did that change your offense in the second half? COACH WASHINGTON: They're momentum type plays. When you come down in transition, and you stop hit a big 3 or four‑point play, a potential four‑point play, get fouled on a 3‑point shot, it's a momentum builder. Our team got excited, and that helped give us a little more energy on the defensive end. So it was a combination of things. It got us going defensively as much as it affected us offensively. Q. And you talked about your defense. Talk about the job that Ariel and Dara did against their best scorers tonight, the way they really made her force shots sometimes. COACH WASHINGTON: The thing about Tayler Hill, she's so good, a dynamic offensive player, and gotta be aware where she is all the time. She got loose a couple times, especially late in the game. She got to the free‑throw line a couple times. But we just wanted to make her take tough shots. And I thought Ariel and Dara did a fairly good job of just trying to make her take tough shots. Q. Obviously Nikki and Mia had big second halves from the inside. How did that open up, and does it maybe stem from your outside shooting from Maggie and Alex? COACH WASHINGTON: I thought they did a good job early in the game of being attentive to our perimeter game. And I think Nikki hit it on the head. She was a little bit more patient.  She worked a little harder to get the ball. I think our guards were a little bit more attentive in getting her the ball where she could be effective. And you know, we wanted to‑‑ especially the second half, we wanted to make Ashley Adams work on defense. She kind of got loose in the first half offensively. So we wanted to make her work defensively, and see if we could slow her down that way until we got the ball to Nikki and she did a good job finishing tonight. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. 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
|