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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT


March 8, 2014


Sherri Coale

Aaryn Ellenberg

Morgan Hook


OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

Texas – 82
Oklahoma – 72


SHERRI COALE:  I congratulate Texas.  They played extremely well.  They shot the ball well.  Their post players were fantastic, and I just thought they played really tough and really confidently and were very hungry.  Our performance was a little bit like our year has been ‑ inconsistent.  We went for such a long period of time in the second half without being able to put the ball in the basket, just really from three‑point we had great looks, from the block, we missed lay‑ups, and we missed a few free throws in there.  We just couldn't put any points on the board, and then we made some defensive mistakes, left shooters that we weren't supposed to leave, and let them get some momentum and let them get feeling good, and then we made a flurry at the end, too little, too late.

Q.  Morgan and Aaryn, can you guys talk about what happened coming out of the locker room the second half and how Texas kind of hit you hard?
MORGAN HOOK:  Just kind of like coach said, we let missed lay‑ups or free throws kind of affect us on the defensive end, and we just weren't aware on the defensive end and made just silly mistakes.

Q.  Aaryn, and then Morgan, was there something Texas did the first five, ten minutes of the second half because it just seemed like two minutes were gone, the lead was now a deficit, and you guys were just sort of scrambling?  Did they do stuff to make that happen?
AARYN ELLENBERG:  I think most of it was just us doing it to ourselves, not knocking down easy shots and making plays, and then brain farting on defense and losing people who are shooters.  I mean, I think most of it was us to ourselves.

Q.  Guys, just a tough shooting night, or was it something Texas was doing maybe to bother your shot tonight?
MORGAN HOOK:  We just didn't knock down open shots.

Q.  Morgan, especially with the way the first half ended with the momentum you had with yours and Nicole's three and then T'Ona's three at the buzzer, was it especially deflating to come out of the locker room that off, especially missing those open shots?
MORGAN HOOK:  Yeah, I think we came out of the locker room just eager to get back on the floor and build a run, and like I said earlier, we just let a missed three and then a missed lay‑up just affect us.

Q.  I just wonder, you said it's a lot like the season, and maybe I'm asking a question you've answered already, but does it seem familiar in the sense that you guys seemed to get a toehold on something, a 55‑point win over Tech, you play really well, and then it goes well for a little while, then kind of not so much, and now you've got to sort of come back again.  Is that a familiar feeling this season?
SHERRI COALE:  Yeah, very much so.  I think that "it" thing that we've been searching for all season, that killer instinct that we've been able to capitalize on prosperity, we just have not had it for whatever reason, and it's my job to find it.  It's my job to figure it out, and I have not been able to figure it out yet, how to change that.  Obviously if I had been able to, I would have.
It's just‑‑ it's interesting how good we can be when we're down at the end and how good we can be when we're up against Tech by 25, and then when you've got a six‑point cushion, and we had all kinds of momentum at halftime, to come out, and we had the ball, and we got exactly the shot that we wanted, that we drew up, and then to then defend as tentatively as we did, and I thought that's really probably the best description I can give for it is we were tentative, and that's hard to explain.  That's where it began and Texas started feeling really good.  That lead was wiped out in less than two minutes, I think.  Then they went on I think it was a 21‑5 run or something crazy like that.

Q.  Are you concerned with your team's prospect for the NCAA Tournament at all?
SHERRI COALE:  Well, I think we've done enough to get in.  I do.  When you go 9‑9 in the No.1 RPI league in the country, I think you're in.  Kansas got in last year at 8‑10 and went to the Sweet 16.  That speaks volumes about the strength of our league, and this Texas team is very, very good.  Our strength of schedule is 16 in the country.  I do think we've done enough.  I'm disappointed because I think a win tonight would have really, really helped us in terms of where we might end up.

Q.  Not to repeat the same question, but I want to say, do I have my years right, 2005, you go play Arizona first round in the NCAA Tournament?  Anyway, that was the last year that there seemed to be some sort of are they in, are they not in?  I think I agree with you that you're in, but is it a nervous Sunday awaiting you because you don't know for sure until you see it, and the last time it was like this I think was '05.  Does it seem at all similar to that season?
SHERRI COALE:  You have a better memory than I do.  I can barely remember last year, much less '05.  It's just an unfamiliar feeling for us to be sitting there when names are called and not know for absolutely sure.  So it will be a different sort of selection day for sure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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