Murray State University Athletics
Weekly Press Conference
2/16/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Quotes from head coach Joi Williams during the weekly women's basketball press conference on Feb. 16 at Pagliai's restaurant in preparation for the Lady Racers' Ohio Valley Conference games this week at Tennessee-Martin (Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.) and at home against Tennessee State (Thursday, 5:15 p.m.).
Opening statement:
"Last week was disappointing, but the positive thing was that we came out and played hard to start both games. We came out and fought in the first half against Tennessee Tech and played very well. We held Emily Christian, their top scorer, to just five first half points. I thought we did a good job defensively and Megan Fuqua had seven three-pointers which is outstanding on her part. In the second half, we didn't play with the intensity we needed to play with. We allowed them to shoot way too many free throws in the second half and you can't go on the road against a good team and foul that much because they'll make you pay. They're the best free throw shooting team in our league, and that was a big mistake by us."
"On Saturday at Austin Peay, we started the game with great intensity and great effort defensively. We did some things to really handle their top players in the first half, and then in the second half we relaxed our intensity again. We made some mistakes defensively and allowed them to make a run on us, and against a good team like that, you just can't have those breakdowns. I credit both teams and their big players stepped up and made big plays at the end. We just didn't have an answer."
"Again, we learned a lot from both of those losses. We wish the games could've been W's for our team, and it makes it a little tougher road for us now. We're looking forward to Tennessee-Martin, a team that we beat here earlier in the season. The good thing is that we didn't play well against them the first time around, but we were still able to find a way to win. I think if we can improve in some areas, we can have some success over there tomorrow. We've also got Tennessee State on Thursday and that'll be a tough game as well. We face two tough opponents this week in two important games, and we'll take them one at a time."
On whether Tech and APSU made adjustments for the second half to get Christian and Gerlonda Hardin more involved in those games:
"It was a combination of some adjustments and improved play by those players. When you have players of that caliber, they're both very confident and they're going to do what their team needs for them to do. Mentally, I think they came out and decided they were going to put their teams on their shoulders. We did have some breakdowns defensively with our help-side defense. Our plan was to double-team both of them and show them a lot of pressure. We wanted to try and force somebody else to beat us. In the Austin Peay game, we did a good job on Hardin in the first half, but Carden Cobb did a good job of hitting shots. We felt like we had to give up something to try and stop Hardin, and Cobb was one of the people that hurt us. Unfortunately, in the second half we let Cobb score and we let Hardin hurt us, and that wasn't the plan at all. Christian and Hardin are the premier post players in our league and I told our young kids that they can learn something from watching those two in the post."
On the team gaining confidence by playing well on the road at Tech and Peay despite not winning:
"I think we can gain some confidence from it, but we just have to learn how to close it out. I'm searching for ways to try and teach our players how to get that killer instinct and put a team away. We've got a great group of young ladies, but I don't think we're mean enough sometimes. When you have a team down, you've got to learn how to hold them down and that's something we haven't learned how to do. Both of those teams (Tech and Peay) have great winning traditions in this league, and they've been in those situations before. Hopefully, going into Martin, we'll take the positives from last week and be able to come home with a win."
On the biggest challenges UTM will pose for MSU:
"Andreika Jackson is playing really well right now for them. She's a freshman post player, and she really hurt us the last time we played with her offensive rebounding. UTM's also got a great shooter in Tiffany Brundige. She shot lights out the last time we played them. Julie Young is a great player for them, and even though we did a good job on her last time, I'm sure she'll come out with a vengeance. They're playing pretty well, and their games last week were very similar to ours. I know it'll be a tough game for us."
On the team's attitude following two losses after holding the lead in both instances:
"Their attitude is good. They felt really bad after both games, and they were very disappointed. I want them to keep their heads up and keep fighting. We still have a great opportunity ahead of us, and we just have to continue to learn from all of this. The attitude is positive and our staff is doing a good job of keeping them focused on the job at hand and helping them to learn from the mistakes."
On the leadership and play of senior guard Megan Fuqua:
"I can't say enough about Megan. The biggest thing with her is that she's a great leader. She's great in the lockerroom with the young players. She comes out everyday and works as hard as she can. I'm glad she's having the success she's having. She's a shooter with a very quick release. I haven't seen too many players with a quicker release than she has. When team's don't get out and guard her, she can make them pay. She's really shooting the ball well, and I hope she continues to do that."
