Murray State University Athletics
Weekly Press Conference
2/9/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Quotes from head coach Joi Williams during the weekly women's basketball press conference on Feb. 9 at Pagliai's restaurant in preparation for the Lady Racers' important Ohio Valley Conference road games this week at Tennessee Tech (Thursday, 5:30 p.m.) and Austin Peay (Saturday, 5:30 p.m.).
Opening statement:
"We ended up with a split (Win at Eastern Illinois/Loss at Southeast Missouri) with our two road games last week, but I'm very proud of the way our team played at Eastern Illinois. After getting our first road win of the season at Tennessee State a couple of weeks ago, it was really good to see us come out and play with a lot of intensity and a lot of fire against EIU. We shot the ball pretty well, especially Megan Fuqua. We really played some strong defense, and that's really what generated a lot of our offense. We built up a pretty good lead and went into halftime with a 10-point advantage. We came out in the second half of that game and was a little lackluster with our effort, which is something we've been doing all year for whatever the reason. But I'm really proud of the way we finished the game. We had a spurt there where things didn't go our way, but we didn't let that keep us down. You just have to play through all of that and make something positive out of it. Overall, it was a great win for us, on the road."
"On Saturday at SEMO, I think we played a little bit scared. I told our team that I thought we didn't come out expecting to win the game, and of course, SEMO did. They took it to us early in the game. They controlled us for most of the game, and we just didn't play well at all. If there was one bright spot, it was the play of Gerraca Matthews, who I was happy to see step up and perform. Gerraca's a very athletic player, and against a team like that, a player like her can be very successful. We have a problem creating shots on our own, off of the dribble. We have some good shooters, but we just don't have very many players that can create their own shots. I think we learned from the game with them, and I think we'll do some things differently when we see them the second time around here in Murray."
"Looking ahead to this week, going to Tennessee Tech on Thursday will be a very tough challenge. They've got one of the conference's best players in Emily Christian, and she's a post player, which is a position we've struggled with defending so far. I think it's definitely a very winnable game for us. It's certainly not going to be easy though. Again, the key things for us are defense and rebounding. Against SEMO, we got away from that, but hopefully we're starting to understand that those are the areas that will win games for us, especially on the road. As for Austin Peay...they're alone in first place and that says enough. They have several good players and a lot of weapons. We've got two tough ones ahead of us, and all we can do is take them one at a time."
On the play of freshman guard Gerraca Matthews and her role for the Lady Racers:
"I expect Gerraca to continue to come off the bench for us, but hopefully her role will keep increasing. Being a freshman, the transition to the college game has been tough, but I've seen improvement out of her with basically every practice. I think her role coming off the bench and being a spark is good for now. Who knows by the end of the season because that could change, but as I see it for this week, I like her role where it is. I think she can learn some things as she sits on the bench first and sizes things up."
On the reason for the improvement of guards Megan Fuqua and Brittany Park in being able to create their own shots:
"We do some different things in practice with the guard position, and (assistant) Coach (Rob) Cross and (assistant) Coach (Tombi) Bell have done an outstanding job of working with them as well. We've also done some things in our individual workouts that we think has helped them because they're not players that are blessed with a lot of speed and quickness, but they're very smart players. They can take what the defense gives them, and both of them do that very well. If the defense breaks down or even gives them an inch, they know how to use that to create a shot."
On the team's improvement in handling adversity, especially on the road as their opponent is making a run, and being able to bounce back from that:
"I think it's a huge step for our team because early on we didn't handle it very well. We started to see it at Tennessee State as they came back and took us to overtime, but we overcame that and found a way to win. Last week at Eastern Illinois, for them to make a big comeback and actually tie things up was a big test for us. Our team expected to win that game though. They really fought hard, and played with a lot of confidence, which is how we need to play every time out. I think it was a huge step for us, and with these next two tough ones on the road this week, we need to have that same attitude."
On setting the players' goals to not only make the OVC Tournament, but to finish in the top-4 and host a first round game at the Regional Special Events Center (RSEC):
"That's what we've been talking a lot about. We've been talking to the seniors about that and trying to urge them to talk about that in the lockerroom and what it's going to take for us to achieve that. Talking about it is certainly not enough, but I really believe you can speak stuff into existence if you make the right steps and the right choices to make that happen. That starts by coming to practice everyday ready to go and ready to achieve those goals. I think our seniors really believe in that, and that'll trickle down to the rest of our team. With our loss on Saturday, it makes it a little tougher, but we can't worry about other teams and what they're doing. We can only focus on our job and what we're doing. Our expectations are to play a first round game at home, and not to just make the tournament. That's what I've been trying to convince our team to believe in because in the past, they've just been happy with making the tournament."
