Murray State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Press Conference
1/31/2007 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Thursday: Austin Peay, 5:15 p.m. (RSEC)
Saturday: at Jacksonville State, 5 p.m.
Lady Racer assistant coach Rob Cross address the media at a specially-called press conference on Wednesday.
Opening statement
Thank you for coming. (Head coach) Joi (Felton) is a little under the weather, so she couldn't make it today, and asked me to come in her place. She sends her best regards, and was sorry she couldn't be here.
We are three-fifths of the way through this little odyssey we have, playing five games in 10 days in five different cities. It hasn't gone as well as we would have liked it to, but the big thing was: we won the last game, and that made the long bus ride home from Birmingham a lot better.
We started off the trip going to Tennessee Tech. We had good preparation for the game. That shoot-around (pre-game practice) was our best of the year, and then, we came out that night and didn't play at all. Nobody came to play. Joi Scott had 21 (points) and 12 (rebounds), so she came to play, but she was the only one. There was not a lot of effort on our part, but we still had a chance to win the ball game. We scored four points in the final 12 minutes and lost the game by five. It came down to the final couple of possessions. We had chances to pull the game out -- which is amazing. Tennessee Tech, going into that game, was the second-worst rebounding team in the conference by margin, and we were about fourth at that time, and they out-rebounded us by 16 and had 20 offensive rebounds. It just was not a very good game at all. We got back that night to the hotel, and some players did some soul searching.
We got on the bus the next morning and went to Cape Girardeau and played as physical a game as I've ever seen in the OVC. It was basically just a backyard brawl for 50 minutes. Joi Scott played 39 minutes at Tech, played 47 at SEMO; Amber Guffey played over 30 minutes at Tech and played almost 40 at SEMO; Alaina Lee played 47 at SEMO after playing 30-something minutes at Tech, and Shaleea Petty did as well. They all just put their bodies on the line. We didn't shoot the ball well; SEMO had something to do with that. They didn't shoot the ball well; we had something to do with that. Amber Guffey's on the line with a chance to give us a one-point lead with five seconds left. She makes the first one to tie it and misses the second one. There's not another player in the country I'd want at the free-throw line at that point than her. Sometimes, things just don't bounce the right way. I know when Amber Guffey finds herself in that situation again, she's going to make the free throws. Everybody on our team has full confidence that she's going to knock those down.
So, we lost that tough one. Then, we go down to Samford, get on the bus and go to Birmingham, a tough place to play. Probably the three toughest places to play in the conference, honestly, are Cookeville -- Tennessee Tech has lost only one game there this year. SEMO is a tough place to play. The Show Me Center is a fine facility. Then, we went down to Samford, and it's the last year for that gymnasium for them, and I think a lot of people are glad of it. It's a tough place to play.
Our players laid their bodies on the line. They knew they had yesterday off (from practice), so they got on the bus and got some sleep, came back and went to class yesterday for the first time in a while, so they were excited about that. Joi Scott played 40 minutes, Amber Guffey played 40 minutes, Shaleea Petty laid her body on the line again. With Alaina Lee out, being injured in the SEMO game, Shaleea knew she had to play the whole game, and she did, and did an outstanding job. We shot the ball better. We were more aggressive offensively; our guards stepped up and took good shots. Joi Scott had 32 (points) and 12 (rebounds) in that game. Paige Guffey came in and knocked down two threes at a crucial time in the first half and helped us open up a good working margin.
We're glad to be home and get a couple of days' rest. We practiced this morning at 6 a.m. after taking yesterday off, so there's not a lot of time to prepare for a tough, physical Austin Peay team. And then, we have to get back on the road Friday morning and head back down to Jacksonville and get ready to play that game. When this five-game swing is over, hopefully, we'll be 3-2 at the end of that stretch, and ready to look at some home games to close out the season.
Even though you lost two games, you're still kind of where you'd like to be.
You're right. The big thing is: you drop back-to-back games, but the way we responded after playing so poorly at Tennessee Tech with a lack of effort and coming back in a tough environment and standing up to the physical play of SEMO -- to be able to stand up to that, I think our players learned a lot about themselves. I knew we were going to play well at Samford; I had no doubt in my mind about that, just watching our players leave the Show Me Center that night. No doubt we were going to go down to Birmingham, in spite of having some tired legs, that we were going to bring it Monday night, and we did.
Amber Guffey played well at Samford. Did you all do something to help her get that missed free throw out of her mind, or was she able to do that for herself?
No, Amber is able to do that for herself. Amber is a great free-throw shooter. She's been in that situation countless times in her career, and 99 percent of the time, she's going to make that free throw. This just happened to be the one time that she didn't. It happens, but Amber will just go on and shoot the next one. The good things she did at Samford was: she shot the ball aggressively, and she looked to attack off the dribble and get herself to the free-throw line (where she made her first 13 attempts in a 13-for-14 night). I think she understands now that we need her to get to the free-throw line. She's always looking to create for others, but trying to create something for herself makes us tougher to guard.
When you're trying to win a championship, one of the main things is to beat teams that are below you in the standings. That's certainly the case in the next couple of ball games.
Our big thing is just to win the next ball game, to be honest with you. The standings in this league on the women's side really don't mean much. There are five teams with six or seven losses, and Morehead, SEMO and us with three losses. Honestly, anybody in this league can beat anybody on a given night. That's not just "coach-speak;" that's reality. That's the truth. Tennessee Tech beats us at home on Thursday. Theyturn around on Saturday and lose to Tennessee State, who is in last place in the league. Tennessee Tech beat SEMO and Morehead, all three teams tied for first -- they beat all those teams -- and then they lsoe to the last-place team. Anything can happen on a given night in this league. The parity is real. One thing we have to do is prepare for the next opponent, and right now, that's tough. Abraham Lincoln said that "If you give me seven days to chop down a tree, I'm going to take the first six days sharpening my ax." That's kind of like preparing for a game, kind of like sharpening your ax, and we haven't had a lot of time to get our axes sharpened. For these next two games, hopefully, we can be sharp enough to chop the next two opponents down, and then, we'll get back to our regular Thursday/Saturday schedule, where we'll have a couple of days to prepare.
Let's talk about Austin Peay for a moment. They've been a little up-and-down lately.
We won, basically, on a last-second shot at their place. They beat SEMO by 15 at their place. They are a very aggressive, physical team. Essentially, they do an outstanding job. They have some superior athletes. Alicia Watson is a very talented player, physically; as gifted a physical player as anyone in the league. Kellea Reeves is a big post presence inside for them, a left-handed player who can score around the basket. She shoots about 59 percent from the field. She is very effective inside. They have a few players who are streaky shooters, but very capable shooters. They don't shoot a high percentage from the perimeter, but they are very capable of knocking down shots. We're going to have to be focused and ready to play in order to have a chance to come out with a win.
