For a sophomore, she has very good hands, as far as catching the ball and a nice touch around the basket. She has a good sense of maturity for a sophomore you don't see all the time. She's been a solid team player. When people collapse on her, she looks to kick it out. |
Gradually, we got her into the flow of things. She certainly wasn't 100 percent. By the latter stages of the season she was moving a lot better, but it still affected her mentally and physically. Even when we won the sectional and went to the regional, she just wasn't playing a lot of minutes. You just sensed she wasn't ready to go yet at that level. |
Her confidence level just soared after the game against Fairfield Tuesday night. We told her this morning that she had to be ready to step up, but to be honest she's only made two 3-pointers before tonight. |
I haven't heard the number, but I know it was too many. |
If people key on her, we have perimeter shooters who can step up. She gives us more balance and makes us harder to defend. |
If we could have shot the ball better from the perimeter, we could have loosened them up a bit. |
In both situations we struggled a little bit, but this team is a little more physical and a little taller than I think they're listed. They have good athletic ability, and they move their feet well. |
It came down to us handling their pressure. We turned the ball over too many times. At crunch time, we got the ball up court. And Tiffany ran well. |
It was hard to relax much before then. With their three-point shooters and press, nine points can be made up in 25 seconds or less. So, that's why we couldn't get too comfortable until the last seconds. |
Needless to say it has been an exciting last couple of weeks. We have played five quality opponents in this tournament starting in the sectionals and it has just seemed that on any given night one key person steps up and has given us the quality effort that gets us through to the next game. These kids are thoroughly enjoying this experience, but they aren't satisfied. They know we still have some work to do. |
Someone came up to me outside the gym after the game and said, you know, these girls will step up for you next year. Boy were they right. At the time, I heard what they said, but it was just an empty feeling and I didn't know if we'd ever have the opportunity again. |
They do a great job on the outlet. Those freshmen are really the key to what they do. Nearly half of their points occurred off transition. |
Tiffany is a fun-loving kid and this entire group is such a joy to coach. She, like her teammates, is a character. Tiffany's just been a gem to work with. |
Unbelievable basketball game. We did not shoot the ball well and it looked as though it just wasn't meant to be, but these girls just continued to battle. |
We knew being on their home floor that they would make a run at us. We just lost our composure there for awhile. |