Stone Talks with the Media About the WNIT
March 26, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Lisa Stone talked to the media during a news conference Monday after her women's basketball team set the school record for wins in a season with 22 joining UW football, men 's basketball, and women's hockey in very elite company.
QUESTION #1: Since you just played yesterday, I don't know if you've had time to prepare for Western Kentucky much, but it seems like Crystal Kelly is kind of their go-to player like Jolene maybe is for yours.
LISA STONE: Without question, and actually, Ty Margenthaler was pretty much up all night, and we've already gone through it and got a pretty good handle and pretty good feel for Western Kentucky. I think the WNIT games that we've played thus far have prepared us well for this team.
We talked to our friends from Minnesota. They helped us out a little bit as well. And you're right, Crystal Kelly is the real deal. Janese also is familiar with her from the Kentucky all-star, Indiana-Kentucky all-star game in high school, so Janese knows here. She's on the same all-star team with Elliott from Kentucky.
And when you look at a player of this magnitude and the fact that 90% of the shots that they take or 90% of their offensive scheme is to get the ball in to her. And she gets to the foul line in just an unbelievable amount of time and gets to the foul line, and she capitalizes tremendous shooters, 65% from the field, nearly 80% from the free throw line, and that offense goes to her, every single guard on the floor looks to her.
Compared a little bit to the Barb Franke era back here in Wisconsin, when that ball touched her hands every time on the floor, Kelly's going to touch it. I think Dominique Duck also is a very, very athletic player, great match up for Janese Banks. Their freshman shooter, I believe her last name is Rich, can shoot it very much like McGuire from yesterday from Virginia, you know, will shoot the basketball. That's Jolene 's match up.
And I think we match up very well in the four and the point guard position. But the bottom line is, you're not going to stop Kelly, and we're going to offer some help. We'll treat it a little bit like maybe a Jessica Davenport approach in some regards play our defense, a lot of pressure on the perimeter, and not let that one player just go off on us.
But I think what you saw yesterday was a tremendous comeback and fight in the Badger women 's team. And that young team doesn't want their season to end, and we 'll be prepared for this game. We got a pretty good feel already. We'll have a meeting today and discuss Western Kentucky, and I can't wait to get back on the court.
QUESTION #2: At least it seems like men's or women's, when teams get in the NIT, there's two ways that they can go. Sometimes they come out flat because they're disappointed, or sometimes they come out the opposite way. Is it pretty obvious to you at this point which your team has come out, and do you think they 're kind of showing the NCAA Committee a little bit that, hey, we deserve the bid '
STONE: I just, I think they're showing just our fans here locally as well as on a national scheme that we're making a breakthrough in the way we're playing right now. And that Virginia that we beat yesterday, this is a really good basketball team. And to be down 14, and fight back, and not give up, and refuse to lose, and, you know, execute down the stretch, get to the free throw line, take care of the basketball, play defense as we need to, we're excited about this.
This is, you know, an opportunity for a tournament that's perfect for our team right now. And we want to be considered, you know, they always talk about the NIT and the WNIT Champion being the 65th best team, and however you look at it, we're looking forward to a championship. And we have two games remaining, played at a very high level, you know, breaking record after record, and to be in the same sentence with men's basketball and football, and women's hockey in terms of school record wins in a year, I'm very, very proud of our team for those accomplishments thus far.
QUESTION #3: Lisa, I'm not sure if fans really know, you look at the teams that are left, even in the round of eight or the round of 16 in this tournament, these are NCAA caliber teams. I'm not sure if people really realize that, right'
STONE: Oh, yeah. I think if you look at the teams that we've played and the conferences that they've come from, and, you know, you're looking at the ACC and the SEC, and, you know, Western Kentucky is from the Sunbelt, yet these are really good basketball teams. Wyoming and K State are playing still.
And, you know, you look at the power of this tournament, and, you know, we're in the final four of that, I think that, you know, this tournament and the NIT, and the same on the men's side, you know, they're out in New York, maybe today it is, and they're playing at a very high level. They want to win it all. You get this close, you can taste it. And we're going to make the best of it and do our best on Wednesday.
QUESTION #4: As far as Jolene is concerned, obviously, she's had a couple of big games. And not to say that she hasn't reached a peak or hasn't realized her potential, but it seems like in this tournament, she's realizing, okay, I can be that player. Is that true' Is that safe to say'
STONE: I think so. I think the fact that, you know, you come out, and you miss your first couple of shots, maybe earlier in the season, that may have caused her or anybody else maybe to take a step back, and then we had to work out of a slump. What's happening with us, we're getting some contributions from other areas. I thought Teah Gant was fantastic yesterday in giving us a tremendous part both offensively and defensively.
Danielle Ward's playing at a very high level. When she's up on the rim, and bringing rebounds down, and running the floor, and doing some great things, and obviously, Jo and Janese, the expectations of the two have been so high since they 're been here, and I think they're taking it another step further. And the longer we play, the closer we get, the better we're getting. We're growing up every single day.
And but the fact that Jolene is expected to do what she does and continues to do it, I think it's a great credit to her. The pressure has been on her, and she hasn 't flinched. I mean, McGuire was in her shorts yesterday the whole game, and it just took a little bit of patience offensively on everybody's part to find ways to get it to her. You know, good players and solid players, and the Alando Tucker's of the men's, they're used to doubles and triple teams.
And our, the offensive of our basketball team finds ways to get her the ball by whether it's posting up, bringing her off screens, or end of the game, give her the ball. She was eight for eight from the line last night, and both, she, Jolene, and Rae Lin are shooting at a very high percentage from the free throw line at the end of the game.
QUESTION #5: Mariah had to leave for a while yesterday and get her leg taped. What happened exactly to her, and what is her status'
STONE: Her status is great, and it was the best news I got after the game last night. I got a call from the training room, and she's, nothing will hold her out. She 'll practice, and she just tweaked her knee a little bit, but she's okay, and she'll start and be ready to go.
QUESTION #6: Lisa, Teah, you talked about she played quite a bit at point guard yesterday. And you've had that three-guard rotation in many times, but my sense has been that she's been more the two or the three. Is this kind of a newer role for her, at least the number of minutes'
STONE: It by far is a newer role, yet one that we've thought about throughout the season. The fact that Teah Gant is a very, very stable individual, very calm on and off the court, she's a tremendous student, she's a student of the game as well. And our 6:00 a.m. practice was 10 days ago roughly. We had the one the players liked, we got to scrimmage. They liked that part of it. That particular day, I had talked with my staff about it. I said let's take a look at this. And we put her in there, and she made a big difference. And it was just an easy transition, and we liked it.
The fact that Jolene and Janese are playing 40 minutes a game, and, you know, it 's not that they can't, and they've done it for a couple years, the fact that Teah can play one, two, or three and is very calm with the ball, she might be our second best ball handler on the team, and didn't flinch, didn't waver. She accepted the challenge, played with a lot of confidence.
A play last night that stands out is a transitioning basket coming down the left side, and she slid one over to Brittany, her roommate, in for a lay up. That's freshman, a freshman substitutes off the bench. That's great contributions. And the fact that Teah can do that for us gives a little bit more height. She's not taking over Rae Lin's spot. I men, Rae's got that point guard position. But to be able to maybe throw to Teah in there at the top defensively, it was the match-up initially. But now to know that she can have a calming effect offensively, it's a nice, nice thing for us right now.
QUESTION #7: Coach, last week, Janese and Jolene kind of talked about, they mentioned themselves as almost like the class that's kind of bridging the gap from, you know, your beginning to their end as well as from where they've been to now it 's just extra having. Do you kind of look at them and thrown Danielle in that group a little bit is the class that's going to bring it from where it was to where it needs to be'
STONE: No question, without question. And they're my seniors on the floor. I met with all three of them this morning already, and I said let's just keep having fun here. The longer we play, the better it is for all of us. And all of their hard work is paying off. They've endured it. They've been in close games and let some slip away. We've come up short in some games. They've had to start for us. They're our three leading scorers, you know, and have had to do so much.
And I just think sometimes we coaches, fans, people around them, they forget. They 're 18 to 22 years old. They're, I'm not going to call them kids, but they're young, and they've handled the pressures, and they 've handled the adversity, and they've handled the criticism. And now to reap the benefits, they deserve it. They've worked very, very hard. They 've thrown the team on their back, and this is the breakthrough, and it's in large part due to those three.
QUESTION #8: Lisa, you have a point guard coming in next year, and you have Rae Lin and Sarah here, so I'm just going back to what you just said about Teah is does she factor in next year as a point guard, or will she be more the off guard spot'
STONE: The fact that Teah can play a lot of different, Teah could play the four also, if we had to. That's what's great about Teah. I was pigeonholed as one position when I played. When you can do a lot of different things, that's great. It's like Mariah Dunham. Mariah can play a big guard or a small forward. And, you know, I like when you're versatile.
The fact that we have another point guard coming in, that's a great thing for me. That's a great thing. And when you have ball-handling players, people that have played the point, I played the point all through high school, and then I had to go to the off guard. I think the fact that you can handle a basketball, you can see a couple point guards on the floor at the same time. I'm excited about that. I'm excited about this team coming back, the growth, and maturity, the success that they 've had, as well as the addition of three fantastic players.
