HELENA — As the No. 25 Carroll College women's basketball team looks toward its final home games of the regular season this weekend, MTN Sports' Jonny Walker sat down with Fighting Saints coach Rachelle Sayers.
A full transcript from the video interview with Sayers is available below:
MTN Sports: As you get into this final stretch of the season and look ahead to the conference tournament, what does this team still need to improve on?
Rachelle Sayers: Well, we have a lot of things we still need to improve on, but I think each week we're getting a little bit better. You know, defensively, that's kind of been our trademark. And we're able to convert a lot of points out of our defense. So, we continually need to work on our rebounding. We need to continue to shoot the ball better. And I think that’s still coming. And l still think we're progressing. And so that's a great sign.
MTN Sports: If we zoom out a little bit and look at the program as a whole, you recently had National Signing Day. How do you balance the two parts of the job, first, focusing on these upcoming games this season right now and then also the future of the program and the new players coming in?
Rachelle Sayers: Well, it's hard. And you know, we prefer to get our new players signed early, before the season starts, because I want them to be able to focus on their senior years and have a great senior year and not be worried about what's coming next for them. They know where they're going, they know what they're doing, and they get to focus on their team, and they get to focus on enjoying that senior year, and that's really important to us. And for me, once we start games and things, I'm kind of locked into the players we have here right now in the program, and that's where my attention needs to be.
MTN Sports: And then back to this regular season, you’re near the top of the Frontier Conference standings, tied for second right now. How important is it to kind of get a high seed going into the Frontier Conference tournament? Or are you not as concerned about that?
Rachelle Sayers: With the new format and the eight teams, there's no bye. Obviously, if you were able to finish in the top two slots, you get an extra day of rest in between games, and so that would be critical. But I think the most important thing is to be playing your best basketball when you go into that tournament, and so, you know, however the chips may fall at that point. We want to go in there after winning our last four. I mean, you want to go in there playing well and feeling good, and then whatever seed you fall into and whomever you draw, you're ready for that.
