Transcript
With us on Coach's Corner here in KWBG, get a chance to talk DMACC Women's Basketball. Jocelyn Kvart joining us, the head coach, is DMACC heading to North Carolina.
And anytime you get a chance to go to North Carolina, I probably want to be on a plane, but they're going to be on a bus and heading down and get a chance to play at the NJC double A division two women's basketball championships. And Joss, we're going to get there.
I know we are, but I wanted to throw this out and I know I already told you off there, but congratulations. Wow. Amazing. I probably can't throw enough adjectives, but super proud and super happy for you and the girls. Oh, thank you very much.
It's been a fun ride and a fun journey. And I, you know, this is a great group of girls to do this with. They are competitive. They love to play, but they are so much fun to be around. You told me that way back in November, and that hasn't changed at all.
I remember when we had our first coach's corner and I was just asking, okay, you know, what's, what's the group look like so far?
I know we talked about them when we ended last year, who was coming back and we could actually start talking about recruits about this time, actually last year. And you said, I think it could be a fun group.
But I remember you saying that and you were real excited about who was coming in and Joss, they just feel like they have just figured it out this time of the year, haven't they? I, it seems that way. I hope so. I hope we can keep rolling.
They've had a great end to regular season and conference and district play. Like I, you know, they love this time of year. They, they understand like the urgency of this time of year and the fun of it. And yes, yes.
So hopefully we can keep rolling with it and show the same stuff out in North Carolina. All right. So let's go back to Kirkwood first.
And I know that probably feels like 10 months ago, but just because I know you've been really busy, but region 11 championship game, you had just come off. I mean, I don't know if we reverse jinx it or not, but you didn't have a great game against Ellsworth. It was a win.
We talked about it. I remember you saying some words about the shooting that were, well, they started with an A and ended with awful. But boy, you come out against Iowa central. You put 95 on the board. That was just the day after we had that interview.
Maybe we got to talk, say some other bad stuff here or whatever. Maybe that'll talk the ladies up. But anyway, you, you put up 95 against Iowa central and then it's the evil empire. You got to go on the road. You got to go to Kirkwood. It's a Monday night.
Obviously all the kids are going to be there. Their students are going to be there. I saw, you know, watched online. It was packed. It was loud. And man, did your ladies come to come to play that night. Yeah. And I think we went into that Kirkwood game on about the best.
No, we could have with that 95, you know, score coming out of Iowa central. And when we played at Iowa central the first time we played horrible, awful. So I think the gals had that in mind when we went back. So that was a good first round matchup for us.
And then yeah, just shooting really well, going into Kirkwood and I got a Kirkwood. It will always be Kirkwood there. So well coached and they run things so well. And, and I think the gals did a nice job defensively getting up on them. I went close scoring game 55, 51.
They, they held them pretty well on the perimeter. They denied what they needed to deny and Kirkwood will always get, you know, he runs such good stuff. They'll always get, you know, points off of that boat. We wanted to control the parts of it we could control.
So on the board, you know, it's nine things on the perimeter. And the gals really bought into that and they did a great job. Josh, you got to tell me about the halftime speech because you come out in the third quarter, you outscore them 21 to 11.
I don't want to say you looked like a brand new team, but you definitely had some tweaks and stuff that I could tell happened at halftime.
And I know some shooting actually got a little bit better too in that third quarter, but whatever the halftime speech was, Josh, do we have that laminated? Can we use that again anywhere down the road?
I will be the first to admit that none of my speeches ever need to be laminated. No, no. But, you know, when we were, we were close at halftime, so we were down, but we were close. And that's part of the battle when you're there.
And I was, you know, we talked with, I talked with the coaches before we went in, some of the detailed technical stuff that we could adjust. And then you go in the locker room and the girls didn't have their heads down. They weren't quiet. They were talking. They were positive.
They were ready to get back out there. And it was such a neat atmosphere to walk into. And it really, you know, it was, it was hope for everyone, for all of us, for the players, for the coaches.
So we went out, you know, knowing that we had that opportunity to come back and get that win. What did it feel like walking off the court that night? Oh, so good. So good. You know, you wait a long time to win big ones like that.
And, and I think it was especially good because of, you know, the gals that we have and then the families, the following that we have, you know, almost all of them had family friends out there in the crowd and to be able to celebrate not on your home court, you know, with family and friends still with a, with a big thing like that was, was really exciting.
Well, you didn't get to celebrate too long because then all of a sudden you got to put a scouting report against a squad that I didn't know anything about. I'll be honest when I knew you were going to have to go to a district tournament to get to the national tournament.
I thought, okay, this is kind of, well, it literally was uncharted territory for DMACC. So how did you find information on United Tribes and how did that all come together before then you had to head up to North Dakota? Yeah, we started digging right away.
And you know, Coach Harvey is really good with scouting reports. She found games that we needed to watch, you know, she starts looking over stats and, and they are, you know, we knew going up that they would be a good team, a hard team to play against.
They shoot so well from the three when they want to, you know, so again, you got to control the three point area. And then they had a, a really good big who is not just inside, but mid range, you can shoot the three.
She plays solid defense, you know, averages, I think it was 20 some a game. So they were, they were a really good team. And we went in knowing that, you know, that we'd have to play hard and ended up being I think it's a, I think it was a shorter court.
I don't think it was a college length court, it was a shorter court. Oh. The first few minutes of that game felt like we were like back and forth like a billion times. It was a very quick pace.
And there was a point where we got down in that first quarter, I can't remember if it was by eight or 10 or something along those lines and called a timeout and everybody just breathed for a second.
You know, it's, it's the pace we want to play, but it just seemed fast and hats off to United tribes. They could go, they could go. So, and then from then on the girls were a little more collected, you know, taking better shots, getting better stops.
It was competitive for a lot of the game. They were, they were a very good team, very good team. 53 points you put up in the first half. You talk about getting up and down the court.
It was 33 29 after the first quarter, but then your defense, I think really started to kind of wear on them. I know I got, I was kind of watching on the phone while I was at a young kids volleyball tournament. Don't tell anybody.
But I was watching and I'm thinking we, DMACC just looks bigger. They just look a little bit more stronger. They look like they're kind of, kind of pushing them around in the post. There were a couple of rebound scenarios too, where I thought that's just DMACC basketball.
Like you were getting after it. And then it just felt like Joss, it was kind of over after that point. Yeah. This group has been a really good handling physicality.
I think they've understood that we weren't the most physical team to start with, but that's something we had to become.
We've got, you know, really Clayburg down in the post who can be physical, gets bored when we need them, you know, even our guard to like last year, returners Whitney Jensen, Chloe Castello, who aren't just naturally physical people when they're playing understand when that needs to happen.
And you're right. I think defensively, you know, being able to be the more aggressive player was a huge benefit. Joss, if I would have told you, you guys would have had a chance to walk off the court with, and I don't know this for sure. So if I'm wrong, tell me I'm wrong.
Did everybody that's suit up get on the court that day? Actually, I think we were pretty close, were we not? Okay. Yeah. I was going to say, if I would have told you Joss walking off the court, nearly the entire team would have got a chance to play in that game.
You probably would have told me I was crazy. And they're such a good grouping and any chance we get to, you know, get those, those, those gals in because they're so supportive on the bench. They do nothing but cheer hard and practice hard for us. And they're a great group.
So yeah, any chance we can to get them in and get them minutes is a lot of fun. That had to be a fun bus ride home. I'm going to guess too. It was, it was such a positive environment. Yeah. And we slept a little too along the way, but it was fun.
As you should have, as you should have. Okay. I know that then it always probably feels like a real fast turnaround. What was it like getting everybody together to watch the selection show?
I thought that was a pretty neat thing that they have put together over the years where they, you know, they make it a big deal. And they don't just say, Hey, Joss, by the way, you're this seed, you're going to play this team. I mean, they kind of made that a big deal that day.
It was, it was a lot of fun and we kept it pretty small team and coaches and watched it in a classroom together, you know, nothing fancy. But having done that for the first time ever was, was big.
And the girls, you know, as coaches, I think sometimes you think about that a little bit more as far as the first time ever, but the girls knew how, how big of a thing that was. So it was pretty neat. And we're, we're, I mean, happy with our seating too.
I think that, that 13th seat is a great spot to be in. So tell me about Monroe community college. Then coach, that'll be your opponent coming up Monday morning at 9am down in Hickory, North Carolina. But what do we know about Monroe coming in? Yeah, very good. Very good school.
Very good team. 23 and 7. Very athletic. They're going to press me in the man's full court for almost all game. I would assume they don't shoot great from the perimeter, but neither do we. So that's enough. All right.
But they like to get to the paint, you know, they'll, they'll get to the room. We got to be able not to foul, to control the paint and then only allow that one shot. You know, no second shot, shots for them. So yeah, super athletic team.
We'll just have to be able to play defense, move our feet without reaching. Well, Jocelyn again, congratulations. What a, what a fantastic post-season this has been.
I want to say this feels like the cherry on top to Sunday, but with this group right now, Josh, I don't want to say there's a ceiling. I don't think there probably should be. I think if there was a ceiling, we already kind of crashed through that.
So best of luck when it comes to the tournament down in Hickory, North Carolina. Thanks for joining us here on Coach's Corner. Thank you, Ryan. I appreciate it. You bet. Jocelyn Kavark again, joining us. DMACC Women's Basketball here on Coach's Corner.
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