HELENA — With Carroll College riding a two-game win streak, MTN Sports' Jonny Walker sat down with the ninth-ranked Fighting Saints head coach Rachelle Sayers.
A full transcript from the video interview is available below:
MTN Sports: I know we're probably about — what is it, a week ago now? — but that “Scream Game” has to be one of the most awesome things in all of college basketball.
Sayers: It's a great event. And it's so fun for our players to be able to come out here and have a gym packed of kids. And (it’s) an opportunity for some of those students to come to a college basketball game. It works both ways. It's great for us, but it's enjoyable for the students as well.
MTN Sports: Talking about awesome things: Willa Albrecht. The way she's playing right now, she's got 50 points over the last two games. (She’s) hot from 3. Did you expect this out of her?
Sayers: 100%. Willa, as a player, has limitless potential. She's more than just a 3-point shooter, which she does that very well. But getting her to understand how good she can be — and kind of a side joke I have with her all the time is you have to be "the woman” out there. You got to be the one. And she's really kind of come into her own on that.
MTN Sports: How do you evaluate the way that this team has played so far this season? Expectations were high. Start the season 1-3, but now you're on a two-game winning streak.
Sayers: Well, I think we knew we were going to go through some growing pains. So, we're, you know, we're still growing. We're still improving. And players are continuing to get in the gym on their own and getting individual workouts with coaches and watching extra film. And so, I'm really impressed with that. And I know that when we get to conference time, I think we're going to be a team that is tough to handle.
MTN Sports: Big part in that continuing to get better is going to be some of these more senior players. Willa and Addie (Ekstrom) are playing over 30, 35 minutes a game on a regular basis. Talk to me about your rotation.
Sayers: Well, you know, we would really not like to see that, especially this early. Obviously, as you get late in the season, those minutes can increase. We want to do a little more load management at this point, but we're having to play them a little bit more. Obviously, Addie gives us that stable ball handler. We would like to get some more bodies in there and get them a little more rest. We just haven't had the luxury to do that yet.
The Saints are back in action at 2 p.m. Saturday with a home game versus College of Idaho.
