Every time I looked at their stats, I got sick to my stomach. I thought we did a good job on their first-shot percentage, but it was their second and third shot that was the difference. |
Every time I looked at their stats, I got sick to my stomach. We had to pick our poison. They're a very, very strong team. They could win this tournament. |
I don't know if you can measure everybody strictly on statistics. Mary played with a lot of courage, and I think when you look up and see a kid fighting day in and day out with pain because of her passion to want to play, it makes everyone else a little better. |
I said to the team all week, I hope it comes down to (Amanda) Pape and Walker. But most of these games don't come down to the best player. They tend to come down to a secondary player. |
If we go to Bridgeport, we're doing pretty good. That's the regional. |
It's been a crazy week. You work your whole career, you work in life to get to the NCAA tournament and it's the second best thing to happen to you this week. |
It's nice to have that target lifted off our back. This is only the second time all year we've been the underdog. |
Knowing it was Senior Day, Nicolle was emotional in the locker room before the game, but after she hit some shots and got her rhythm, she got that swagger that had been missing for the last few games. When she hits shots from the perimeter like she did today, it makes us a better team. |
That opens it up. Lisa's been coming on. She's been battling a leg problem all year and she was worrying that the doctor might shut her down for the year. She got the OK last Monday that it's not a stress fracture, and all of a sudden she's shooting the heck out of the ball. |
That was huge. The kid's got guts. She can be 0-for-6 from 3, and she's going to shoot that seventh shot the way she shot that first shot. She plays with confidence. |
That's maturity and focus. When a team makes a run at us, I don't want to have to call a timeout. We should have the maturity to fight through it. |
That's what we start with from day one. The kids play with a high energy level, and that allows us to do a lot of different things on defense. Our defense is our staple. |
Their approach all week was a real professional one. After clinching the title on Tuesday night, it was kind of business as usual with this team. There wasn't too much of a celebration. The kids were real focused and they played with a lot of energy. They didn't play perfect and we have a lot of things to work on for Tuesday. But they played with a high level of energy. |
They can run or post you up. They're a very formidable team, out of a very strong conference. |
This is probably the best offensive rebounding team we'll face all year. The mark of a good team is taking the other team's strength away from them. When we defensive rebound, we score a lot of points. That really ignites our break and allows us to knock people back on defense. |