No. 23 Washington at Oregon State
February 16, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2001
Washington coach June Daugherty
"I told the team they needed to quit messing around and I love the way this team responded. It's the first game that we've been down at the half and come back to win it, so that was a definite character test for us. The biggest thing was that we held Oregon State to 23 percent shooting in the second half. That was the difference. We said, hey, we have to start playing.
"Adversity has struck. We've lost Melissa Erickson for the year, to an ACL. We just found out that Cheryl Sorenson and Carli Halpenny can't go this weekend. The challenge to the team was, we have some adversity and somebody, individually or collectively, needs to step up and make up for those teammates not being on the floor. Andrea Lalum must have heard that message loud and clear. For a freshman to play 32 minutes and come up with a double-double, again, the way she did, shows a lot about the character of this team. Jill Pimley was huge for us off the bench. She had that break-away layup, she hit a big three - she only played 17 minutes but they were some of the best 17 minutes of her life as a Husky.
"I'm not so sure you can stop Felicia Ragland. She is somebody you have to be aware of at all times. We tried to get out on her a little bit harder in the second half. We ran at her a lot off the baseline, to try and get a rushed shot. We adjusted the zone and matched up a lot better up top. She is a tremendous talent and she is having an unbelievable year. It's scary how good she is."
Senior guard Jill Pimley
(on the first half) "We knew we were being outhustled. We knew we could come out and play a lot harder and we have a lot more pride than that. We still had confidence we would win, but we definitely weren't satisfied."
Senior guard Megan Franza
(on the first half) "We talked about how low our intensity was and we weren't playing with very much heart. That's one thing we've been doing a great job of these last few games -- playing with heart and playing for each other, getting out there and giving it everything we've got. In the first half we weren't doing that at all. Our coaches looked at us and said, `you guys are being outplayed. They are playing harder than you. That's why you're getting outrebounded. That's why they are shooting 60 percent. That's why you're down by five.' In the second half, everybody, individually and as a team, came out with more intensity and heart.
"Each one of these games is so important. We can't afford to come out and give a game away like we almost did."
