Washington vs. Cal Postgame Quotes
February 16, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2002
Washington head coach June Daugherty:
"Congratulations to the seniors on the Cal team. Cal played hard today. They
have improved. Their defense spread our offense out. It made for a tight
ballgame. Obviously I commend their coaches and players. They are a young
team and they are working hard.
(on starting a 14-0 run after timeout):
We talked in the timeout about
picking up the pressure on defense. Our rotations weren't crisp. We asked
them to step up and play harder, with more energy and enthusiasm. We had to
put bodies on them and get into our running game.
"Cal is an entirely different team than when we played them the first time. Their defense gave us trouble. This was a huge game. Anytime you win on the road in the Pac-10, it's a big game. We were coming off a disappointing loss at Stanford. This was a character test and our team got an A+. I'm proud of our team. They were fatigued, mentally and physically, but they played hard. This was a great win.
"I feel confident going into the Pac-10 Tournament. We have a big week ahead of us, at home against Oregon State and Oregon to close out the regular season. We really do take it one game at a time, one practice at a time. We work on what needs to improve. We can control that.
"Giuli (Mendiola) is a warrior. She hates to sit on the bench. When she came back in off the bench in the second half, we had that huge run and got the intensity going."
Sophomore guard Giuliana Mendiola:
"We brought more energy out of the timeout. We got running. We were passing
the ball, playing as a team. Kellie (O'Neill) got going.
"I take it upon myself to go hard to the boards. I try to work hard on both ends of the floor. I do whatever I can to get the ball."
Junior forward Kellie O'Neill:
(on the 14-0 run):
"We started to move more, play harder, crash the boards
harder, take open shots with confidence. Once things start hitting, the
rebounds are a little bit easier to get. We were a step slow. We just needed
to move with every pass and get there.
"It's a test of how tough you are mentally, when you have to adjust after a big loss to the No. 2 team in the country. They (Cal) shoot well here. They play well here. They played a heck of a game. It was (Ami) Forney's senior day. We knew she was going to play well.
"We want to win every game we can. We know we have to give it our best fight every time."
