Oregon State at Washington
February 21, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2002
Washington vs. Oregon State
Washington Head Coach June Daugherty
On Leilani Estavan's last second shot: "We were up on her, going sideways and we didn't want to foul her. She made an amazing shot. You have to give her credit. She threw it sideways, across her body and it went in. They have had a bunch of overtime games so we had an opportunity to see what they run in that situation. We had a match-up on the ball and that is all you can short of fouling her and deciding the game at the free throw line. It was an impossible shot and she made it possible."
On the Huskies' effort: "I thought we played hard. We left it all out on the floor. Our kids played with a lot of emotion and energy. It was tough to see Andrea (Lalum) go down in the first minute of the game. It was shocking. I thought the team did a good job of trying to shake it off and play hard for her. Unfortunately we came out on the short end."
On how difficult this loss is: "It's incredibly disappointing. But when I walk in the locker room after a game like this and I know that every player left their all on the basketball court and played as hard as they did, you just have to bounce back. We have to get ready for the next game on Saturday."
On Oregon State guard Felicia Ragland: "There is a reason she was the player of the year last year. She has a lot of confidence. She was very motivated. We had some problems rotating the baseline. In the second half we got a lot better and got some help on her. We tried to force some off balance shots. The problem in playing her is that even though she is off balance she manages to hit a lot of them. That is how good she is."
Washington forward Kellie O'Neill
On the strength of Oregon State's defense: "It wasn't really difficult to get the ball inside but the thing that was tough for us was that the moves we would make kept getting stuffed because they were so tall. They had a huge height advantage. When we would try to put the ball on the floor their little people would come in and swat it away. It was a challenge for us down there."
Washington forward Emily Autrey
On the team's reaction to Andrea Lalum's injury: "When Andrea went down it was a big shock for all of us. I think we did a pretty good job of overcoming it and going out and playing for her. We realize what a huge player she is on this team and we had to make up for that. I'm proud of my teammates because I think we all stepped up. It's disappointing to lose a game like this but she made an incredible shot. There is nothing we can do but put this behind us. We have to move on and focus on our next game."
Washington guard Giuliana Mendiola
On Washington making just one first half two-point field goal: "It may have just been one of those games where you are just not hitting your inside shots. But I think we weren't working the ball around enough and were shooting a little out of synch and when that happens your shots don't fall. In the second half we were moving the ball around and getting better shots and because of that we felt more confident and were able to hit more shots."
Oregon State Coach Judy Spoelstra
On Staying Together: "So many times in our timeouts we kept talking about how we need to stay together, we need five people on the same page, all five need to know what's going on on the floor. When we had about five minutes before the end of regulation and then at the beginning of the overtime we talked about being the team that doesn't make mistakes. Let's get five people doing everything right out there."
On OSU's Overtime Games: "It's not like we think, 'Oh, wow, this is really a lot more anxiety.' it's just kind of exciting to have an opportunity to play five more minutes. We felt very confident. I really liked our team's unity getting into the overtime. Obviously hitting the three like that creates some kind of momentum for us. But we keep talking about how important it is to get on the board first. So Leilani (Estavan) hit the three but they (Loree Payne) hit a three, so that part of it looked like it was going to be a chess game. I kept looking at the clock and trying to calculate what the difference was between the shot clock and the regular clock and when we needed to use our timeouts."
On guard Felicia Ragland and guard Leilani Estavan: "Felicia (Ragland), I thought worked extremely hard. She gets herself open. Our post players were getting called for moving screens when they were trying to set screens for her. We told both Felicia (Ragland) and Leilani (Estavan) on numerous timeouts towards the end of the game and then overtime that they have an opportunity to penetrate the gap. We felt like we were dribbling too much out on the perimeter and that we needed to penetrate and attack the gaps and that Washington couldn't keep up with Felicia (Ragland) or Leilani's (Estavan) quickness. I think Felicia (Ragland) particularly, when she's working that baseline jumper is getting knocked around a bit but really has the presence of mind to hold the follow through and drain some nice shots."
Guard Leilani Estavan
On Hitting Half Court Shot: "You can't have doubt in a game of basketball. It was my night and the shot went in and I was happy. We didn't have much time so we wanted to get the ball in and push it and look for Felicia, but she wasn't open so I just took it upon myself. I just thought, 'Drive, drive, shoot it.' And I hit it."
On Team's Overtime Mindset: "We thought we've got to keep playing hard, got to keep working hard every time you go into overtime for the whole five minutes. If we work hard things will come our way and good things will happen for us as long as we go hard. That's what I believe."
