Oregon at Washington
February 23, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2002
Coach and Player Quotes
Washington vs. Oregon
Saturday, February 23, 2002
Washington Head Coach June Daugherty
General Remarks: "Obviously we like to save our best for last. We played a phenomenal game on defense and offensively it was exciting to see us shoot the ball that way. We got a lot of mismatches, we were able to post up our guards, and we got Oregon on their heels a little and took advantage of the foul situation. I thought our defense was stellar. We changed up quite a bit from the first time we played Oregon and the team responded to that and we were able to get Oregon out of synch a little bit. It was inspiring to watch that kind of play from our team. It shows how well this group has come together and how well they fought off a tough pre-season when we didn't have our identity yet. We have come a long way. To be second in this league this year with all the great teams says a lot. I am very proud of how well this team has put things together in the Pac-10 season."
On defensive changes: "We brought the defense in a lot more instead of allowing the offense to spread out. The guards will pull all the way out to half court if you let them. We were able to shorten down into the passing lanes and make them bring it out. Because of that we could get in the penetration lanes and they weren't able to get easy looks they had the last time we played them. It also gave us a quicker rotation on the backside to defend the shooters."
On playing without Andrea Lalum: "This team is very close. They were inspired to play very hard for Andrea. When Cheryl Sorenson went down the way she went down, this close knit group did not like what happened. There are ways you can handle that. You can go out and pick a fight and not handle it right or you can go out and play hard and play for the teammate that cant go and that is what this team did today."
On Giuliana Mendiola: "She was unbelievable. She has been putting this team on her back. When we get down she has really stepped up. She feels like 'I'm the one, I'm going to take care of business. Get on my shoulders and let's go.' Fortunately she had a height advantage on their guards and they had trouble with her post ups and she was able to take advantage of that. She has been doing that depending on the defense and the defense allowed that today. She has done that the last 12-15 games. She is getting more and more comfortable with it. She is so crafty with the ball once she gets it. "
Washington guard Giuliana Mendiola
On compensating for absence of Andrea Lalum: "We talked about it a little but we didn't want to focus on it too much. Obviously it is a big blow, she is one of the best players on our team. But we have a lot of confidence in Sarah Keeler. We were comfortable having her in the starting role."
On her career-high 31 points: "When I am out there I am pretty confident in myself. If I have the shot I am going to take the shot or I look for my teammates. I just try to create whatever is best for our team and what puts us in a position to win. I think every game I come out confident in myself and my teammates."
On motivation after the OSU loss:"It was a disappointing loss but it gave us a little more fire to come out with against Oregon. We did a good job of coming out with intensity, our crowd was with us from the beginning and I was proud of how hard we played. We wanted to play well in front t of our home crowd one last time."
Washington guard Loree Paynev On having lost 12 straight to Oregon: "I think that came into play. We knew in the back of our minds about the whole Oregon rivalry. But this team was 0-1 against Oregon. We wanted to come out and give our fans a great last home game. We wanted to get some momentum going into the tournament. That is the key is playing well going into the Pac-10 tournament and carry that over into the NCAA tournament."
Washington forward Emily Autrey
On shutting down Oregon's posts: "We knew they are a big team on the inside and they have good shooters from the outside. We talked about shutting down (Catherine) Kraayeveld and their other big girls. We did a great job of that tonight. Every time we had someone flying out on the baseline."
Oregon Guard Shaquala Williams
On the difference in the game: "They just came out in the first half and shot the lights out. We know that they are a team that shoots the ball and when they get on a roll like that it is tough to get them stopped. They got off to a good start and we were playing catch up the whole game."
On making runs: "You get the lead down to seven or eight points and then they hit some shots. Even though you are catching up you are expending so much energy trying to get back there that obviously you are going to run out of that energy that you need to keep coming and that was part of it. But they hit big shots when they needed to."
On having a tough road trip: "No, we have always had to make this trip before and this is the first time we have lost a game on this trip in awhile so I can't say that it is a hard trip."
On having a lack of energy after the WSU game: "I look at our game in Pullman and we had the best energy we have ever had and Pullman is probably the toughest place to play ever. We had great energy in that game and I thought it would transfer over to this game but obviously we didn't."
Oregon Guard Edniesha Curry
On Giuliana Mendiola: "I think 17 free throws says a lot about how aggressive she was and how she was able to get to the line and post up. I think we played her tough but she got to the line at the end of the game and she made tough shots when her team needed her to. She had a great game, I can't say anything bad about 31 points."
Oregon Head Coach Bev Smith
On the Huskies hot start: "I think they were pretty hot. You could almost feel the heat from the bench. I think they shot the ball very well. On the same token I think we just didn't put the pressure on them that we needed to maybe take a little off of their shooting percentage. I think we saw that in the second half. I think that they were probably a little emotionally drained in the second half and we picked up our intensity in the second half."
On the difference in the Huskies from their last meeting: I think they did a good job certainly, they made some adjustments in their zone. The game that we played against them in Eugene I thought we shot the ball well we had a lot of three pointers. Certainly any team is going to make some adjustments and we were not able to make those counter adjustments inside by really not competing in the paint. Any time you can't get in the paint it hurts you because you are not able to draw fouls and get them into some foul trouble. I think we did a much better job in the second half as you can see Andrea Bills came up big for us."
