Washington vs. Oregon State Postgame Quotes
January 25, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2003
HEAD COACH JUNE DAUGHERTY
On Victory: "We're just really excited. Offensively, rebounding wise that's the best effort I've ever seen as a team here in 7 years. There's no doubt about it. And I thought our big kids, (Andrea) Lalum and (Sarah) Keeler, played very physical today and really got it done. Not giving up second shots, doing what they did against their front line is a great accomplishment."
On Effort Level: "I thought we played 40 minutes today. 40 minutes of tough in-your-face basketball and we challenged them at halftime to play harder than they did the first half. The first half was pretty good, and I thought they answered the call. We're really excited about what we saw today on the floor."
On Giuliana Mendiola: "She played an amazing game. Giuli is the best player in this conference. She's the best player in the conference and I hope the media can start helping get the word out. If you look at her numbers every night, across the board, you tell me who else in the country helps her team more than Giuliana. Assists, scoring, rebounding, you just go on down the line. It's time we get the word out across the country that we've got the best player in the Pac-10 right here in Seattle, it's pretty exciting and I'm real proud of her."
On Rebounding Turnaround: "I think it's a couple things, I think for one we got some rest. We were tired; there have been a lot of things going on for 3 weeks. I watched the tape over and over again and said to myself, 'This is not us. That's not the energy and the focus we have.' But fortunately we were able to get some rest and play like we did today. The other thing is I've got veterans. This is not a young group. And when we sat down on Tuesday and said that we've got to improve in these areas, they already know it. They go out on the floor and they're not going through the motions, they're serious about if they're going to get their goals for the season then they've better improve in these areas, and they really took it to heart. This team finds a way to focus and get it done and that's the leadership and they get credit for that."
On Oregon State's Defense: "Let's give Oregon State some credit for their changing defenses. There's a reason they led the Pac-10 all year holding teams to 57 points. There were times coming down the floor that we didn't know what they were in and we said 'What the heck, just push the ball. And let's get something out of it.' But they're a very good team defensively and the way they change it up sometimes got us into a situation where we were trying to rethink things and got out of synch."
On Washington's Current Position: "I think it's an interesting challenge to assess that right now as a coaching staff, just because of the adversity we've gone through. Granted, other teams have gone through a lot of adversity. Not like we have though. The biggest thing we want to see is our ability to come back out and play hard. The other night [vs. Oregon], in the first half, I didn't think we were on all cylinders on both ends of the floor. We were the second half, but not putting together 40 minutes of good intense, physical basketball. And I know we remarked today after a shoot-around that it just seemed like they had their energy back and their focus was way better than it's been in about a month. So we're just trying to get back to playing hard, and keep improving in a lot of areas. We've got a lot of basketball left in this season. But it's about improvement."
FORWARD SARAH KEELER
On rebounding performance: "I don't put up as many points as Andrea [Lalum] or some of the other posts, but I know that I can get in there and mix it up and get the rebounds. A lot of times I might not get the rebound, but I'm trying to box out my person and make sure she doesn't get it either. That way, maybe a guard will come in or someone else and get it. I took it personal what happened down at Stanford and want to quickly turn that around for our team, so I'm going to do all that I can."
GUARD KRISTEN O'NEILL
On improvement since Stanford game: "We were embarrassed by the way we played down at Stanford because we know we're better than that. Like June's been saying, we're about improving everything and trying to get better everyday. After that Stanford game we came together as a team and had a gut check.
On Giuliana Mendiola: "You can't say enough about Giuli, honestly. You guys get to see her two times a week, but we see her everyday. She's the first one in the gym; she pushes our team in the offseason, she makes us go. She deserves all the attention, respect, and really glory that she's getting and will continue to get. She's an awesome player."
On giving up no transition points: "It's a team effort to get everyone back. We try not to doze on the post; we do that sometimes when we get the rebound. We tend to hang around a little bit. That's something we've tried to improve on. We have the athleticism and speed, so if everyone's committed to sprint downcourt. Then we shouldn't be giving up any lay-ins in transition."
GUARD GIULIANA MENDIOLA
On rebounding: "In practice we do rebounding drills, but the last week of practice that's what we've been focusing on completely. The whole two hours, two and a half hours was on finding somebody, hitting them, and boxing them out. We don't care who's getting the rebound and the more we get, the more opportunities we get to push the ball and get easy shots."
On getting everyone involved: "If they're guarding me and someone's open, I'm going to pass the ball. I'm not worried about points, numbers, stats; I don't care about that kind of stuff. I just care about us scoring, winning ballgames, and having fun together."
On level of team play right now: "I think our team can hand with any team in the top whatever. I have that much confidence in our team right now."
