USC vs. Washington Post-Game Quotes
January 30, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2003
Head Coach June Daugherty
On Victory: "We're real excited. Our defense definitely stepped up tonight and we were able to get out on them better than what we did down in LA. I thought we pushed the tempo tonight off our defense and off our rebounding and it was really exciting to see us get back in our running game a little bit and it definitely was the difference. We were rotating a lot of players and the bench in particular responded really well tonight."
On Team Rebounding: "Really pleased to see the rebounding against a team like that. We were obviously very concerned with their size and athleticism. For the most part we did a good job on the boards."
On Second Half Offense: "One of the things we talked about at halftime was making some adjustments in the defense and we were able to get some skips, some steals off the skips and get a little better rotation with out big people getting on their big people in the post and not allowing so much easy stuff inside especially to Hoffman, who played unbelievable. But the other thing is we asked our guards to really push the tempo make or miss and we haven't been doing that a lot this year. A lot of times just on the miss we'll push it but we went "make-miss" and tried to use our numbers and it was effective."
On Hard Foul to Giuliana Mendiola: "I was really concerned when Giuli didn't bounce right back up because she's so tough and takes a lot of hits. Fortunately we had that timeout right then and were able to make sure she was okay and regroup. The thing about Giuli with her toughness is she feeds on that and she's the leader of our program so the team stepped up and said 'Hey, look what they're trying to do to Giuli, let's go.' And her teammates definitely responded."
On Andrea Lalum's Game: "Andrea played a great game. Her start in this game was super for us, it was so important. To draw Hoffman and the other big players away from the basket to open up the back door lanes for penetration and she was on fire. I thought that Andrea did a really good job reading what they were doing up top. She just kept stepping back and screaming for the ball a couple times from her teammates and fortunately she was just hot from 3."
On Washington 3-Point Shooting: "We talk about that a lot in this media room, it's just a matter of time, it goes in cycles. Everybody on the team seems to have their legs back and that's real important."
On Cheryl Sorenson's Contributions: "Cheryl Sorenson was pivotal in this game. She came off that bench when it was a 6 point game in that second half and she provided a great spark defensively. I thought rebounding-wise, just the toughness she brought. Her leadership as a senior, to me that's when we went on a run. Like I said it was a 6 point game when we put her in there and she made all the difference in the world for us."
On Bench Play: "We're rotating pretty deep right now and getting a great response from everyone: Keeler, Gio. And we can wear people out when we do that. I think that the credit goes to the kids that are sitting there watching the game. Everyone wants to start, everyone wants to play 40 minutes, but they're sitting there and they're learning, they're watching, they're getting a feel for the tempo, what we need and don't need. This is a veteran group that's very intelligent about basketball and they're using that time to get themselves ready to go in and maybe even step it up a notch off the bench."
GUARD LOREE PAYNE
On offensive play by team: "This team is incredible about making runs and once we started on a run, things just kind of flowed how we like it. When you're going through a game, there comes a point in the second half where you're going to put them away. We make up our minds that we needed to put these guys away. We went on a run, hit some shots and ended up with a pretty good lead."
On putting USC away: "As we kept building on our lead, that was in the minds of everyone. I know last year there were a lot of times where we didn't finish and we played close games that we ended up losing. This year it's a different group. We went through that and we know that you can't let it come down to one or two points. With USC that been kind of inevitable in the past."
On the fan support from the men's team: "it was great and we'll be there tomorrow night for them. That's the wonderful thing about being a Husky and being in the Husky program. Everyone supports each other. There was other teams here too, representatives from all the teams. We just love being Huskies and that's the amazing thing about it."
GUARD GIULIANA MENDIOLA
On USC's tough play: "They played tough, they played physical. Hoffman had an awesome game and our team just pulled it out. We kept trying to push it on them. They had seven or eight players in their rotation, so out team kept running on them and tried to get easy points that way."
On taking an elbow in the face: "It kind of hurt. I was seeing double out there for the first couple seconds, that's why I stayed down for awhile. I was kind of cross-eyed, but I'm okay now."
On matching USC's physical play: "I love playing physical. Whoever's willing to push our team around, I'm willing to step up for our team and give it right back to the other team."
On taking control offensively: "I hate it when I look up and see it tied or us up by two or us down by two. That's when I decided to try to be more aggressive offensively. Whether that's getting a shot for myself or dishing it."
FORWARD ANDREA LALUM
On Ebony Hoffman: "We came in together as freshman, so we've been battling it out and we will be until we graduate. Ebony and me has always been a great match-up and I think we both get excited and it's a challenge for both of us. It's not anything personal, we shake hands and she's a nice person off and on the court too. She's very physical. It's a great challenge for me and I look forward to playing her."
