Post-Game Quotes
December 21, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2007
Head Coach Tia Jackson
General Comments:
"The quote I put on the board was about a defensive attitude. It was `some teams wish for it to happen, some teams hope that it happens, but a few select teams make it happen.' I just walked in at the end of the game and changed the wording to: ` we made it happen.' " It was all purely defense. As you can see we shot 39 percent from the floor. We couldn't buy a basket. But we got opportunities created by our defense that was just absolutely phenomenal. Right now we have the right attitude. It starts on defense and we are just going to continue to build on that momentum."On who made the biggest impact: "All 13 players. It wasn't one person for sure. Every possession on defense was huge and everybody got an opportunity to showcase what they could do on the defensive end. It had nothing to do with offense at all. There were some key rebounds, but it was collective team rebounding. My mouth was hitting the floor because we finally put together a defensive game and I loved every minute of it."
On the first half: "They shot almost 50 percent and they were hitting threes. This team doesn't hit threes. They had guards that were out there shooting threes and making them. They went 6-for-11 from three-point land; they're like 25 percent from three. That was one of the things that surprised us. We started to sag off a little bit because they were breaking our traps and our half court defense. After we did that they could see everything. So we went to our kamikaze defense where we were all over trapping, we were diving for balls, we were everywhere. That created some of our shots and they started to shoot worse. All-in-all I think defense made this game happen."
On the last scoring play: "It was going to [Sarah Mosiman] because a post player was guarding her, but [Katelan Redmon] knew if she couldn't get it to her that she was going one-on-one. She was our second option."
On this game helping build momentum for Pac-10 play: "That second half of the Ohio State game was a good momentum push for us going into this game. It said that we are a defensive team and that is what our catalyst is. We want to be a defensively sound team. We have a great foundation now to build on and we're going in the right direction. Before we were trotting in place and now we are starting to make some progress. We took three charges. I don't even know what to do with myself. The only Christmas gift I wanted was some charges and they did exactly that."
On the post-game celebration: "It was how we kind of slowly, but surely started to chip away at their lead. It all was defense-generated. I was getting excited because they were making stops and diving on the floor. I was feeling like a fan for a second. And they were doing it so passionately. We can be a very good defensive and we are."
Senior Emily Florence
On the feel of the game:
"I think we've been frustrated with a lot of the games in the past but we finally pulled together as a team. I knew I could go for a steal because Mo would have my back in case I didn't get back. We all trusted each other and I think that gave us a big momentum booster to go into Pac-10 play."On the feeling like more than a non-conference game: "We know how good we can be now. It's all going to come from hard work and defense and we can't just rely on our athletic ability because sometimes there are teams that are way more athletic than we are. We had a tough preseason but going into the Pac-10, that's another level. There's a lot of freshman on our team that haven't seen it yet, but there are going to be some really good teams out there that we have to play well, like we did tonight, defensively every game."
Sophomore Sarah Mosiman
On half-time adjustments:
"We knew we were taking good shots so offensively there wasn't much adjustment, just hoping we hit our shots. And defensively I thought we played pretty well in the first half so we just needed to keep coming out and getting on their heels."On the feeling like more than a non-conference game: "It felt like a step toward something greater. We knew how much potential we have and we practice so hard. We were just waiting for the game for the practice to transfer over into the game and that happened tonight. I think a lot of us are just relieved to know that we can do it. Now we are just going to keep building on it."
Freshman Katelan Redmon
On her last shot:
"I knew the clock was running down and I had to do something with it. It's tough to be confident in that kind of situation."Sophomore Sami Whitcomb
On getting in the zone:
"I wanted to keep shooting to shoot through my slump and hitting that first one helped. That loosened me up on offense and made me feel less timid."
