Post-Game Quotes
November 04, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 4, 2008
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Washington Head Coach Tia Jackson
Opening Statement:
"This is definitely not the overall performance that we would have wanted as far as collectively everything we're looking for coming into this game. We held strong, we never died, we kept going after them. At one point we were down by as many as 5-7 boards, and we found a way to out-rebound them. I'll tell you what, there are some things that we know we need to work on and it's limiting dribble penetration and boxing out on rebounds. Other than that, we'll take this lesson and learn from it, and get ready for Corban College."
On if she was concerned with the early shooting:
"They were so hyped up. I think the basket--it looked big, but they were aiming for more the outside than the inside...I'm not sure. Last night I'm getting texts saying, Coach, 15 hrs until the first game. I mean, they were just excited...and I ended up replying to those texts. I'll tell you what, I'm glad we got rid of these first round jitters. Thank god for exhibition games."
On playing a small starting lineup:
"Those are our best players right now. They haven proven to be the first five on the floor. We were taking the right shots, we were getting open looks, but again we were just jittery. We came into this from practice, into this game, shooting 43% from the floor. Our top eight that were in the rotation, were shooting 43% from the floor. So trust me, they've been doing it for 15-plus practices. To get this first game out of the way and to end up shooting...well close to what we wanted which was 43%, we shot 41%, but that first half was scary. It was scary; the basket had a cover over it or something."
On if she is going to stick with the lineup today or if she is going to mix it up:
"I'm a fan of, `if it's not broke don't fix it.' The lineup that we had in...they were defensively on it. They were a defensive unit out there, they were doing a great job of committing to that part of it. That's what got us going. It was getting rebound after that, transitioning that, getting steals, then transitioning down. Mollie was in the game getting transition baskets, it really really helped us. That group became the catalyst of our unit in the first half, then in the second half it ended up being a different unit, so it's just kind of who's gelling out there."
On newcomers Lydia Young and Kristi Kingma:
"They bring a lot of energy, especially Lydia. I mean she brings so much energy, and Kristi a lot of poise. For a young one she's definitely one of our leaders on the floor. I think having them in at the end with Sami [Whitcomb] and Mo [Sara Mosiman] who happened to be at the point guard at the time, and Heidi [McNeill]. That group just seemed like a pretty solid group. When you've got veterans with those newcomers it gives them a chance to shine a little bit. I was really happy to see Kristi hit--I mean, she's been shooting 52% in practice against some pretty good defense. I'm pretty sure she's disappointed in her shooting percentage, but she helped us with her poise in so many ways that it found a way to negate that."
On Kingma's last two free throws:
"She's one of our better free throw shooters, and like I said, she brings a lot of poise, a lot of confidence. Even when the basket seemed like it was small for her, she still took the right shots out there. Scorers find a way to make baskets. She said, `you know what, I'm not hitting so I'm going to drive on them. She did that and got to the free throw line."
Senior Forward Heidi McNeill:
On making halftime adjustments inside:
"I just came into the second half with a different mindset. I knew that coming into the second half that we were being out rebounded, and I knew that I could get a lot of boards defensively. They were not boxing me out on the offensive end and I just took advantage of that."
On being hyped up coming into the game:
"Definitely, I mean this is my last yea on the team and I have been looking forward to it for a while. I was definitely one of the people sending text messages to coach saying '11 hours before the game'. I think in the second half I started to settle down a little bit and started to fall into a groove."
Freshman Forward Mackenzie Argens:
On her two big lay-ups sparking a comeback for the Huskies in the first half:
"I think the whole team got sparked up and things just started flowing. We started playing defense, which was a huge key in this game."
Junior Guard Sami Whitcomb:
On getting into a rhythm:
"I felt that I had finally started to get my feet wet; I got a lay-up and then I hit a three pointer and I started to feel it."
On the near miss at the end of regulation:
"I mean I just threw the ball up there and hoped it would go in. Then I though it might be going in so when it missed I was a little disappointed."
Did anything surprise you about Love and Basketball?
"How many shots they were making. I felt like they were making every shot. I thought were contesting their shots pretty well but they just were not missing."
