Post-Game Quotes
February 03, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2008
Washington Head Coach Tia Jackson
General Statement: "The first game we played, I was trying to get the pulse of the team and find out what we needed to focus on. Obviously, it was about winning a game. But also to get them motivated. My spiel that time was about it being a rival, they're not going to welcome us there. This game was just different. Although we're playing the same team at home, it was a little different. We were talking more about us. It didn't matter who we were playing, it just so happened to be Washington State with a lot of hoopla around it. It was about us, and we wanted to go in making this game about us. We are a much better team than we were ten games ago and we showed it tonight. And the good thing is we showed in on television. Even those people enjoying the Super Bowl were able to still flip over and see us. Just to see us doing the action. We were a totally different team, and it showed. 22 assists, 15 turnovers, it's awesome. [Emily] with eight assists, no turnovers. Just phenomenal. We're in a great place, a different place. It was nice to see the ladies go out there and have a good time."
On the defensive pressure: "That's been our push pretty much all season. Defense is what's going to win us a lot of games. Obviously rebounding is the other one. And the fact that we like to run. It's a more exciting game and I think people like to see that. Not only is it fun to do and we're good at it but it's enjoyable to watch as well."
On any sloppy play: "To start the half. It was sloppy. I got mad at [Emily]. When she was ready, she said, `Coach, I'll get them under control.' It starts with our point guard. I gave the same spiel to Morty. As young as she is, she's not a freshman any more. We're a lot of games in. We've got to start playing like it. Not to get complacent, it wasn't about the lead. It was about us.
On the team's improvements: "Have we ever had 22 assists? No. And we usually have 20 plus turnovers. To see us get to our goal in that area was awesome. And our shooting percentage was amazing. We shot a heck of a percentage from the floor, the three-point line and inside."
Senior Emily Florence:
On what the team gained from the game: "I think we've gained a lot of confidence. Everybody's good in the Pac-10, but coming off a big win like this, it built our confidence a lot and you could see it in our shots. We were hitting our shots, we weren't pressured as much because they weren't playing the zone. We did a really good job working the ball around. We got a lot of threes but we also got it inside too. Our posts were happy that we were getting them the ball. We guards were getting good looks. All of that made a great game for us and definitely will get us ready for the L.A. games."
On the mood of the game: "We're half way through the Pac-10 so we said in the locker room before the game `This is a new season. Right now we're 0-0 and if we get the win we're undefeated.' It's a whole new season right now. I think we're taking a big stride in the right direction."
On playing against former coaches: "I'm sure it was more weird for them than it was for me because they'd been coaching here for a long time before us. It's always good to see them cause they recruited me and I was with them for three years. It's always good to see familiar faces and give them a hug, I honestly just tried to focus on the game as much as I can. After we get the win I'll give a good chance to go say hi to them and catch up a little bit. It seems like they're happy over at Washington State and that makes me happy."
