Post-Game Quotes
March 02, 2008 | Women's Basketball
March 2, 2008
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Head Coach Tia Jackson
General Statement: "It's all about these two right here. [Emily Florence and Andrea Plouffe]. They deserve an end point like this and the team gave it to them. They gave them their energy, their heart, their soul. They played an extremely good team in Cal and they came out with a victory. It was all about these two right here. They deserve it."
On Sami Whitcomb's stretch: "We kept going to her. She was on fire. I looked at her in the timeout and she gave me that nod. I said, `Let's ride you honey.' And we did. She couldn't get those looks without her teammates on the floor who were nailing her. Emily delivering her the pass and they were nailing her defender. All day long. And Sami was just in the zone. That opened it up big time for us."
On the first half looking like Friday night against Stanford: "I said to them that we won't let the same thing happen to us twice. It happened to us against Oregon State, Oregon and Stanford on Friday. And now we take care of Cal in the exact same situation. We knew we had to come out and not just be happy with that showing in the first half. It was about coming out and playing it completely for the next twenty minutes."
On going into the Pac-10 Tournament: "We don't play on Friday, baby. That's important. That determines how well you do when you have to play that third game in a row instead of four games and that's huge. We're happy, we're going to enjoy this."
On the team's growth over the season: "I would love to have all seniors on the team. They have had to lead a very young team - freshmen and sophomores. We have grown every single day. Every single practice, every single game. To have this be the end point of the season really shows where we want to go and what we're capable of doing. When you get these same young players as seniors, they've lived through everything and are going to go off on people. It's going to be so much fun. They're going to be great leaders for the future of this program. These two have laid the foundation for us. [Emily and Andrea]. They've helped us understand how to get it done."
On hitting free throws: "During halftime we talked about being poised and we knew that it was going to come down to free throws so we practiced it all week. Cal is a great team and Sami (Whitcomb) was taking threes with people in her face. We were going to be ready for this after the Stanford game."
On the game being physical: "They were definitely trying to box me out even on the free throw line. I was getting bumped a little bit. They are definitely a transition team so I was concentrating on getting back on defense. I was balancing trying to get the rebound and getting back on defense so they didn't get any transition baskets. It was physical, but same as any the other games."
On there being something special about senior night: Not really, our teammates were excited for us (the seniors) and wanted to win for us. You could see it in their eyes. They told us before the game that they were going to win for us. They gave everything they could. That was the biggest thing, everybody's heart...I was focused like any other game, especially in front of family and friends. One of my brothers was supposed to walk out with me but he had to get back for spring training."
On going into the Tournament: "Like we just proved tonight we can play with anybody. I think this boosted our confidence. Everybody gets excited for the tournament. We have played ASU twice, they're a man pressure team so we just have to be ready."
On Coach's pre-game speech: "The biggest motivation was that our teammates wanted to win it for us so badly. They wanted to make it special for us. Our family was here, Coach said let's do it for our seniors and they all stepped it up for us."
On what was working offensively: "Sami (Whitcomb). We were getting both inside and outside looks. If it wasn't inside then it was kicked to the guards on the outside. It was balanced except that one time with Sami. Emily had a million offensive rebounds so I mean everyone just stepped up and did their part. We had four people in double figures, two guards and two posts, that's balanced."
On Senior Night: "For me I'm pretty focused so as soon as the game starts I know the goal is to win and follow the game plan. Obviously there is a little emotion, my mom was here which she usually isn't. I came out as I always do."
On three-point shooting: "The first one we ran a play and it worked out, the plan wasn't for me to even hit the three. Coach (Jackson) decided to try it again, and I hit it that one. She always looks to run plays for people she thinks are on fire. So we kept doing it and I kept shooting. I tried not to think about it and I was getting great screens so I just happened to get open and take the shot."
On getting open: "It was Dre [Plouffe] and Laura, they are the best screeners, any shooter's dream. They get you open and it was nice, they were good."
On wanting to get a win for the seniors: "We always want to upset a team, win any Pac-10 game. The way Friday turned out, it being senior weekend, and our seniors being the people they are we really wanted to win this game for them. It was very emotional and I think I was going crazy after anyone hit a shot. It was a pretty strong game."
On the crowd involvement: "It's pretty great when the crowd and team is getting into it with you, you just feed off of it. It's pretty fun in a game like this where you're playing a ranked team on senior night."
