Post-Game Quotes
January 17, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2009
Jan. 17, 2009
Washington Coach Tia Jackson Quotes
Opening Statement
"I think we have a lot of positives to build on here. I think this was a game that was easier to build on. I think some of our aggression on defense in the second half, we really turned it up. Scoring 41 points in the second half--obviously this was something that we were waiting for, we knew we had scorers out there, and we were finally able to find that in Sami [Whitcomb], Laura [McLellan] and [Christina Rozier]. The team never gave up, they never gave up, and that you can stomach. We stayed together as a team and continued to work. On the flip side of that, obviously we've got to do a better job of boxing out. There at the end, it was a 16 point game, we give up an offensive board off a free throw. I'm having conversations, all throughout the game, one-on-one, talking to this one or talking to that one, just teaching them every single possession so they can understand how the game works out there. We're continuing to teach or young ladies, our young team, and continuing to go hard. That way, we can start going forward after this."
On the slow start
"I have no idea. I have no idea. I remember calling a timeout, I think it was my second in the second half, and saying, 'Okay, when are we going to wake up here? There's a game going on, and I'd like for us to show up,' And then, finally, it started. I think we've got to come out of the gates early, I think every team wants to do that. I promise I'm not saying, 'let's go out here and see what Oregon State does.' That's not what is going on. I'm saying, 'let's get out here, let's feel it, and start picking up full court.' You guys know when [Rozier] picks up full-court it's a nightmare for most. So we've got her on the head of the ball. That's something we've got to continue to do, and we've got to not wait till five minutes left in the first half-start of second half, we've got to do it from the jump. They're going to learn how to do that; it's going to turn around, and right now we're in that turning around phase right now."
On why Lydia Young and Charmaine Barlow didn't play
"Breaking team rules, and you guys know I'm a disciplinarian, so it's unfortunate that it fell on the time of a game. But, because of that, they had to sit out."
On starting Sarah Morton and Christina Rozier
"That's our best defensive unit right now. Sarah Morton is very good off the ball, and you add [Rozier] on the front of that and she's very good on the ball. So we had a pretty good defensive unit to start. And once we went to a more aggressive defensive style in the second half, and it being more about attitude out there on the ball. You saw, especially with [Rozier] and [Morton] in the game we turned it up."
On Oregon State's strong start
"Did it surprise me? Yeah. We want to make people uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortble, and I don't think they felt that discomfort until the second half. And, again, it's how we started the game."
On Kristi Kingma's health and performance
"Well, from a medical side, when you're a doctor or trainer looking at her, you're saying 'she's moving better, she can go out there and do some things.' From my standpoint as a coach, I'm looking at it going, 'I know my Kristi, and that's not her.' Again, I don't ever want to put her in a situation where in her mind she's saying 'I'm the same player,' but her limbs are not allowing her do the same things. I don't want to put her in a situation, or any of my players in a situation to not have success, or have to force an issue because that is what they're typically known to do. So we wanted to get out there and get that first game out, we're going to need her on the road going against the LA schools. She's got to now understand that she's not that same kid right now, and how to make that better...We'll be like that until she reaches 100% but for now she's roughly 70-75%."
On what she told Laura McLellan after the technical
"It's not worth it. No technicals are worth it. I had my share last year trying to protect the team, but sometimes your biggest message is to be directed at your team and not the ref, or not to an opposing player."
UW Junior Guard Christina Rozier
On getting her teammates fired up:
"We need somebody to start it up and get everybody pumped. So everybody gets pumped, even the bench as well. As you could see, our bench was hyped today more than any other game. So we just need to encourage each other and keep each other up no matter what."
On reacting to Coach Jackson's motivation from bench:
"It makes you want it more. She wants it, but we've got to want it more than her because she's not playing. We're the ones actually playing."
On the team not getting started until halftime:
"That's a good question. I ask myself that a lot. We have done that plenty of games where we just come out second half ready to go than the first half of the game. I really don't know why."
On team's communication:
"We're keeping each other motivated, positive, staying up. The game is not over. We still got twenty minutes left to come back and get things done. But it starts on defense. Be vocal, we got to talk. To help each out and rebound."
UW junior forward Laura McLellan
On not getting any closer in the second half after getting to 14:
"It's really frustrating because I think that if we had another 10 minutes we definitely would have won the game. In the second half, we came out way more aggressive, attacking the basket, getting better looks, being patient but at the same time pushing the ball. And just that we can and should have beat this team by the way we played in the second half, it's really frustrating to no be able to pull this off."
On the slow start in the 2nd half:
"The first half one of our keys to the game was to be patient on offense. I think we took that a little too far. We had open shots that we didn't take. We had lanes that we would normally drive that we didn't. We were too patient I think. The difference between the first and second half was just aggressiveness, offensive aggressiveness."
On the team's morale after a 1-4 start:
