Post-Game Quotes
February 20, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2009
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Washington Head Coach Tia Jackson
Opening Statement:
"I've got three words. It's about time. That's all I've got for you guys. You can start with the questions."
On keeping the pink jerseys:
"I might. I might keep wearing the same suit for the rest of the year."
On setting the tone defensively in the first half:
"It was crucial. We knew that we generally force 23 turnovers a game and wanted to be pretty much on that. We wanted to mix up our defenses and felt that we could confuse them, especially with Doreena Campbell out of the game. That's kind of the head of their operations. It benefitted us tonight."
On the moment that she was able to relax with the win:
"Never. I don't know that it's actually registered yet. I'm just smiling for the girls."
"It's been a long time coming. I'm just happy that finally we had a really good effort. We've had several in the past in some games that the kids couldn't actually reap the reward of a victory. But today we gave a valiant effort and are able to get the victory over a very good Bruin team. So we're excited about it. It's not showing, but I'm excited."
On the field goal drought broken by Argen's lay-up:
"It was good. We set up so many scenarios in practice about how important defensive stops are. That's why you could hear the bench chanting different defensive cheers for the team that was out on the floor. I think it kind of fueled them a bit. Then the crowd got into it, and it definitely helped. Mac was extremely aggressive today and its unfortunate that her aggression resulted in five fouls for her because we definitely could have used her down the stretch."
On the absense of UCLA guard Doreena Campbell:
"I thought it was huge. I said before you walked in that she is kind of the head of their team and that head was taken off before we even got the chance to do the jumpball. We took advantage of it and it worked out for us. When there is a situation like that, we definitely want to capitalize on it."
"If they had her or not, we had her up on the board before and then we got the press release that she was not playing and it just was what it was but I think we were prepared either way."
On McLellan's involvement on offense:
" I think she capitalized on what our game plan was. We wanted to use our posts as much as we could. We wanted to take some pressure off of our guards. They get so much attention. Between Sami and Kristi, they're getting D'ed up, as they call it, the entire game. It's kind of to relieve some pressure there, get an offesnsive power inside. It was kind of a combination. Mac did some good things at periods during the game and I thought Laura did a great job escpecially early in the first half and going into halftime she was exceptional and a couple and-1 plays. Collectively our post players are doing a decent job and each game it might be someone different but Laura today it was her game."
On what she told her team at halftime:
"That we need to come out fired up. It's our ball so we've got to look to make something happen on the offensive end. But more importantly we had to continue to mix it up defensively and make them again with Doreena out, them recognizing the different defenses we were in was taking them a little time to figure it out. We took advantage of that. Our girls just played hard. It was a complete team effort. I couldn't be more proud of them."
On winning with two leading scorers only combining for 14 points:
"Yeah, but we kept them to 49. The team effort was not just from the scoring department, it was more what we did defensively. Taking advantage of it on that end as opposed to the opposite end."
On UCLA's struggle against the zone:
"They struggled. One of my assistants keeps the defensive stats and it was pretty evident that they weren't scoring but their main player, Doreena, is the one that generally finds the hot hands for them. They didn't sub all of their shooters into the last two minutes of the game. By that time, they weren't warm enough to get hot and by the time they figured it out, it wasn't a three, it was a 15-17 footer and I believe it was a 17-footer."
Junior guard/forward Sami Whitcomb:
General Comments:
"I think we all believed that we could do it, but having it actually happen is huge for us. Now we can maybe go on a little run in these last five games and get a different kind of streak going. It will just give us a little more confidence."
On the team's post play:
"It was great. Coach J said we really wanted to use our posts more, even if it was just for alleviating the press on the guards. We were going to them and they were doing a really good job posting up. As the game got going and they were being as effective as they were we wanted to make it a focus to keep looking at them and keep going inside. [UCLA] really couldn't handle Laura [McLellan] and [Mackenzie Argens] and if they kept being aggressive we might as well."
On UCLA cutting the lead down:
"I didn't even realize that they cut it that much. For us it wasn't so much them cutting the lead as it was us needing to settle down a little bit. We still had the lead I think was the biggest thing for us to focus on. There was no reason to panic yet. I don't think we ever really got too worried about it."
"'Undefeation'. It's a phrase that we have made up. We're 1-0. Sarah Mosiman and Heidi McNeill coined that. We have our own team dictionary and we just makeup words sometimes. The word was made a long time ago."
On how long they will celebrate the win:
"Probably until midnight. We have to enjoy this because we've been wanting this for so long. At the same time we have to be ready for the next game. We want to keep the streak going. We want to keep winning. We have to stay focused and we have to remember that USC is a great team. We have to execute, we have to have our legs. So we can't just go out and celebrate all hours of the night."
Junior forward/center Laura McLellan
General Comments:
"You have no idea how good it feels. It's like we just won a championship game. It's a relief. We've been imagining that since we beat Wazzu. We knew we were getting a lot closer. We've been playing a lot better. We knew that these were games that we could win and we did."
"It's hard because you can't get down on yourself. If you go into a game not thinking you're going to win then you're definitely not going to win. So just telling yourself that you have a chance and that you can compete with this team. You have to make sure you're doing that. You've got to get your team together and make sure everyone is on the same page. We did a good job."
On winning for the seniors:
"I remember last year when we beat Cal that it was the best thing we could've done for our seniors then. If you can't do it for anyone do it for the people that aren't going to have another chance, another season."
