Feb. 10, 2001
On the game
"We really fielded two different teams in the first and second half. I think they were kind-of sleepwalking through the first half. We had good intentions and I know the kids were ready to play and they were excited to play, but when they got on the floor, they were tentative and were hoping and waiting for things to happen. In the second half, they didn't wait for plays to happen, they went out and made plays. They played defense, were aggressive offensively, they pushed the ball down the floor... we go from scoring 25 points in one half to 44 in another and have five players score in double figures. We really sort of established ourselves, we were here to play. It was sort of a mindset. I think the intentions were there in the first half, they just didn't put it out on the floor. In the second half, we had really good energy from Julie Butler and Kendra Rhea that just sort of kept us going and then other people started feeding off it: Jen Glysson had a good second half. The guards also picked it up in the second half. We ended up outrebounding them pretty handily and we shot much much much better in the second half."
On the 16-3 run during four minutes in the second half
"We talked about wanting to get easy baskets at halftime, and even before the game. We wanted to run our transition game, have our post players be aggressive, and attack and get something inside, which would in turn, open up our perimeter. Our guards were standing around watching, but when they got aggressive in the second half... we give people problems. We're smaller than other teams, but our girls are quick and natty and they can all shoot it well, so now people have to chase them around and they forget about Annie, Jen, Julie and Kendra. And now those guys can play one-on-one."
On the come-from-behind victory, the team's fourth this season in the WCC
"I'm proud of the girls, for starters. It's something that in the last couple of years, this group hasn't been able to do and it says a lot for their mental toughness and their belief, and attitude. I love to have that. On the other hand, maybe that means we're getting off to bad starts and we need to not do that. But I'm really happy with the way they just stay resiliant. We've talked about that... fighting and hanging in there. Tonight, we played better defensively in the second half until we finally turned the corner offensively and started scoring. I also think it lends a little to our depth. LMU called a couple of time outs that looked to me that it was more because of the pace of the game than maybe how they were playing.
