Nov. 24, 2001
Chris Denker
"I thought the effort from our kids tonight was huge. I was just saying to them in the locker room that I felt their gutty, competitive spirit was just the start. We talk about scouting reports and those types of things. But, the effort has to be there and it certainly was tonight. We rebounded great against a bigger team. We had some good individual effort. Tammy (Annas), Caroline Gruening really played good defense on the Mendiolas and Payne, the real weapons they have. Autrey got going there in the second half. All-in-all it was a really good defensive effort."
On the key to withstanding UW's runs in the second half
"I thought it was due to our mental toughness. We had a good mindset. I told the players it was going to take 40 minutes. We beat Utah last week, who was a ranked team. You don't just go out and blow somebody out who is ranked. There is a reason why they are ranked. They are a good team. You have to expect to play a long game. When I called a timeout right before the last media timeout, I reminded them it was going to be a 40 minute game. They were going tto come after us with some of their storm and we were going to have to come back with something of our own and we did. our girls really responded, were aggressive and really got after them."
Should the Broncos be nationally ranked?
"I sure hope we are considered. I think we should be. We beat a ranked team on their home court tonight and we beat a ranked team last week on a neutral court. I think we deserve it."
