March 8, 2003

Recap| Box Score

Santa Clara

Michelle Bento
Opening Remarks:
"I am extremely proud of our girls. There were numerous times when our back was against the wall. We just kept our composure and came through. Defense wins for us and I think the girls did a great job of defending late and keeping us in a position where we could win the game."

On Huss' shot:
"I was thankful because I felt our team deserved it. That was my initial thought: that I was thankful for them."

On late Huss layup:
"I told Kayla, Just get it and go and that was our game plan and strategy at that time"

On Gonzaga's style of play:
"We knew that they would be very physical. We didn't make an adjustment, we just weren't executing and doing what we're supposed to do early in the game."

On the rest of the tournament:
"We wanted to put ourselves in a position to be in this game tomorrow. That was our goal and we accomplished it, whether it's Pepperdine or San Diego that we play."

Kayla Huss
On her shot to tie the game:
"I just wanted to get the ball and try to get the ball up. I knew she wasn't going to foul me. One handed, one footed, whatever, just get the shot off."

On power outage:
"We knew if we were aggressive in the second half, we could get in a position to win. I guess I could say it was difficult to maintain that aggressive style with the delay. There was some goofing off in the locker room, but when we got back into the game nothing changed in our attitude.

On motivation to beat Gonzaga:
"After losing to them the last time we played them, and losing pretty badly, we just wanted to get back at them and beat them."

Kendra Rhea
On Gonzaga:
"They are a physical team both in and out of the paint. You have to see what the refs are going to call and go with it. We got down but kept playing and got ourselves in a position to catch up and win. You just adjust to the physicality of the play."

On last play (scramble for the ball):
"It was a lot of confusion in there. You don't want to foul in that situation. Just get the ball, that's all.

Gonzaga

On Huss' shot to tie the game:
"She made a great shot. We wanted to put pressure on her, but we didn't turn her. The defense was good, Shannon was there, but she made a great shot. I'm not a big believer in fouling in that situation."

On the break from the power outage:
"It was a surreal situation. I think it affected both teams equally. Once we got our feet under us the game was able to flow better, but the game was a knock down, drag out brawl either way."

On improvement of team play during the season:
"We were awful early in the season. We got better and better and at this point I felt we were playing as good as anyone in the conference. We're a young team and I think we have some players that are going to do some good things in this conference."

On senior Triana Allen:
"I love Triana like no other player I've had. Obviously, she's been great and we've had fights, but she's everything that's good about college athletics. She comes from a tough background and she's become a great student. She's going to be one of those players that people remember. She's the only senior, she's doing it by herself. Santa Clara had five seniors. She could never have an off day. We're going to miss her."

On the state of the conference:
"I think our conference is in transition. It's not as strong as it's been since I've been here but it's not weak. I think it's young, with a lot of young players. The conference has been very strong, then it was down, and now we're re-building again. It's a tough conference with great coaches who recruit great kids. I think any of these teams left have a shot at competing in the Tournament."

Ashley Burke
On Triana Allen:
"Triana, our senior, was our inspiration and helped us immensely to get to where we got."

Shannon Mathews
On season:
"We came together as a team. We did fairly well in conference. No one expected us be here, but we did. So it's very disappointing to lose this game." On power outage: "It was strange, but once we got back our there we were fine. We just didn't get it done."