Colorado University Athletics
Colorado 76, St. Louis 67 Quotes
December 22, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Colorado Coach Kathy McConnell-Miller
General
“I am obviously very pleased with the outcome. We had great respect for St. Louis coming in knowing they had just gone up to Wyoming, which we feel is a very difficult place to play, and won. From a preparation stand point, this lineup gets us off to a good start offensively and defends which is exciting. I don't like that we gave up 40 points in the second half, which I attribute to being unfocused at times. We didn't exercise the mental toughness this team has, which is unfortunate because if we put two back-to-back defensive efforts together, we would be feeling good after this game. We could have handled the pressure better, and we need Kara Richards on the floor. Even if she is not scoring, she is a difference maker with her presence.”
On the First Half
“I guess it would appear to be the best half of the season, but I don't really gage it on half to half. I gage it on possessions and how effective we are in certain areas. Defensively, that was probably our strongest effort to date against a quality team.”
On Offensive Performance in First Half
“Patience was key, and identifying changing defenses which we put more of an emphasis on coming into the game. They made the extra pass and got open looks. I don't think we took one contested shot and it started from the inside.”
On Handling Pressure Defense
“[G Britney] Blythe hadn't had a lot of experience with the press. She was out of position a lot, and that caused us some problems. I could have probably called some more time outs and got them set. She has been the one on defense who has been applying the pressure, but has not had a lot of experience handling it. I will take responsibility for that and get it figured out. I thought once we got it figured out, we broke it and made bad decisions.”
On the Second Half
“The biggest thing I said in the locker room was Christmas Break starts now and not with 10 minutes left. The biggest concern for me was that we didn't finish that game.”
On F Brittany Spears
“I think the nicest thing about her is she is showing some positive emotion on the floor. Usually she is pretty level, but I see a difference in her when we are not playing well. She is saying things that last year she wouldn't have said. She is playing a good supportive role when a teammate is not playing well or struggling. She is seeing the big picture now, which is encouraging. She is playing really good basketball right now.”
Alyssa Fressle, Freshman, Guard
ON IMPROVING ON PREVIOUS GAME'S PERFORMANCE?“Yeah, I thought it was a good game, and I didn't play that well in the last game. I did a few different things to prepare this game, so I feel good about it.”
ON SECOND-HALF DEFENSE ? “I played a little tentative on defense in the second because of my three fouls. I think we need to play better defense and we need to get more defensive rebounds.”
Kara Richards, Senior, Forward
ON PLAYING WITH FOULS ? “I think one thing I need to focus on is not trying to block shots (when I'm in foul trouble). That's not my forte.”
ON THE TEAM'S IMPROVEMENT ? “We've come far. Communication wise, we've learned how to communicate player to player. So I think we've improved a lot.”
Saint Louis Coach Shimmy Gray-Miller
General
“For us, I don't think we played very hard or well in the first half. When you come in to someone else's house and you are playing against a solid Big-12 team, and you are undersized and not as deep, you have to play hard. And you have to play well if you want to have a chance. I thought we got better in the second half, but at that point it was too late. We aren't going to come back against a team like Colorado on the road.”
On Effectiveness of Full Court Press
“We would have liked to have done that more in the first half, but in order to press, you have to score. And so when you are not scoring, you can't press. We made some press throws in the second half, we scored some baskets in the second half, and that allowed us to pressure Colorado. They struggled with that a little bit, but at that point the game was already out of hand.”
On Play of Theresa Lisch
“She is a very good player. She went over the 1000 point plateau tonight. She is the heart and soul of our team. Colorado should not feel so bad; she dropped 35 on Florida last year.”
On Travel Between Wyoming and Colorado
“It's been great. It's been good for our kids. We don't get to see too many mountains in Missouri. The scenery has been great, the snow has been great. We split on this trip; we played really well against Wyoming and won in a tough environment. We had a bit of a letdown tonight, but to go 1-1 against two good teams like Wyoming and Colorado is good for our program.”
