Colorado-Weber State Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe

General
“I thought our whole team played well both offensively and defensively. The first half was probably our best half all season in terms of execution. Offensively, we were moving the ball and getting the ball to where we wanted it to be. Chucky did a great job of running our offense and setting the tone. One of our goals for the game was to get a lot of transition baskets. In order to do that, you have to get defensive stops; so we did a nice job of getting those stops and pushing the ball. Our wings also did a great job of getting out wide. Our wings, in turn, did a great job of finding our posts and really rewarding them with good passes.”

On Julie Seabrook's Game Tonight:
“Julie has a good pace right now. She understands where she can get the ball and where she wants the ball in order to score offensively. Her teammates are also doing a great job of finding her. I can remember a time in the first half when the ball was at the top and she was on the low, left block. She was dictating where the ball needed to go and the ball ended up going there; she posted up hard; the guards got the ball in to her and she scored. It was as easy as that. She understands the game more and more and is beginning to understand how to position herself so that she can get an easy basket without having to make one-on-one moves with someone directly behind her. Defensively, our posts in general did an outstanding job of guarding Weber's post players. Weber's post players are typically their leading scorers, and they were posts that we are not used to guarding. They were quick, athletic, and really drove the ball. Our posts did a great job of keeping the ball out of the paint, and not giving up easy baskets.”

On Weber State's 11 3-Pointers:
“I thought we could have played with our hands up a little bit more than we did. We knew they could shoot the three; but at the same time we knew that they really hurt teams that allowed them to drive. We have seen them get to the rim against other teams fairly easy. Guarding penetration is something we always work on, regardless of who we are playing. We also worked on moving our feet more to stop players easier one-on-one. We did a great job of guarding our players one-on-one and stopping penetration, which is what we have been focusing on. You also have to give Weber State a lot of credit. They were 11-29, almost 40 percent, from the 3-point line. They knocked their shots down; I've never seen them shoot that well, but they did. They came ready to play and they are going to win a lot of games in their conference.”

On the importance of the Wilson sisters' performance to night:
“It's important for us to stay balanced. Tonight we had great balance. Ashley has been really solid. She stays within her role very well. She ran the lanes in transition hard tonight and got a lot of easy lay-ups from that. I'm not sure if she even took one outside shot. Everything she did was to the rim. She also did great crashing the glass and getting offensive rebounds. There were a few times that she overran the offense rebound, so I think she could have had a couple more than she did. Both Ashley and Brittany give us a spark coming off of the bench. That's the biggest thing. Regardless of how many points they scored, they both know that they have to defend and bring that energy to the defensive end. They did that well tonight, which allowed us to get as many transition baskets as we did.”

On the importance of the home win before the upcoming 5 game road stretch:
“We always want to make sure we play solid at home. We knew this was going to be one of the last games we played at home for a while, so we wanted to have a lot of fun, but also that we protect our home floor. We wanted to end up the non-conference play on a strong note and I thought we did that. We've played well at home almost every game. So it was important for us to come out and make a stand and to end the non-conference portion of our season on a good note.”

On if the amount of three's put up tonight is beneficial for upcoming games:
“It was definitely beneficial for us. We play Texas-Pan American first and Creighton second. We have to really focus on Texas-Pan American, but at the same time, we don't have a day to prepare for Creighton. Starting tomorrow, we basically have two days to prepare for both teams. Texas-Pan American is going to do some things similar to Weber. Creighton is a really solid team. I think they will probably be the best team we have played so far. The move the ball well, they are well coached, they know their system, they can shoot the three, and their post players can drive. They are going to be a test for us defensively, and offensively as well. They will switch screens if they need to switch screens and they play hard. Both teams down in San Antonio will be tough. We have to make sure that we don't overlook Texas-Pan American and that we prepare well in the next couple of days here.”

On if the team is looking forward to the back to back road games:
“We are looking forward to being on the road. It's nice to be able to see back-to-back games because it's similar to what we are going to be doing in the conference. The time that we are down in Texas is going to be the same amount of time we are gone for our conference road trips, which will be good for us to understand how much time that is and how much time you have to spend together as a team. Our assistant coaches' joke that we have to really like each other in order to be on the road together for so long. But it will be fun and it is going to be nice to get close to Jasmine Sborov and Arielle Roberson's home towns, and to play in a good tournament.”

On how the players dealt with finals week:
“I was really pleased with how our players handled the whole week. They came ready to practice every single day. We did give them three days off since we played last, but when they were here, they were here to play. We tried to make it a little bit easier on them, in terms of not doing as many cerebral drills, or drills that they really have to think through. We really just let them play. So, I think that helped a little bit. But they all showed up and were focused. I think the leadership also played a part. We really challenged our leaders to step up and challenged the sophomores, juniors, and seniors, who have done this before, to help the freshmen, who have never done this much studying in their lives. You have to be balanced as a student athlete, and this week is kind of the true testament of the balance part.”

Colorado Players

Julie Seabrook, Sr., F
On Her Game
“It's exciting. I'm just glad that we got it in the paint…that was one of our goals for today. Not happy about my free throw shooting but we can work on that, it's easy to fix. So yeah, it's awesome, but I couldn't have done it without my teammates.”

On Establishing The Inside Game
“Not too much actually. I kind of felt at the beginning we were getting a lot of drives into the paint and stuff but our post game didn't really come until a little bit later I feel like. We have been harping on getting it top and in and by the second half we were doing that a lot more. It kind of just came naturally today; it wasn't like forced or anything.

On The Second Half
“We knew that they're a team that is not going to give up and they are going to fight to the end, kind of as Coach Lappe put it. We kind of let them come in and then we're like 'We got to get back to our defensive principles again', and that definitely helped us. When we focus back in we got back on the right track.

On Playing Well At Home
“We really look to defend our home court. This is our gym and we don't want anyone to come in here and think that they can beat us. By having a complete preseason of winning at home it definitely, like Brit said, helps us going into the Pac-12 because we have that confidence of we defend on our court and no one comes in and beats us here.

On Defending The Three
“Coach Lappe touched on it in the locker room after the game. One of our major focuses this week has been defending one-on-one and drives because we haven't been as successful at that in the past. She said 'Yeah, we gave up too many threes but she knows we can guard threes, three-pointers, because we've done it before.' But yes we do need to do better when we are doing that because we are going to be having to guarding drivers and shooters in one game at one time. But this game was a lot of focus on no straight line drives and guarding penetration and one-on-one. She was really happy on how we did on that.”

On The Team Playing Well
“Coach Lappe was really happy how unselfish everyone was today. We're hitting the open player and that's exactly what we need to do, is take advantage of the things that the other team is giving us. And I think we did a good job of that. Chucky played awesome, she had a lot assists. It shows how she pushes the ball and how Brittany pushes the ball and got other people open.”

Brittany Wilson, So., G
On Responding To Runs
“It's just focus. We lost it a little bit and we know if we stay focused as a team then we can guard almost any team there is. All we need is our mental game and once we have that then it's all from there.”

On Playing Well At Home
“I felt like this win was good. Last year we went a couple games here at home to get our momentum built because we are also going into the Pac-12 starting on the road. So to get these games, I feel like, underneath our feet and give us our confidence we really needed it.”

On Shooting Threes
“They ended up shooting 29 threes. And there game is really to drive. Well it's not to give one and take the other. Our hand should have been up, that's way too many threes in the game period.”

On Sisters Playing Well
“It really does feel good because you've seen her battle adversity. And just to see her out there doing really well, its brings back the old feeling kind of. Cause we always played together and just to see her finally coming along, finally getting over the injuries and finally just able to step up and play how the both of us know that she can play and Coach Lappe know she can play. It's a really good feeling inside for me to see her performing as well as she did today.”

On Team Play
“The team was really balanced. Whoever is open that is who we are hitting. Those last three or four games it happened to be Chucky.”

Ashley Wilson, So., G
On Playing Well
“It was fun. I feel like we were all really sharing the ball a lot. People were getting open, we were seeing who was getting open. We worked a lot in practice on 5-on-0 type things so we knew what to expect when we got in the game situation. We knew what would be open so we knew what to look for, it was there all night.”

On Sisters Playing Well
“It felt good. I'm happy when everybody has a good game so it was good.”

Weber State Head Coach Bethann Ord

General
“I'm proud of our girls, they always battle and they never give up, which I love about them. We have a pretty tough schedule and we go on the road quite a bit, but they always give it their all and I'm proud of my team for that. Colorado is a very good team, and they deserve a lot of credit.”

On Returning To Boulder
“It was great being back and coaching in the Coors Events Center. Obviously, none of girls I coached or recruited against are still in the program, but it's always a unique experience to bring your players to play at a place where I have a lot of history. Colorado has done a great job with their new facilities and it is nice that they are stepping up their efforts to invest in the program, which they have clearly done a great job of doing.”

On Making 11 Three-Pointers
“That wasn't anything we really emphasized before, but my team is a pretty good shooting team and we have a lot of sharp shooters. Our emphasis is always on defense and discipline, but when you lose your best player in the first five minutes of the game other players have to step up and that's exactly what our team did.”

On Megan Patterson and Caela Mohre
“Their performances were both pretty typical for them in terms of what they can do. I thought both played with intensity and were aggressive which we needed. They do a good job of reading the defenses and setting up their teammates for good opportunities. Most importantly they make the shots they need to make, when both those players get a good look, they are going to knock it down.”

On How Team Can Improve
“We need to continue to improve on defense, and do what we do best. We will keep getting better, and that is the biggest thing. Every game we have gotten better and we just have to keep doing it. As long as we continue to battle in every game and worry about ourselves, then the wins will come.”