Colorado-Villanova Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe

General
“Well that was a fun game. That was a game that we knew was going to be low scoring and we wouldn't have many possessions. It was great for our team to bear down defensively like they did and really get stops late in the game, it shows a lot of maturity of our team. I loved how gutsy we were I loved our tenacity, we are going to take a lot of things from this game and move forward and hopefully keep going.”

On Lexy Kresl's Last Defensive Possession
“It is kind of ironic that they isolated her in the end because that is something she really had to work on this year. As the season has progressed other teams have isolated her less and less, and she has taken pride in that. I don't know if she would have even wanted that any other way. For her to be able to get the stop, and get a hand on the shot was tremendous and shows a lot of toughness on her part.”

On Villanova's Playing Style
“You have to give Villanova a lot of credit Harry Perretta does a great job with that team. They are so well coached, they don't give in easily. I knew we weren't going to win by 10 points, I knew it was going to come down to the wire, and with Villanova you have to expect that. They are not just going to lay down and die, they are going to keep coming at you and making plays. Anytime you have a good team like that you have to be ready to make plays down the stretch and I was really proud of the plays we made down the stretch to protect our home floor tonight.”

On Her Half-Time Talk
“Well the only thing I changed was our mentality. I told the team I loved our grit, I loved our determination, I loved our tenacity on the defensive end we were on it. We were playing great on defense, we were doing everything the right way but on offense we did not have the same tenacity that we had on the defensive side of the ball. That is what we needed to get; or we weren't going to be able to hold them. I knew we were going to need to score and I felt like we got that and it started with Chucky and filtered down to the rest of the team. Chucky made some great plays when we needed a basket, I thought our passers did a great job of finding her and she came through.”

On Chucky Jeffery's Performance
“Villanova doesn't crash the boards to get offensive rebounds and when that is the case Chucky can go and pursue the ball. She is very good at pursuing the ball, she has a great instinct and that is what she did. Which was great for our transitions, and that is how we scored a lot in the second half was through our transitions. We scored as we were pushing the ball.”

On Meagan Malcolm-Peck's Performance
“I thought Meagan's shot was struggling, she couldn't hit an outside shot. But she made some nice slips to the rim especially the one between her and Rachel Hargis; I'm glad Rachel caught her and Meagan finished the shot. She has been working hard on some other things for our team when her outside shot isn't falling. I thought she played great defensively, and I know she has been sick the last two games but she has really toughed it out and gotten through and shown some real heart when she has not felt her best.”

On The Program's Gain From the Tournament
“Experience, winning close games, beatging a team from the Big East Conference who has a great history. Learning how to play a game like that; we haven't played a game like that this year. Just getting our young players a different experience with all these other teams. Oklahoma State is going to give us a whole new game as well. Anytime you can get competition between good teams it is beneficial. If we weren't playing right now we would be taking a couple weeks off and doing individual work outs. You cannot get the same experience out of individual work outs as you can actually playing and practicing together and preparing for the games.”

Colorado Players

Lexy Kresl, Fr., G
On Defense During Last Play – “I realized they were going to iso me. I was a little nervous. It shows that I have worked a lot on defense this year. It was what I needed to prove that I have gotten better.”

On Advancing In The Post Season – “It's the best opportunity to get good recruits and get more exposure that way.”

On The Final Four In Denver – “We're going to watch it because it's somewhere we want to be. I think to get there you have to observe what they are doing because they are doing the right thing to get there.”

On Villanova's Defense – “I don't think it's that much harder, it's just for me I've never seen anything like it. Even watching film I was confused. It's very unorthodox. The hardest part was thinking about the defense.”

Chucky Jeffery, Jr., G
On The Rebound At The End – “Coach tells us to stay home when they drive like that. I kept going in towards Lexy and she went up, and I saw it and thought 'I got to get it'. We lost a couple of games because of rebounds, offensive rebounds and things like that. I just had to go get it.”

On Advancing In The Post Season – “This is good for our freshman too. For them to go to the post season and win their first year is going to be good for them in the long run when they become juniors and seniors.”

On The Exposure From The WNIT – “I think it's going to do a lot for the program, especially for our conference because (the NCAA) only took two teams. I think if we keep winning and if not us and someone else from the Pac-12 wins the WNIT that's open the door for the NCAA tournament next year. Program-wise this is the second time in a row and it's worth it to make some progress for next year.”

On The Game Plan – “They were going to use all the shot clock. They're methodical and they set a lot of flare screens. Coach told us that they were going to lull us to sleep and then hit us a with a flare screen. We knew that was coming. They're a good shooting team. If they don't see a hand its going down. It went down to the wire and we had to play defense.”

On The Final Four In Denver – “It's all about paying attention to the little things. Everybody knows how everybody plays. It's about out-smarting each other, who's going to play harder and who's going to play as a team. I think watching other teams play, how each person leads, what they bring to the team, you get to know different aspects of the game.”

On The Six Minute Scoring Drought – “I think that's when they went on their run. I think we lost our composure a little bit. We got tentative and started shooting the ball out of rhythm. We had to regroup and slow down.”

On The Defense Against Villanova – “It's very important. We know they make on average nine three-pointers a game. That was an emphasis to not let them get that many three-pointers. Coach said they were going to hit five or six and we kept them at six so it says a lot about our defense.”

On Villanova's Defense – “We just did the scouting report. Coach didn't mention she played in it.”

On Her Career High Rebounds – “I just had to go get the ball. That's my instinct, I like to go in there and scrap for the ball. They weren't crashing on offense. It was really easy for me to go in and grab the boards on offense. But I think it's huge, we need to rebound and get the ball in transition. I just had to go get it.

Brittany Wilson, So., G
On The Exposure From The WNIT – “That's a Big East team and they get seven or eight bids. And from the top to the bottom, five is just as good as four. For us to come out here and perform well with balanced scoring and an excellent defensive mind against that team is a really good win. I'm proud of the girls and let's keep rolling.”

On The Final Four In Denver – “We are basketball fans, we don't just play the game. For us to watch it and to see Stanford, we've played them. We need to know what it takes to be a number three team in the nation and in the Final Four two years in a row. We're seeing in and hence why we're coming.”

On Villanova's Defense – “They just told us, when in doubt you're getting a flare screen. And when it doubt we did get hit with a flare screen.”

On Playing Against Oklahoma State – “We've wanted to play them. Of course they are a completely different team, and so are we, and we've been doing really well on the road and playing our staple, defense. We'll keep coming from there and there are no average teams left anymore. It's only good teams left, of course their whole scheme has changed. We just have to keep playing defense like we've been doing and we'll be fine.”

Villanova Head Coach Harry Perretta

On the Slow Start for Both Teams:
“I thought we were rushing it a bit in the first half on our offense. I thought they were doing the same. It was a big game, so teams tend to rush. They don't tend to execute their offense properly because they are rushing all the time. So I was trying to get our kids to slow down and execute our offense a little better—which I thought we did in the second half. We were able to get some easier shots at the basket. I thought Colorado did the same thing. Then it came down to who could make the most shots. That was basically it.”

On Coming Back From an 11-Point Deficit:
“We slowed down a little bit. We executed our offense a little better. We hit a couple of shots. Even when you execute your offense, you have to put the ball in the basket. What happened was, when we made the first one [three-pointer] we kind of got some confidence and then we made a second one. When you make one or two shots and you get some confidence in you, then you start making some more shots. But you have to get some good shots in first.”

On the Impact of Missing Lead Scorer Laura Sweeney:
“If you look at the score, we're not a high scoring team with Laura and without her. It impacts a great deal because we become basically a perimeter team because we can't really throw the ball inside. We did throw the ball inside a little bit to Leer, but Laura is our most consistent post player so when she went out of the game we had to become more of a perimeter team.”

On Possibly Being out of Synch:
“We've been traveling a lot. I don't want to use that as an excuse, but I think it takes a little bit out of you. We've been home then back here. We got in at midnight last night. I think it takes a little bit out of you, but I think that when you are playing on the road it's hard to execute the game. I thought Colorado's defense was pretty good. They played smart. I think their defense had something to do with our lack of execution too. When you put it all together I think it's a little fatigue, maybe a little bit of rushing, and Colorado's defense.”