Colorado-California Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe

Opening statement:
“I liked our effort; I liked our fight and just the fact that we didn't quit at any point in the game. You know, there was a point in the first half where we could have stopped playing and it could have been a blowout. We took enough pride in who we were and what we were doing and the fact that we were on the floor. We didn't quit, but we kept fighting and I give credit to our players, they really rose to the challenge. Britney did a great job in that stretch of getting us going and giving us some confidence with our outside shot, getting to the rim. And I thought defensively we had a very good effort against Cal. You know, they're huge on the inside and we can't match them person for person on the inside but we did a great job of helping down. Our posts worked their tails off to try to keep it out of there as much as they could. They helped each other out; our guards helped them, really did some good things on the defensive end. Took us a awhile to get our scoring going. It finally got going. The outcome wasn't what we wanted but I've got to be happy about how we played.”

On … difference between playing the Pac-12 and Big 12
“I've had this question a lot. The biggest difference between the conferences is nobody knowing anything about the conference, the teams, the coaches, the players. It's been a learning curve. We've had to be on the fast track in terms of scouting reports; we are a team that loves to scout. For our players, having to learn a new system again, learning every player and what they do. It's been tough at times, but it's been a great experience, a learning experience. It's been physical, especially down low. We've had to adjust to that. There's been some differences but we've been pleased with the changes. It will be a huge change as we go into the recruiting season and into next year.”

What happened in the second half, in terms of three point shooting?
“I thought we got a lot of great looks from three, even in the second half. In the first half they were falling, a lot of it was because of Brittany. She hit two or three in the first half. In the second half Lexy Kresl had a lot of great looks that she often doesn't get because she is such a great shooter. I thought Brittany (Wilson) had some open looks; I thought Megan Malcom-Peck had some open looks. We were driving in the paint and when we were driving in the paint, they were collapsing. We knew they would. We saw it on film. The kick out were there; our guards did a nice job of kicking the ball out. That's when we just have to have people step up and knock those open shots down, and just expect, when you're a shooter and you're on the outside, you have to expect those are going in. They just didn't fall for us tonight. We had trouble getting some second opportunities. We usually get opportunities on the offensive end; we usually get those. We went smaller and we were able to get to the rim.”

Colorado Players

Brittany Wilson, So. G

On … difference between playing the Pac-12 and Big 12
“Like coach said, we have to trust them and know what they are saying is true. It's fun for me because I'm coming home a lot more, being at Cal and Stanford, USC and UCLA. It's a great experience. We are playing great basketball right now.

What are some of the things you'd be thinking about for next season?
“Of course I wish we'd won, wish we'd pulled it out. There was a stretch of four minutes where we could have gone down, but we battled with that team. For us to battle with that team, I think a lot of people thought we would lay down and got blown out because of the standings: they're two, we're 10. But it shows standings don't really matter; we can play with anybody and everybody in this tournament. We showed what we had and it was a great appearance.”

California Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb

Opening statement:
“I just want to thank all of you for being here. We really appreciate the coverage and it is good to see you. I am really happy to get the win. There is nothing like wins in March. That is what this team is really focused on. I would first like to credit Colorado, I read an article yesterday that they were out to prove that they were not a number 10 seed and what you saw tonight was a team that is very talented, well coached and their players played very hard. I think that they are a quality basketball team. We had three very tough games with them this year and we are fortunate to come out with three wins. I thought it was a vintage California win in that our depth is what sets us apart. I am able to have the starters sit with foul trouble or just because of match-ups and bring in different people and different combinations in our players rise to that occasion. I really thought that we got enough critical plays at the right times. We gave up a little too much dribble penetration, a few too many open looks but (G) Chucky (Jeffery) and (G) Brittany (Wilson) are really good players and we had to fight to win this game. I liked what I saw in terms of our players resilience.”

On whether she recalls the last time California went nine minutes without a basket…
“I don't that is a long time to not score. I didn't even know it was that long until you just said that. The one thing that I like is that there wasn't a real drop off in our defensive intensity. I knew that we had some good looks that we normally make but didn't go down. I thought (G) Layshia (Clarendon) had a lot of good looks and a couple was short. Obviously we play through the paint quite a bit. There were some missed baskets down there but we had to key on some stops and getting out in transition. Every time that we played against Colorado it's been a game of extreme runs. We sort of knew that was going to be the case. They do a really good job of pushing tempo, so we were focused on getting transition stops when we weren't scoring. We obviously get separation when we put the ball in the basket. We did that enough but it wasn't our prettiest.”

On her thoughts on the free throws down the stretch…
“I expected every single one to go in. No one looks at free throw percentages any more right. No, I think we just have a team that we put ourselves in a lot of post-season type situations with our non-conference schedule. We have had some close games in conference and I think there is a maturity (level here) even though we are so young. I think we have poise about us at the end of games these two are our not senior leaders they have to act like seniors and they do that. I think that there is just a calmness about us that allows us to step up and knock down free throws.”

California Players

Layshia Clarendon, Jr., G
On what made Colorado's defense so tough in the second half…
“Credit to them, they started pressuring a lot more and their wings were all over us but we always focus on us at the end of the day. We took some rushed shots the first five minutes of the game. We made like five or six passes in the post and out around the perimeter and got really good shots and sometimes we get a little panicked like everyone wants to make the play and so we just kind of got out of our stuff a little bit.”

Talia Caldwell, Jr., C
On what made Colorado's defense so tough in the second half…
“We had a couple of turnovers, I know for the post a couple of times we dribbled and they were digging. The ((G) Brittany and (G) Ashley) Wilson twins are really active, they are really good defenders and (G) Chucky (Jeffery) so just a couple turnovers and not being tight with the ball.”