Colorado-Loyola Marymount Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe

General
"One and 0, that's the goal. I like how we played at spurts in that game. I thought we had a few opportunities to blow it open and you got to give Loyola Marymount a lot of credit. They stayed with it and hit some tough shots when they needed to hit tough shots to be able to stay in the game. Made it a game down the stretch. So we got to work on a lot of late game scenarios. It's fun to see our young kids, LMU is pretty veteran so it was fun to see our young kids and what we have worked on and what we have learned. For that to be able to come to fruition and saw some good things both offensively and defensively."

On Being Up 19 With Eight Minutes to Play
"I never in that game felt like the game was over. We talked between the third and fourth quarter to come out fast to start the fourth. The first three minutes were going to be huge to get us going. I thought we did that and then we had a couple of lapses where we gave up a couple three-point shots. I think they went on a 12-2 run at that point and then it was a battle towards the end. We did what we were supposed to do coming out of the fourth and just didn't capitalize on our great start."

On Handling Late Game Situations
"We had a few kind of easy ones. It was good. It was basically get the ball in bounds and wait for a foul. I thought we did a nice job of getting some stops down the stretch and we made some key stops so that was important. Free throws were huge towards the last two or three minutes."

On How Well The Freshman Played
"I thought Makenzie [Ellis] had a really tough night. But Alexis [Robinson] and Kennedy [Leonard] came out and did what they do. They're spark plugs and I thought Alexis's energy off the bench was huge. She came in and made some great offensive plays but is also just real solid defensively and brings energy on the defensive end too. I was happy with how they played. You look at Kennedy has eight assists and Alexis has seven assists. They had 15 of our 23 assists so it's a great start for them. There are definitely a few things we can build on. We had a few too many turnovers but overall pretty good."

On Alexis Filling Up the Stat Sheet Every Game
"Yeah she can. That is why we recruited her. We knew she could score the basketball, she likes to score. I'm kind of trying to convince her to be a defensive stopper too. But she loves the offensive side and she is very talented offensively."

On Jamee Sitting In First Quarter
"She had a violation of team rules so she sat out the first quarter. But I like how she responded when she came in. I thought she gave us some great energy and ended up with a pretty good night."

Colorado Players

Lauren Huggins, Sr., G/F

On The Play of Both Freshmen Guards Alexis Robinson and Kennedy Leonard
"I think they played great. You've seen that we're a young team and with that you can use it either as a crutch or to your advantage. I think that, especially with this class, they've come in with a high basketball IQ and the want to learn. That's really been helpful. They're like sponges; they absorb everything that upperclassmen and coaches say. They work really hard to make it translate onto the court. Just based off their performance, you saw that."

On Starting for the First Time
"Like Kennedy [Leonard] eluded to earlier, about if you start or if you don't, you're going to play. The way that you continue to play while you're on the floor is going to keep you on the floor or it's going to take it you out. As she said, it's definitely a cool feeling. It gives you a little more of an adrenaline rush than coming off the bench. You have to start games fast and have to continue to work hard in practice to maintain that role."

On Her Own Performance
"During the exhibition I struggled a little bit shooting-wise, but I got in the gym and we worked on where to pass the ball and ball-placement. It was nice to see that hard work in practice pay off."

Kennedy Leonard, Fr., G

On Late-Game Situations
"All week we worked on our free throws. In practice we've been shooting a lot of free throws. The other day we shot 50 free throws, because we know that in late-game situations we're going to have to hit those. I think when we all go up to that line we know that all that practice will pay off. We all go up there, we all shoot them and we know that they're going in, so we don't have anything to worry about."

On Starting the First Game as a Freshman
"It's a cool experience starting as a freshman in your first game, but I think with each and every game everyone grows. I think this team is the most important part. It doesn't matter if you start or not, because we all play as hard as we can when we go in, we're all in sync when we go in. It was a really cool experience to get to start, but, at the same time, even if I didn't start I would have played just the same as I would have. I don't think it matters who really starts. It's a matter of how you get in, when you get in, and how you play when you do get in."

On the Performance of Fellow Freshman Alexis Robinson and Herself
"I was pleased. The team does a really good job of getting us the ball in good situations. They hit us where they know we're going to do well. Alexis and I have been working with upperclassmen more. Every day we're in the gym shooting together. We're getting the feel of each other. It was cool to finally get out there and play under those lights; not an exhibition or a scrimmage, but a real game. We're both very pleased with how it went."

Loyola Marymount Head Coach Charity Elliott

On Positive Takeaways From The Game
"I felt like we came out a little timid initially. We were not following the game plan. We gave Lauren Huggins four open threes and she knocked them down. Second half, I thought we were much more locked in what we were trying to do, but when your guards shoot 0-6, 0-2, 1-7,,0-10, you're not going to win many games."

On What Colorado Did To Challenge Them
"Their size. When they get two feet in the paint, it's hard to stop them. I thought we did a decent job slowing down their transition. We gave them too many easy open looks to start with. So we ended having to claw back from 20 down."

On Preparation For Next Game
"Getting back at it. This was a great test for us. It showed us what we needed to do. I'm very pleased with our heart and our effort. We played hard. Now we have to play hard and we have to play smart."