Players Mentioned
Colorado-Northern Arizona Quotes
December 09, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe
General
"It feels really good to play better. We talked yesterday about how it doesn't really matter whether we win or lose; we wanted to keep improving. I didn't feel as though we have been playing well lately. You've got to give to our players for coming out and playing with lot energy, hustle and enthusiasm for each other; and a lot of enthusiasm for the game. I just liked a lot of the things we did on the offensive end. I thought we had some great spurts on defense; we needed our defense to pick it up in the fourth quarter and they came through for us. It led to a lot of easy baskets for us, after the point where they cut it to five. We really went on a roll and never looked back."
On When NAU Cut Lead to Five Points
"At that point we took a timeout, and we talked about how we've got to step it up. I thought we played really well in the first and second quarter. Then we went into a little bit of a letdown in play in the third quarter. You've got to give Northern Arizona credit, they really started attacking us on the inside and getting 'and one's.' They really took it at us in the third quarter. But we had a chance to regroup, and we just talked about bearing down and playing harder. We thought our effort could be a little bit better at that point in time. We needed to get some more deflections, and make it harder for them to score. When we are playing good defense it makes it easier for us to score on offense because we're able to get into the flow of the game and get some good looks. We changed our offensive set as well, we went with more motion and had more cuts, and some more screening. I thought our players did a nice job in that as well."
On Shuffling Starting Lineup
"I felt that the players we started tonight have been doing a great job in practice. I felt like we haven't had a lot of great starts this season. It doesn't matter who starts; we love to have great firepower coming off the bench. I thought we had that today with Lauren (Huggins), Kennedy (Leonard), and Jamee (Swan). Normally we have that with Brecca (Thomas) and Alexis (Robinson) coming off the bench as well. It was good to see how our five starters came out. I thought they did a nice job defensively. They had a little bit of a tough time scoring right off the bat, but they picked it up. It's just one of those things as a coach where you're just trying to get the best out of your players. I want them to value what Colorado basketball is all about, and that's passion and effort—working hard while playing together. I think that all 12 of our players did that today."
 On Starting Lineup Going Forward
"It's based off practice, so we'll see on that."
 On Brecca Thomas' Game Tonight
"We have three really good point guards, but I thought Brecca did a really nice job keeping up a good pace and having great confidence. Her presence, how she took the floor, coming off handoffs, coming off screens, I think she hit a three coming off a screen, had her feet set on the shot. We need her ready to score, Brecca's a great scorer and the more she can find her openings to get great shots, well it gets our offense moving. She was finding gaps. Her teammates did a nice job of finding her, but you still need to knock down those shots and she took great shots. She was mentally and physically ready to take them. I also think the 5-1 assist to turnover ratio is something that Brecca's been working really hard on. She's one of the hardest workers on team, always getting in extra reps. She works with coach Jamie (Carey) outside of practice, and it's good to see that start to pay off. Her decision-making and great passes she's made, it's just great to see. She was able to get the offensive where it needed to be to flow."
On NAU Center Alyssa Rader's Game
"That kid was tough. I wish we would have recruited that kid. She was fantastic tonight; she was aggressive and played big and physical. She wanted the ball; she played with a chip and attitude tonight, but in a good way. If I wasn't playing against her I would have enjoyed watching her play, just with the fire and passion that she plays with. I thought we tried to do a few things defensively, but we didn't do a great job on her tonight. But you've got to give her credit; she was feeling it tonight, taking it coast-to-coast on us. At that point you knew that it was her night. It's probably going to be one of her best nights that she plays. She was pretty amazing tonight."
On Kennedy Leonard Coming Off the Bench
"I think she did a great job. She brought energy coming off the bench and she really was mature about it. She handled the whole thing really well. After the starting lineup, I never even remember who started and who came off the bench. It's just about the flow. I thought tonight everyone that came in played really well together. It didn't matter which lineups I had in, I just thought they all came in and did their job. And that's what Kennedy did. The game is really simple and everyone has a role, and we just ask them to do their role at the highest level possible."
On Facing Missouri
"We're not going to go back to last year when we played them. We just need to continue to be us and continue to get better. We're not going to focus on who we're playing; we're focusing on how we can get better, and what things we need to improve on to make this season a great season. Ultimately your non-conference is to prepare you for your conference play. And I feel as though we will be really prepared going into conference, with the teams we've played in non-conference. It's about coming to practice tomorrow and getting back at it to get better. One of the things I feel like we could have been better at tonight is rebounding. I thought we gave up way too many offensive rebounds. For us it's about Colorado and how we can continue to get better."
On the Team's Improvements She Saw in the Game
"The togetherness and connectedness, they were high-fiving and acknowledging their teammates on the floor. They need each other to be successful, so it was awesome to see. The encouragement that we had makes it really fun. I don't feel like we've had a lot of fun in the last couple of games we've played. I know that in the last (game) no one had any fun. It was a huge part in how we can build each other up. Basketball is such an amazing sport, just the flow of the game and the fact that you need each other. It's not an individual sport; everybody has a job. And it's so fun when everybody does their job. I felt like everybody did their job tonight. I didn't really see any negative attitudes when something when wrong. Sometimes with a young team it's hard not to get like that. Also, we executed in our offense a lot better and we executed in our defense a lot better—we were more aggressive and intense. I think we had the highest steal total we've had all year, and we were just able to get deflections."
Colorado Players
Brecca Thomas, So., G
On Moving Past Slow Start and Rallying the Team
"Staying connected with each other and keeping each other encouraged to keep shooting and keep moving the ball and eventually our offense is going to work to find its way. It also starts on the defensive end; we did a great job of slowing the ball in transition and not letting them get the shots they wanted in the first quarter. They were missing shots that they usually make. That was a good start for us and eventually once we got the defense down, our offense started flowing. Everything started flowing once things went our way."
On Team's Offense
"We all did really well as a team; we found each other. People were going to the ball and everyone wanted the ball. We started the game off in warm-ups, with high intensity and good energy. That took us a long way in this game. Everyone was on the boards and running the lanes with the wings and posts. We were coming into this game with the mindset that we have to attack, be aggressive, and encourage one another. It really helped everyone out on offense and defense."
On Career-High 12 Points
"It was fun to score and it was fun to watch teammates score. It was fun to just be together out there."
Haley Smith, Jr., G/F
On Using Win to Build Momentum
"We talked about that this game didn't matter so much as a win or a loss, but we just wanted a step in the right direction; working on our connectedness as a team, working together on offense, and playing better defense. This game was really great for that. We were sharing the ball really well. We had some great-energy plays; we had a lot of steals and a lot of deflections on defense, which gave us a lot of transition offense. This was definitely good momentum for us going into this weekend."
Northern Arizona Head Coach Sue Darling
 On How The Game Slipped Away From Her Team
"Our defense slipped a little bit there in the third quarter. We missed a lot of layups during the entire game so I feel like we shouldn't have even been down at half time as we missed a lot of easy shots."
On Alyssa Rader's Performance
"If you've looked at her stat sheet from the beginning, this is probably her seventh double double. This is what she's does. She's a kid that can score, a kid that can rebound. She works her butt off and she's a Colorado kid but that's the way that she normally plays. It's not just because she's in Colorado. That's how she always plays."
On Team Goals Heading Into Conference Play
"We need to be more consistent, consistency with our playing hard and playing together. I felt like we had some spurts of it tonight. I thought we played hard in the beginning of the second half. That's what brought us within five. But then it went out the window. We need to be more consistent in everything that we do."