Colorado University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Colorado-Stanford Quotes
February 19, 2016 | Women's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe
General
"You have to give Stanford a lot of credit, they play hard and their defense is tenacious. We had a tough time scoring, and a tough time getting stops and that's never a good combination to have."
On Second Half Performance
"We weren't connected in the second half, and we weren't making shots. And we didn't come together when we needed to come together. I don't know what it was, but I don't know why you play the game if you don't believe you can win. I thought Jamee Swan played really well. She really carried us in the first and second halves. She had a great mindset and was very focused. The game didn't come easy for her tonight, but she made it come easy and she did that by working hard. I wish we had more that brought what she brought tonight."
On The Lack Of Scoring Tonight
"Stanford's defense is tough. Their defense has gotten more tenacious since the last time we played them, and I knew it was going to be tough to score on them. I was hoping we could at least get 60 tonight, but you can't give up 80 on your home floor. They were quick to everything and you really didn't have that much time to get your shot off. We took some good shots and some not so good shots, but you have to give them kudos to adjusting. They adjusted to on-ball screens and that's how we came back in the first half. We didn't really have another way that we could score."
On The Team's Mindset At This Point In The Season
"This was the first game where I thought we didn't play very hard. We've got to continue to fight and that's our only choice. These losses don't feel really good, since no one gave their best, including myself. I don't think that outcome happens like that if everyone gives their best. So we need to comeback and refocus on bringing our best. Especially since Jamee's career at home is coming to an end. So we need to make sure we are focused and playing for something bigger than just ourselves."
Colorado Players
Kennedy Leonard, Fr., G
On The Difference Between The First Half And The Third Quarter
"We came out of halftime not ready to attack them. Most times, even when we played at Stanford, we came out ready to attack and I thought that we could actually win the game. Tonight, we didn't even think that we could win. It wasn't just one person; it was everyone across the board. No one had the attack mentality to win this game. As soon as they started hitting (shots) everything went downhill."
On Why The Team Lacked A Winning Mentality
"I just don't think that we were ready today. We didn't have the whole team show up or ready to go. Stanford did a good job of defending when they needed to defend, and stopping when they needed to stop."
On The Preparation For The Game
"I thought we had one of our best weeks of practice this week. This kind of comes as a shock. It's embarrassing. We have to come out with a better mentality. Every game we have come out ready in the first quarter, and we have a really good first quarter, but as soon as that second half comes around something changes."
On Regrouping And Looking Toward Cal
"It just starts with our defense—we didn't get in lanes tonight, we didn't jump passing lanes, we didn't get rebounds. On Sunday we need to come out with effort. It is Jamee's last home game and a lot of us are going to play for her and hopefully finally get a win here at Coors."
Jamee Swan, Sr., F
On Playing Strong From The Start
"Knowing it was my last weekend for me, I walked out on the court and it finally hit me that this is my last chance to play in the Coors Events Center. I wanted to prove that even though I haven't had the season that I wished for that I could turn it around and make a difference. It was important, not only for me, but for my team. I knew that they need that from me. I needed to back them up the same way they back me up every day."
On Watching The Rest Of The Team Struggle Offensively
"It's always tough to watch the team struggle. It wasn't just them that struggled, it was all of us. This is a team sport; even if I am having a good night or a bad night, we all struggle together. It was hard, but we turned it around. We fought in the first half and we came into the second half and nobody believed in the outcome. It just fell out of our hands."
On Stanford Turning Every Turnover Into Points
"Stanford is Stanford. They are a powerhouse when it comes to women's basketball. It's always going to be hard to play them, but you have to remember they put their pants on the same way we do. You have to look at them like they are just another team. They're Stanford, they're ranked nationally, they have the big "S" on the front of their t-shirt—but that doesn't mean that they are any different from us. They are basketball players. Even though it is hard, we have to figure out how to get past the mental block of seeing Stanford."
Stanford Head Coach Tara Vanderveer
On Stanford's Performance
"I feel like we did a much better job in the second half. I thought some different people stepped up for us so you've got four different people in double figures and that's good. We had a lot of different contributions and we did a lot better job in the second half of taking care of the ball so it didn't give them those easy shots. I think our depth was the real key. We were able to keep fresh people. We had a lot of people with a lot of different minutes. They did a nice job from the free throw line with our free throws. We've got a lot of work to do, but we did a better job."
On The Outcome
"You never know what to expect. I think their team has struggled and kind of down in numbers a little bit so we could keep the pressure on them in the 40 minute game. In the 20 minute game it was closer, but we played well. We're playing and really improving so I'm excited about our three-point shooting, our free throw shooting. Our shooting in the second half was 50 percent.
On Stanford's Preparation
"We really focused on our team and on what we wanted to do. Taking care of the ball and setting better screens. Our screens are where we got in trouble. We didn't do a good job. We just turned it over too much, but Brittany McPhee came in and did a really good job for us. She played really well. We have a lot of different people who stepped up."