March 24, 2005
Iowa Head Coach Lisa Bluder
“I just want to thank all of our fans that came out tonight. The crowd was loud and made this feel like a home court. It was Carver north and that was really wonderful.
Our two posts both had double-doubles and Crystal Smith played really well. She really stepped and was huge for us tonight.
All of Arkansas State’s points were in the paint during the first half. We went zone the second half and really took that away. We didn’t shoot the ball well in the first half, but we kept fighting.
I’ve played at Southwest Missouri State so many times; it’s a really tough place to play. They will have a big crowd and it will be a tough game.”
Iowa Senior Jamie Cavey
“We knew we had to make some adjustments to our defense in the second half. Our zone did really well. Changing up out defense really helped.
“They were cutting and screening really well in the first half. The executed their offense really well in the first half.
“It was really physical in the post. It was fun to battle inside, which always makes you a better player.”
Iowa Junior Crystal Smith
“I knew I had to work harder in the second half, especially defensively.
We overcame a lot tonight. We played excellent on the defensive end during the second half.
Our zone defense was tremendous. We played the best we have all year in the second half, both offensively and defensively.”
Arkansas State Junior Ali Carter
“We didn’t really come out to play. We shot a poor percentage. I thought we played hard, but it wasn’t going tonight for us.
We weren’t expecting them to play a zone, but it didn’t affect us too much. We were trying to get the ball into Adrianne, we knew they were going to collapse on her, and Jaime Cavey is just a big girl. She’s a good player and we were hoping Iowa would collapse and we could hit some outside shots, but we didn’t hit anything tonight. I don’t think we’ve shot that bad all year.
We had several turnovers too and that was just on our careless mistakes. We just didn’t come out and play liked we started.”
Arkansas State Sophomore Adrianne Davie
“I think we had a great crowd tonight. They were in the game.
We knew she [Jaime Cavey] was a great player, second team all-Big Ten, so we were ready for her to be physical, and she’s a great player.
I don’t think we were really tired. We might have looked tired. The crowd was definitely into it, but I don’t think any of us were drained emotionally from it. We just didn’t hit our shots tonight.
I can’t blame our losing on any one reason. It’s out of character for us to shoot 11-percent in the second half. It’s just not like us. I’m proud of us. I think we did well. We played hard and made a good run in the tournament, so I’m proud of us.