Nov. 2, 2008
Iowa Head Coach Lisa Bluder
on today’s game
“I think that this was a very good first exhibition for us. Quincy came out and played extremely hard. It was good for us to be going against somebody other than ourselves .I thought Quincy did a great job of getting out and denying the passing lanes for us and they were very quick. They are quick in the dribble-drive and I thought that was good preparation for us. I was really happy with the way we responded when it got to be 41-40 and how we really took control at that point. I thought our zone defense was pretty good after that point, there are lots of things to work on but overall I am very, very happy.”
“I thought our freshman got some quality minutes. I think Kamille Wahlin shows great signs of being a good floor general for us and I am exited about that.”
“What I am excited about is how much better we can become. How much better we can become once we figure out things like taking good shots and not that we took really bad shots early today, they were open shots, but those same shots will be open with 10 seconds left on the shot clock. I just want us to be a little more patient, have a more opportunity to get even a higher percentage of shots early, or draw a foul early and then we have those shots with ten seconds left, that’s fine we’ll take those shots. So, I just think it was first-game jitters and just wanting to make it work and I think we are going to get so much better.”
Senior Nicole VanderPol, F
on returning to playing
“It was great. I just worked hard all pre-season and all summer workouts, took care of myself, got better, got healthy and it’s really nice to be back out there.”
on role on team and putting in minutes
“Whether it’s four or five, wherever Coach Bluder needs me. I’m going there and put in the quality minutes that I can and just go from there.”
Sophomore Kachine Alexander, G
on last 14 minutes of game
“I just pretty much kept telling the five that were out there that we needed to be patient and let’s just start on defense first, because we went to five and we needed to move a little faster. I just pretty much told everybody to be patient and that we would get open shots and it actually worked.”
Senior Wendy Ausdemore, F
on difference between first and second half offensively
“I think Coach Bluder said it well, first half and first game jitters, everybody is kind of anxious and hurrying a lot. It was nice to see the way our team responded in the second half. We came out and got some wide-open lay ups, so that was nice to see and everyone is just kind of getting used to playing together.”
on new team coming together
“We’re coming together really well. In scrimmage this week, against the guys, we played really well. Being in front of the fans today I think you could see the jitters but I am excited for the freshman, I thought they contributed well today and we’re looking forward to next week.”