Dec. 20, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery
Head Coach Lisa Bluder
Opening Statement
I’m really pleased with our second half tonight. We played very well in a number of areas. We shot the ball extremely well, but rebounding is a statistic I look at after every single game. We were up one rebound at half time, and we out-rebounded them by 15 for the entire game. We had five offensive rebounds at half and ended up with 14. I love it when we win the war on second chance points and when we win the war in the paint and we won both of those today. I thought Morgan Johnson played extremely well on defense. She was able to hold Rachael Hackbarth to four points when she’s averaging 12. Morgan had four blocked shots and forced Rachael into turnovers. I thought that was a great job defensively. It’s nice to see Jaime (Printy) hit shots, and also to have Kachine back on the court.
On second half adjustment
The three point shot was hurting us a lot and we took our entire help defense off of Amber Wollschlager. We played well in the last 16 minutes; we actually lost the first four minutes by a point. Our last 16 minutes were very good. We changed our attitude defensively and controlled the boards.
On Kachine Alexander
Just having Kash’s presence on the floor means so much. Kash sets the bar in practice every day in how hard to work. She does the same thing in games. She sets an example to everyone on the team, and when you have a young team like ours we need that example. We need someone showing the way on how hard it is you need to work at this level. Kash does that every single day. She also brings an emotion to the game the way she plays. It was nice to have her out on the floor. She shot 66 percent from the field, not bad the first time out. This lets us rest Jaime and Theairra. It gives them a little time so they can play a little harder and get their focus while they’re on the bench. It also helps Kamille, because she was trying so hard to carry us. When she saw Kash back in uniform, she didn’t have to assume that role.
Transition Points
Our team felt like they could run on them. I was more concerned about our defensive transition. We let up way too many points in the first half. We were really talking about that at half time. We slowed them down in transition the second half. But the team felt like they could run on them a little bit.
21, Kachine Alexander
On being back in action
It felt great just to get on the floor with my teammates again. It’s a different look on the bench not able to talk to them or help them out in situations. Also like coach said, it helped taking pressure off Kamille which let her loose and she really showed that today.
24, Jaime Printy
On second half
You have to put the first half behind you and come out stronger in the second half. I think we played a lot better defense and I knew where the shooters were a lot better in the second half.