Feb. 14, 2010
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2
Coach Lisa Bluder
Opening Statement
“We really wanted to keep this exciting and keep everyone in their seats today, and we fulfilled that goal. When having that big of a lead at halftime you are really cautious of a letdown, which happened to our team today. That happens to young teams, they look up at the scoreboard and see their up by 27 and check out. We didn’t keep our focus and hopefully we learn from this. We have to use it as a learning situation. We were up 20 with 10 minutes to go in the game, and within two minutes we only had a 10 point lead. Our first half was outstanding, one of the best first halves of basketball we’ve played. Great passing, assists, defense and good job on the boards. It was hard to maintain that type of play in the second half. Illinois came out with a different attitude, and played very well. I am still happy about the way we played against Jenna Smith. I just want to get us to play every game, every half, like we did the first half today.”
Second Half, Morgan Johnson and three-pointers
“Certainly we like to have Morgan on the floor, but we want to be able to go to other players. There are times when we’ve had Kelsey (Cermak) at the five and we’ve actually executed and played pretty well. We had that situation for a couple of possessions today. We didn’t hit the three’s as well the second half today. We also didn’t look to attack and pitch as well in the second half like we did in the first half. Hopefully we can learn something from this.”
Offense
“I think we are executing our offense. It’s like a light bulb turned on about a month and a half ago and we really grasp what we’re trying to accomplish. We got a lot more confident running the offense. I’m also happy about the turn in rebounding. We’ve also become a better rebounding team as well.”
Rebounding late in the game
“I know we needed a big rebound. I consider myself one of the best rebounders on the team. I knew I had to get in there and hustle for those rebounds no matter how much it took. Tonight wasn’t my best rebounding game. I’m kind of small so I can get in there and poke at things. That’s what I try to do because they’re not expecting it. You have to use different techniques when you’re going against bigger girls.”
02, Kamille Wahlin
On Being Back
“It felt good; it was really hard to sit out Thursday. As a player you don’t want to ever sit out. Today I was just excited to be back and it was a lot of fun to not have to sit out again. “
24, Jamie Printy
Lead
“It was a lot of fun. When we play that well together and are hitting a bunch of shots it’s fun to be out there. In the second half we just needed to be focused and keep our composure and we knew we would be fine.”