WBB11/16/2015 12:54 AM | By: Cal Athletics
California at Louisville Postgame Quotes
Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015 | KFC Yum! Center | Louisville, Ky.
Opening Statement:
It's the first or second game of the year, so I don't think anyone's winning championships or finishing anything, but for our program right now this is big for the young women in our locker room. There's been a lot of talk about who we lost to the WNBA and about our young team. We have a lot to prove in terms of our confidence and our ability to put young players on the court and have them perform. This was a great venue to do that and a wonderful place for women's basketball with all the fans. I'm just really proud of our players. We turned the ball over a little too much but more telling is how we responded when we had that tough third quarter. We always came back with a big bucket.
On rebounds:
We knew it was going to be a key to the game. (Louisville) is so good on the boards. I was watching film from last year saying that was going to be the key, so we emphasized it. I'm proud of our willingness to do it to win. Our players understood that rebounding was going to be huge. If you told me we were going to win the game, I'd tell you the necessity would be rebounding and winning the basketball, and they did a great job.
On adjustments after Louisville's third-quarter run:
When we weren't turning it over, we were getting a great look. We just reset where people were on the court and what we were looking for, and then I put it on them. When you have really good players who are capable, you just need to calm them down, let them know what they can do and then watch what they do. I didn't call a ton of plays because with pressure you get what you get. Our players got to the right spots and took advantage of one of our strengths, which was height advantage inside and the ability to move the ball out of the traps and get to a good look.
On if she felt more comfortable in this game after the last game:
Last game I felt like I was playing too fast and I wasn't used to the pace of the game. This game, having my teammates have my back, I felt like they had confidence in me to do what they know I can do. I just tried to play at my pace and play how the coaches told us we needed to play and play my game.
On when the size felt like an advantage:
We work on (the high-lows) every day in practice. We knew if we cut hard, we should be open on the cut, and if not, stay there and try to post up. Obviously, the height gave us an advantage down low and that's something that we work on every day.
