Quotes

Feb. 16, 2005

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Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On the game:
“I was just disappointed we didn’t match their (Texas Tech) intensity early. In defensive transition they are so explosive and get separation. Give them credit, on a rebound when they have possession, they all run. We just didn’t handle ourselves and match their intensity and effort. The worst thing was that there was a drastic drop-off in the energy from the last time out to the early minutes here. We certainly have to be better to compete against the teams we have coming up the rest of the schedule.”

On playing better the second half:
“We talked about having poise. We got on each other a little bit and that is not good for anybody. Anger is just a negative emotion. I thought we reacted in the first half, but we responded in the second half. We made some changes and forced more turnovers. Our pressure was a little better and I thought we defended smarter. It wasn’t our half-court defense as much as our transition defense that worked. We dug ourselves an awfully big hole early, but I thought it was a character check for our kids to be able to come back and fight to close the gap as much as we could. I told them that I didn’t care what the score was. I didn’t care win or loss, we just needed to compete and play with some pride and I thought we did.”

On Crystal Kemp’s 1000th point:
“We are excited for her. That is a credit to her consistency throughout her career. I thought she made some good decisions when she struggled with (Cisti) Greenwalt today to reverse pivot. She needed to get some separation and make a move. We are lucky she made some perimeter shots because that was about the only thing she could get off. Greenwalt is a pretty big presence inside and does a great job there. Crystal should be proud of herself and her teammates are excited for her. Her coaches are proud of her and we would take a thousand more in the next year and a half.”

Junior Forward Crystal Kemp
On scoring her 1,000th point:
“Besides the loss, I really feel good about it. I was glad to see my family there. I have to give my teammates all of the credit for helping me reach this milestone. I am really excited about it.”

On extending her shooting range:
“I have been able to practice (long range shots) a little bit more in shoot around. There are certain times when coach (Henrickson) gets us out there and everyone else does something and she wants me to get extra shots in. I know I can hit the shots, it’s just a matter of me doing the things I have to do to make them.”

Senior Guard Aquanita Burras
On the game:
“At each media timeout we talked about breaking down the points, putting defensive pressure on them and converting on the offensive end. We needed to come out with the same intensity like we did against Colorado.”

On the upcoming game against Nebraska:
“Because of how we played today, I think we are going to be more determined to play better on Sunday.”

Junior Guard Erica Hallman
On the game:
“We didn’t do a good job of answering their runs in the first half. We got behind early and we felt like we were climbing a mountain the whole second half.”

On the team:
“We are getting better everyday and taking steps in the right direction. Even though we didn’t win this game, I guarantee that there is something good we can take from this game. We are a much better unit, more disciplined and having more fun.”

Texas Tech Head Coach Marsha Sharp
On the game:
“I’m always thrilled to get a win on the road. I thought we played a little inconsistent at times, and I was disappointed with our ability to put them away. Kansas had a little bit to do with that. They made some plays in the middle of the second half and did a good job of keeping themselves in the game. I thought there were times when we didn’t respond on the offensive end. I’m still concerned that we go so many minutes without scoring, and we had a couple of those droughts again tonight. We just have to try to cut those in half if we can and see if we can become a little more consistent offenseively. We are trying to find any way we can to generate offense. It’s important to get things off the fast break, to create offense off our defense, and to go to the boards and make plays; those are things that we have to understand. In our defense, I thought Kansas played good pressure-man defense, and we responded well. We got some good post-to-post looks in the second half, and our post players really stepped up to make some plays. LaToya (Davis) was six-for-six from the field and did a really good job of finishing shots. We needed Alesha (Robertson) to start feeling better about her shot.”

Sophomore Forward Alesha Robertson
On winning after a loss at Texas:
“It’s always a big win after a loss. That will give us more confidence. Kansas played very well tonight, and I we came away with a big win. It’s big that we come out strong and confident. When you do shoot like we did at Texas you have a chance at losing confidence. When we came out in the first half, we did well with our shooting and it gave us more confidence.”

On the rest of the season:
“We have to take one game at a time from here on out. I think if we stay focused and bring what we can and play to the best of our ability then we will be able to get a piece of it (the Big 12 title).

Junior Forward LaToya Davis
On coming back after the Texas loss :
“It feels great to come back with a win. When you lose you’re always down, but winning on the road is always big.”

On Texas Tech’s shooting performance:
“I think it did a lot for our confidence. We know that we can hit shots. To come back with that mentality and make shots is good.”

On Texas Tech’s fast-break offense:
“We are a little faster than our post players so we decided to run and get over the top with easy baskets.”

On the first half:
“Our defense is one of the strongest parts of our team. Coach Sharp says when we’re not shooting well our defense will take care of that.”