Postgame Quotes
March 16, 2011
Recap | Final Stats | Notes |
WNIT Opening Round
Kansas 79 Wichita State 58
March 16, 2011
Lawrence, Kan.
Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
On her overall thoughts of her team’s performance:
“I thought we executed really well. I thought we screened really well, our timing was good. We got Carolyn (Davis) uncontested looks. Monica (Engelman) got in a rhythm right away. I thought Angel (Goodrich) was aggressive and attacked. She got to the rim. We shot 70 percent but we took shots that you would probably shoot 70 percent on. I thought the kids were really good.”
On Carolyn Davis’ performance:
“She worked early. She was aggressive. She got offensive rebounds. I don’t remember her missing one. Of course, I could tell you the one she missed, that’s what coaches do. I remember all the makes too though. I thought she did a great job of pivoting to the baseline. She really got a lot of traffic in the middle of the floor. All I had to say to her was, ‘Keep going to the baseline every time and keep the ball forward.’ She was money. She played with a lot of discipline.”
On how Carolyn Davis’ consistency affects the team:
“I think it calms everybody down. When you score high percentage shots, get in rhythm and score primary looks it makes everybody feel good. It kind of relaxes everybody. Our league is so good, and everyone is so familiar with us, so it makes that harder. Wichita State is not familiar with us. We weren’t familiar with them because we haven’t seen them play and only had one day to get ready. To be able to get all that early and to shoot the ball that well it gives you some confidence. For us to get all the high-percentage stuff early was really good.”
On how her team has embraced playing in the WNIT:
“We’ve been mature and really managed the emotions of it. We had enough time to get over feeling sorry for ourselves and understanding that we played ourselves out of the NCAA tournament. We’ve had great respect for this tournament and the job the people do that run it. There are great teams and quality teams that are in it. I don’t care what tournament you’re playing in, if you’re still playing at this time of the year you’re a good basketball team. I think our kids have embraced that and respected who we’re playing. We’ve been dialed in and focused to play. We’re not trying to prove anything to anyone other than trying to be better than Wichita State tonight. Whomever we get on Saturday, we’re going to try to be better than that team on Saturday.”
Sophomore Forward Carolyn Davis
On scoring 33 points:
“It is good for me to score like that in the game. I know that my teammates and coaches expect me to produce. I am not saying they expect me to score 33 points every game, but they expect me to be consistent and get the rebounds. It makes me feel good to know that I am holding my own.”
On her performance:
“I was running the floor and getting the transition lay-ups that I usually get during the game. I had a lot of uncontested shots that I was able to catch and finish because of my height advantage. It was a physical game and I was trying to get away from the defense and I think that is what helped me score so easily.”
On what the team needs to work on for the next game:
“I think we need to be more consistent this next game. There were times when we let up in the game and did not keep going at them. We have been talking about this all year about not letting up on a team even when we have the lead.”
On not trying to prove anything to anyone:
“(Kansas head coach) Bonnie (Henrickson) said that today we did not need to go out and prove anything and I think she is right. I believe that if we play to prove something we might draw the wrong emotion. If you play trying to prove someone wrong you might do things that you might not usually do. I think if we go play our game that will prove enough.”
Sophomore Guard Monica Engelman
On the boost shooting from the outside gives the team:
“It definitely gets momentum, especially hitting a three because it is a big shot. It just gets the energy flowing and it’s another way for us to get the momentum going.”
On the team’s excitement:
“It is really important to us. Regardless of whatever you are playing for, it’s special, it’s important to us especially to win a championship so we are taking one game at a time.”
Sophomore Guard Angel Goodrich
On the team’s mindset going into this game:
“It was really disappointing not getting into the NCAA tournament but we made it to this one and it’s like any other tournament, everyone is really good in this tournament and everyone wants the same goal so it’s going to be tough. We’re actually excited in this tournament and we just want to take the momentum from this game and take it into the next.”
On getting easy looks inside:
“That’s what we want to do. We want to go inside, that’s our first look and tonight we thought we had a slight advantage in size. Once they started to double, we kicked it out and got some looks outside.”
Head Coach Jody Adams
Opening comments:
“Well, first of all, I’d like to congratulate (Kansas head coach) Bonnie (Henrickson) and her staff and her program. They have a great team, they’ve come a long ways from the start of the year, much like us. They definitely picked on our weakness which is our size inside. They went to (Carolyn Davis) who had a heck of a game. She’s continued to play well for them, she’s been a solid factor all year long. I feel like they went to an area that was tough for us to defend. They executed very well in the half-court offense and that’s where we struggled at times.”
On not forcing turnovers:
“With a team of our size, we don’t have a lot of it, and we are playing against a team that has a lot; if you extend your pressure they are just going to lob it in. There’s nothing our post can do, they can’t play out front and they can’t play behind. It just puts us in a bad situation. Just with the size matchup, there’s just no way around that.”
On Kansas’ guard play:
“We did the same thing to them, we tried to get our guards to the rim and they tried to get theirs to the rim. I thought our guards were a good match for each other, when you look at the athleticism on both teams, it’s a good matchup. Where I think there is a big difference is their point guard (Angel Goodrich). Our point guard is sitting on the bench, she’s a redshirt. She didn’t play, she had an ACL injury. But I thought our guards really did the same thing to each other, we both got to the rim. I can’t stay we did a stellar job of keeping them in front, which is what we wanted to do. We also wanted to force the skip on them, we wanted to help a lot and really force the skip. They began to pick it apart after a while, and I think the veteran inside and the leadership of Goodrich, as this Kansas team grows they will have solid point guard and solid interior play and that’s all you need to continue to get better. They have all of it, they’re just still young.”
