Postgame Quotes
March 19, 2011
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 63, Duquesne 80
March 19, 2011
Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
Opening Statement:
“As disappointing as it was in the first half and as proud as I am of us being able to cut it to four, they still come out and throw three punches and go on a 6-0 run and push it back to ten in the second half. I am just disappointed we struggled to score, and the more that happened the more deflated we looked on the defensive end. We didn’t force many tough two’s. They go 4-for-8 from three and shot 50-percent from the field. On a night that Monica (Engelman) struggles that much, I am not going to go away from her, I didn’t go away from her when she was 1-for-8 and hits the game tying shot against Missouri. We didn’t get enough perimeter offense, but we didn’t get enough stops, you can’t let someone shoot 50 percent on you.”
On offensive struggles:
“Marisha (Brown) does a great job on the offensive glass, so she has three or four shots, and she couldn’t hit a shot from underneath the rim, when your going 100 miles per hour to get it, just go about 50 to finish it. Our effort was great, but we would get all excited to get the rebound and then miss the lay-up. Angel (Goodrich) got in rhythm a little there in the first half and tried to turn the corner. Scoring on the perimeter is important for us, and it is magnified when Monica is struggling as much as she did.”
On getting back in the game:
“To do what we did it is going to suck a little bit out of you, but these guys are young and tough, in a 30 second timeout they can get that back. If you can play that well for that stretch in the second half, then you can play that well in the first half, and that’s what was disappointing. We lose it with how soft we were in the first half.”
On Duquesne’s road success:
“When you look at them they are a tough team. They are a team that will defend. They are a team that clearly understands their roles. They have four kids averaging double figures, they share the ball, they have a lot of weapons offensively and they really play well together on both ends of the floor.”
Sophomore guard Monica Engelman
On how she feels about the game:
“I’m frustrated and disappointed with certain things that happened during the game and how we finished the season.”
On the team continuing to fight down the stretch:
“We wanted to win. I don’t think we’re the type of team to roll over and die. We have to throw a punch. We stay pretty consistent when teams jump on us early. At a point coach said ‘we’re back within three,’ but then we kind of let it go. To get it to three we were getting stops and getting rebounds and being sharp with whatever we were running.”
Sophomore forward Carolyn Davis
On Duquesne’s physical defense:
“I know every game they are going to come out and attack and be really physical and tough with me to try to get me out of my game. I was prepared for it. It was kind of rough. It was hard to get positioning and score, but at the same time when I did get the fouls I was relieved because it was like ‘finally, get them off of me.’ I don’t always expect the calls because I don’t get them a lot.”
On her career-high 38 points:
“It feels good to be consistent. That’s what I have always said. I like to be consistent for my team and know that they can go to me when we need a big basket. That’s what is good about it.”
On if she was aware she scored a career high during the game:
“No, I didn’t even notice. I felt like I was missing more than I was making tonight, so I didn’t even know.”
Duquesne Head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio
Opening Statements:
“I thought our players just fought hard and continued to play hard for 40 minutes and did everything that we asked. I know this was a short turnaround from our last game and we had a short time to prepare, but they bought into what we were trying to do and we made plays. We needed to be aggressive on the offensive end and I thought we came out strong. The one thing we couldn’t do was stop Carolyn Davis. I told her that I knew she was good watching her on film, but I didn’t know she was that good. She was impressive, she put on a clinic, we tried multiple things to try and stop her but she just has great length and great hands to be able to catch and finish the way she does. She’s a heck of a player. We are very proud to come away with a win tonight.”
On the team’s road success:
“I don’t really have an answer. What we’ve talked about is that it’s a controlled environment. Our players enjoy traveling, there’s such great chemistry on our team both on and off the floor. They are staying in hotels as opposed to dorms, they are not in class during the day, it’s a different schedule and they have more time and more freedom. We just have enjoyed the process of traveling and we had to get used to it; we had one stretch in the beginning of our season where we had six road games in a row. So we just got used to it and they termed themselves the ‘road warriors.’ We believe that we can go anywhere and win. There’s something very special about this team this year. When we didn’t do what we needed to do to earn an NCAA bid, we didn’t want to settle for just being in the WNIT. These players are hungry, they’re motivated, we are injured, we are down to just eight players. Everyone tonight made contributions, and they believe in each other. There’s a trust out there on the floor both offensively and defensively and they believe in each other.”
