Postgame Quotes
Dec. 17, 2011
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 77, UMKC 52
December 17, 2011
Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson
Opening Statement:
“I thought the spurt to end the first half was really fun. I thought we made some really good decisions and unfortunately we didn’t get another burst like that in the second half. Obviously, we barely outscored them in the second half and that was disappointing. Angel (Goodrich) was good, she carried us for awhile; Carolyn (Davis) carried us for awhile; Aishah (Sutherland) carried us early, and it was good to see Monica (Engelman) get back on track, get a little bounce back in her step. Turnover wise, she needs to make better decisions, but I thought her rhythm was a little bit better from the field. CeCe (Harper) gave us good minutes, defensively got a steal and hit that one off the glass to go into the locker room. We’ll get better. I thought we were a little bit flat at shoot around today, little disappointed, a little afraid of that. We kind of played that way and then it became a boring free throw contest in the second half for both teams.”
On the shortness of the Kansas bench early on:
“Right now, that’s where we are. Off the bench you look at CeCe, Donielle (Breaux) and Asia (Boyd) and you know no one has clearly separated themselves. CeCe gets the nod from the experience stand point but I thought Asia gave us some good minutes.”
On Asia Boyd’s contribution:
“She’s practiced better and has started to understand, ‘Let me just keep us in an offense. Just make a simple play’. She has not practiced a whole lot, because she’s had all of her wisdom teeth removed. In fact, she’s got dry sockets, so she’s got all the packing in, so she’s pretty tough today to play. That’s not a fun thing to go through.”
On UMKC center Ashli Hill’s performance:
“She played really well against us last year. She blocked a bunch of shots early and good for her, because she struggled the last four games, not being in the starting lineup in three of them. We felt like if the staff watched the film from last year, she would start because she blocked our first three shots. We all know this is her biggest game of the year and it should be. Good for her, she played well, and shame on us, we didn’t guard her any better.”
On Monica Engelman’s shooting:
“She had more confidence, but it’s still about extra reps. If she shot herself into a funk, she needs to shoot herself out of the funk and we’re going to have to let her play through it. Other than the turnovers, which have nothing to do with her shooting, she’s got to clean that up. We’re going to need her to score and there’s not a person in that locker room that doesn’t believe that. I said to her the other day, ‘You’re going to have to fight your way through this. It will take extra work and I can help you to a point, but as far as watching film, showing you mechanics, you’re going to have to pull them up and play’. I think she will and that should give her a little bit of confidence today.”
Kansas Junior Monica Engelman
On if she is out of the scoring slump she has been in:
“I’m not all the way out of it, but I’m starting to feel more comfortable when I’m out there.”
On when she started feeling more comfortable on the court:
“I’m not sure exactly when I started feeling better, but I’m able to shoot more confidently without thinking about everything else. I can play with my teammates outside or inside the paint easier, and I’m getting more open looks.”
On the run the team had at the end of the first half:
“I think we were just clicking on all cylinders, especially on the defensive side. We got some good stops on defense, and we were able to make them pay.”
Kansas Junior Angel Goodrich
On what led to her productive performance:
“It was a week since we had a game, so I think it helped that we were able to get out on the court, and it felt good being able to get up and down the court.”
On how long it took her tonight to feel comfortable on the court:
“As a team, we were able to pick it up towards the end of the first half and that is when we got our biggest lead. We didn’t put our gas on the pedal when we came out to start the game, so when we got the lead towards the end of the first half, we just wanted to make it even bigger.”
On how she is feeling after playing 36 minutes:
“I didn’t know I played 36 minutes, it felt like I was able to get more of a rest this week. So it’s pretty shocking to hear how long I played.”
UMKC head coach Candace Whitaker
On KU’s run at end of the first half frustrating her:
“Yes, and particularly the last two minutes. I think they scored 12 points at the end. They just went on a big run. Then two of our guards were in foul trouble, and when LeAndrea (Thomas) had to go off the floor, I felt like defensively, we had a big let-down.”
On the play of sophomore center Ashli Hill:
“Ashli played well, and she has had a really great week. She struggled a little bit early in the season, but this week she really strung five great practices together. She’s our starting five. I’ve just been playing with the lineup because she just wasn’t playing well. She’ll continue to get better if she continues to work and practice like she has been.”
On if she was surprised by Hill’s 20-point performance:
“If you would have asked me that two weeks ago, I would have said yes, but watching her last five days in practice, no, I almost would have expected more just because of how good she has been in practice.”
