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Dec. 8, 2015

Recap | Final Stats

Head Coach Joanne Boyle
Opening Statement:
“This was just a really fun game and a fun atmosphere. I’m really excited that we got to do this in JPJ. There was a lot of work that’s gone on behind the scenes with the girls going out to all the schools to really drum up the excitement about what was going to happen. Everyone has done a great job behind the scenes getting it all organized. I’m glad we were able to play a good game out there and that the kids got behind us. What a great event it was for them and we just appreciate their voices in there because it was a fun game to play in.”

On the process leading up to the game:
“The girls have been doing this since September, going into different schools to get the buzz going, talk to the kids and read to them. They’ve done a lot of community service. They really put themselves out there in the community.”

On preparation:
“We just talked about how it was going to be tough to hear and that the girls had to repeat everything and really help each other out. We went in with a simple game plan, not running a ton of different stuff, so they knew what we were going after and were able to recognize the defenses and call things on their own.”

On the press:
“I’m really proud of the girls. We have figured out that part of our identity is that we can play a lot of people, especially with our length and our athleticism we are able to press more, so we are able to go eight or nine people deep with our press. These things get us energized and I think first and foremost the girls did a great job forcing turnovers. I’ll give credit to anyone who is screaming in our favor.”

On the defense:
“You’re not going to be on every night, so you have to be able to create buckets for yourself. You have to create situations like we did today where you can turn people over and get looks, its part of the game. We never said we were going to be undefeated this season. We’re really working toward the NCAA tournament so we have to put ourselves in the best position to win every game and the pressing will definitely help us.”

On going 1-2-2 press:
“They’re a system team, similar to when we played Iowa. If you let them come down and run their system, they are very good. Being able to take them out, part of it was turning them over and part of it was just getting them down to 18 seconds and let them run their system within 18 seconds, and make them feel rushed. They’re a systematic team that doesn’t like to go outside the system. I thought the press really helped us on that as well.”

On the rotation:
“We will change it up. If we don’t have Aliyah (Huland El) or Moné (Jones) in we will throw in a press and Mikayla (Venson) will be at the top. We have a couple we can change. Our length can be at different points. Sometimes its great to have it at the top and sometimes it’s nice to have them on the wings too.”

On the field trip game:
“A lot of time and energy went in to it. You’re obviously trying to think about how you can involve your student athletes. Sometimes we get caught in a bubble here and there’s so much we are given and we want to give back. So we try to give our community something. Not everyone is going to play college basketball and not everyone is going to get to go to a game, I mean it costs money. Some people aren’t as privileged to get those opportunities. They might see something and think ‘wow I would like to aspire to do that’ and these girls are great role models. So who better to put in front of them than these girls with their style of play and who better as people. That’s how people come up with big dreams so for these youngsters I thought it was a great first one. I hope it will continue to grow.”

Sophomore Guard Aliyah Huland El
On the noise:
“Loud is an understatement. There were times where Mikayla (Venson) or Breyana (Mason) would call out a play and we couldn’t hear anything. It was really important that we were all on the same page with our hand signals because of how loud it was.”

On the press:
“I thank God and my parents for giving me a long wingspan but that kind of alters the other team’s passing, especially when their point guards are a little shorter. I think it helps a lot that I can start the press, and so can Moné, she does a great job too. That helps the people in the back with their role in the press as well.”

On the new quarters:
“I think we have adjusted pretty well. We have done a lot of stuff in the offseason to get ready for that in terms of conditioning and weight training. Coach Boyle and the other coaches have amped up the ante in practice and we’ve gotten used to it pretty well.”

Sophomore Forward Lauren Moses
On the noise:
“The first quarter was definitely a little different than what we are used to. You couldn’t really hear much so we kind of had to make up our hand signals throughout the game.”

On thriving off the 1-2-2 and using it as a staple:
“I think it really gets our team going. We get super energetic when we are in our presses. We know that we are long and we are quick enough to get to the passing lanes, get steals and make them turn the ball over like we did today. It just keeps us going because we like to get transitions, so if we get those steals or if we make them take a fast shot like we did today we can run them.”

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