Postgame Quotes

Feb. 5, 2011

Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale
On the offense in the second half:
“I thought our looks were good, we just went cold. Maybe we put up one too many 3's early in the second half but they were good looks. That's the way we play so you stay with that and stay with who you are. I think it's just the gritty defensive plays down the stretch, obviously Whitney's (Hand) deflection late that gave us possession that was huge. Danielle's (Robinson) offensive rebound was huge and obviously Jasmine (Hartman) defending in the end, getting a rebound and making free throws. Just sticking together, collectively fighting which is what we needed today and so maybe a blessing in disguise to have that type of game.”

On changing to a more aggressive offensive style late in the game:
“When I asked that question (to my staff) about how many possessions had come up empty, and they said 13, I said let's just go get fouled. That's when we ran that sideline stuff for Danielle. She was attacking the baseline and she did a great job of rounding the corner and drawing the contact.”

On having a season-low 11 turnovers:
“We've just been grinding along finding different ways to win games. We've struggled in rebounding numbers all year long. All in conference play anyway, our rebounding numbers haven't been good. But I think maybe the quiet thing that's come out of all this is the way we value the basketball. Repeatedly, game after game, its gotten better. Even some the turnovers we have were offensive fouls. We're just not throwing the ball all over the gym like we seemed to do earlier in the year. There's so much growth that occurs at this point in the season you have to keep getting better. If you're the same as you are when conference play begins, you aren't going to go very deep in the NCAA Tournament. You have to keep getting better and I think that's one of those areas where incrementally we've just continued to get better.”

Oklahoma Senior Guard Danielle Robinson
On end of the game free throws:
“I was confident the whole time. I was confident in the (Texas) A&M game but they just didn't fall. I just knew I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice so I went up there and knocked them down.”

On her game-changing offensive rebound:
“I don't think I crashed very well throughout the whole game. I saw that one was a long shot and I knew it was going to rebound long. So I just went to where I was supposed to be, the free throw line. I timed it right, jumped up and got it and I ended up with the foul. So, I got the shots.”

On post-player performance:
“I think Jo (McFarland) and Lyndsey (Cloman) did a great job screening today. We focused on them hitting the defense. We have been missing them, so they took pride in there. They really made it a focus of theirs and they did a great job which is what gave me those early jumpers in the first half.”

Oklahoma Sophomore Guard Whitney Hand
On OU's defense in the second half:
“The end of the game was different than the rest of the game. The end of the game we were just switching and had veterans on the court who knew how to do that and knew who to switch to. I felt like we did a really good job with that down the stretch. In the rest of the game is was just getting through screens and talking early.”

On playing the final seven minutes without a field goal:
“I felt like we were going to win the whole game. It was weird when you looked up and we were behind. We felt like we were playing together and we felt like we were playing well. You have to rely on who brought you here, so we kind of leaned on D (Danielle Robinson) and she did it once again.”

Iowa State Head Coach Bill Fennelly
On the game:
“Obviously that was a great Big 12 game and certainly we had our opportunities. I think Danielle Robinson proved my she was first-team All-American at the end of that game, made some great plays. They executed a lot better than we did down the stretch and that was the result of the game. But (I'm) proud of our kids, proud of the way we played. We were certainly on the verge of getting knocked out at halftime but we made some better decisions in the second half. But, you can't turn the ball over 24 times, certainly on the road. We talked a lot about not failing down the stretch and we put Danielle on the free throw line six times and she's not going to miss any. It's a great team, great crowd, great atmosphere here and certainly a team I have the utmost respect for in everything they do and the way they do it and it was fun to be a part of. Certainly wish we had more points.”

On the allowing just one Oklahoma field goal in the final 11 minutes:
“I think we were, defensively, we started switching a little bit more. We went a little smaller. I thought we did a good job gapping people and making them do shots over the top of us. Danielle (Robinson) made two great aggressive plays at the basket. They miss a shot and Danielle gets the rebound and we are trying to switch. (Chelsea Poppens) steps out hard and fouls her and then she takes the ball to the basketball and (Poppens) is standing there and we kind of knew that was coming. We had her standing there on a charge and Jess (Schroll) fouls her from behind. I think they we just much more aggressive taking the ball to the basket. They put themselves in positions to hit some key free throws and they made them. We missed two. Simple game sometimes, but certainly their aggressiveness and attack mentality was evident in the last minute.”

On the final offensive play:
“We tried to run a play where we throw the post and run a scissor cut to get Kelsey (Bolte) a shot over the guard. We were a little late on the scissor but it was open. Both players went after Kelsey, which was probably smart on their part, but Lauren (Mansfield) is wide open. She just didn't make it. The last play we practice all the time, but it's my fault. For some reason we ran it the wrong way. We ran it backwards. We practice it all the time. Lauren is left handed and we were trying to come up on the left side and aired the ball on the right side. Obviously that falls on me and we got to be more attentive to the attention to detail and running that play a little better.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors