Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Sherri Coale

Opening comment:
"All wins are good wins. I don't think this was necessarily a pretty win by either team but I though we made plays when we needed to. The guys gutted it out. I thought our post defense was really good. We didn't shoot it real well but we didn't let it affect us the way we let it negatively affect us at Ames this week. I was really pleased by the improved commitment to the process in terms of rebounding. We really probably spent twice as much time rebounding the last two three days since Iowa Sate. We have spent twice as much time rebounding as anything else. Maybe offense suffered a little bit, maybe defense suffered a little bit, I'm not sure it really did we just didn't shoot it very well, but I thought rebounding improved. Maybe it's when you're a little bit tired and you work on block outs in practice, but we had to do something to change the tide there and I thought we did. It's too bad they ended up out-rebounding us there right at the end."

On holding Texas' frontcourt to 11 points:
"I think what enabled us to do that was preparation in terms of personnel. I thought our guys did a really good job of knowing who they were guarding and what they wanted to do. Nicole Griffin and Jo [McFarland] both deserve a lot of credit for keeping their post players as far away from the basket as they did."

On pulling ahead in the second half:
"It was all about tempo. The first half we had eight opportunities to run. Eight. Everything else was a change of possession on a deadball, ball out of bounds, turnover, foul. There was some stoppage in play, so we only had eight opportunities to run. As much as you would like to keep that tempo on a dead ball it just changes. Defenses are back and they're set and it affects your cadence. The start of the second half we have some opportunities and we found our rhythm and gained our confidence and sort of settled in."

On the offense:
"I think we are doing a really good job of executing what we call. The in between part is where I want us to really grow. In between primary break and set offense. We had that lull in there where it gets either we are not running and coming down and running a set, or we're just running and not getting organized after. That period where you have to recognize do I have an advantage, is this a high percentage shot, if not then we smoothly go back in and transition into what we try to accomplish."

Junior G Morgan Hook

On building the lead in the second half:
"Just like Coach said, transition is our game and that is what we love to do. With the tempo, when there is a dead ball they are already back set and know who they are guarding. In transition it was easy to confuse them and run. Jo (Joanna McFarland), I think, outran their post every single time. So, I think, it was transition and tempo that got us going."

Junior G Aaryn Ellenberg

On bouncing back from a loss:
"Obviously we had to have some sort of resolve. Getting beat at Iowa State and getting killed on the boards as well was not the ideal situation. We really had to make a statement for ourselves and for the other teams watching. We responded from the loss and we did what we had to do to take care of our business."

On being a go-to scorer:
"It's fine with me. It does not really matter who does it. If I have an open look or if I am feeling good, I am definitely going to take that shot. I'm not afraid to. That is just the way it ended up."

Senior F Joanna McFarland

On bouncing back from a loss:
"We talked about responding and the only way we wanted to respond was having a lot of energy and fight. I think in the first half it kind of lulled a little bit. In the second I think we really wanted to focus on fighting really hard."

Head Coach Karen Aston

Opening Statement:
"I thought Oklahoma was Oklahoma today. They continued to grind away like they do. They're a really good offensive team, especially at the guard position. I like the way that Morgan Hook is leading their team right now, and I'm sure Sherri (Coale) will say the same thing. Their post players were better than ours today; they were better than us today. We had way too many turnovers in the paint and we were out-competed today. That's the best thing to say. We were out-competed. I thought we did a great job in the first half showing some resolve. We had different combinations in the game and we had people playing that hadn't played a lot minutes. I was really pleased at halftime when we were in the game, but the first five minutes in the second half was telling."

On making progress with a young team:
"I think we've made progress. This is such a young basketball team with people in positions that they haven't been in before. We take steps forward, and then we take steps back. For example, in our previous game against Texas Tech, I thought our post players were tremendous, and then they really just didn't show up today at all. Guards learned a lesson in the Texas Tech game and they were better today, but we haven't put forth a total team effort. Right now, we've got the guards doing really good but no presence in the paint, and then it flips. Until we can learn to be disciplined together and do this thing together, then we're going to continue to have disappointments in the Big 12 because it is too balanced as a league."

"They take turns making mistakes when they're young. A lot of times you can put one freshman out there with older players and they'll help them through their mistakes and they'll reset when there is a mistake, or they'll help them get where they're supposed to be. But in our situation, we have freshmen telling freshmen a lot of the time, or a sophomore telling a freshman. We sometimes have a difficult time stopping the bleeding which is what happened tonight."