Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Sherri Coale

On the game:
“Kansas State never stops. They are going to fight you until the bitter end. We told our kids that coming in. We thought that they were the scrappiest team we have seen on our schedule yet. We knew that they were not going to go away at halftime. They did not and they gave us all that we wanted and a little bit more. I am proud of our kids' resiliency. They seemed to have an answer every time that it got to a one-possession game. Our execution was pretty good. We delivered and were able to keep them at bay down the stretch.”

On defending Brittany Chambers:
“I did not feel like she struggled. You really have to spend a lot of time defending her. She is really crafty with the ball in her hands and she will just wait and lull you until you make a mistake and then make a shot. She made some tough 3-pointers with hands in her face. I think that people spend time on their scouting report talking about taking her 3-pointer away, she did a great job penetrating and finding open guys. She is just tough to guard.”

On Haley Texada's contributions:
“She got to the rim. That is one of those pick your poison kind of things. As I told my postgame radio guy, I didn't think I did a very good job of making our guys feel secure about what we were doing defensively. We would change and change, we are going to switch and then not switch, now we are going to fire, now we are going to show. We kind of did that so much, that at the end when they began to run the high screen we were just frozen. The guard was doing the right thing and the defender in the post who was screening was not doing the right thing; which is a recipe for disaster, got to the rim and shot layups. I thought before that, she just did a really good job of attacking the rim. You are not going to come off of shooters and you are not going to go help, so the guy on the ball has to do a really good job. She is a tremendous athlete and has a great burst of speed. The stat line speaks for itself.”

Head Coach Deb Patterson

On the game:
“I am proud of our girls. They competed. I thought they managed the basketball game and kept it close and competitive. They put themselves in the position to compete in the final minutes for a win, but what really was the difference in this game, from my perspective, was the individual 3-point shots that we gave up. That really is what, in my mind, was the difference. I felt we defended their half-court offense very well, but we when we did not bring individual discipline to an assignment, they had a hot hand in every one of those scenarios. The other thing I think was a bit of a factor in the second half was when we did get close, we had two or three very critical turnovers, unforced turnovers that ended up being costly because on the other end Oklahoma capitalized. I think those elements, in the end, beat us. I think it is in our abilities to be more disciplined individually because quite frankly most of those errors were just individual breakdowns. It is something we have the ability to take care of. Other than that, I thought we competed very hard and played well relative to our defensive game plan with the exception of those individual breakdowns on some 3's that really separated the game.”

On Haley Texada's second half:
“I thought she was obviously a great offensive threat at the rim today. She was still aggressive on the perimeter as well. She was very critical in us making that run in the second half. She was extremely competitive and did not give up plays on the offensive end. Again, she is young, and there is always little things here and there that you can do better, but she competed really hard. She showed her athleticism, quickness and speed today getting to the rim. It was a big factor in us putting pressure on Oklahoma.”

On finding balance with the 3-point shot:
“I think offensively there are some segments when we look a little disjointed. We put a little more pressure on ourselves, but by and large that is just how we have to play. I think we are not bad at it. It is unfortunate because we are getting a lot of open look 3's that are not going down, and that it is just the reality. You play like that. Iowa State plays like that. K-State is going to play like that. Quite frankly, Oklahoma plays like that. There are 3's that dropped for them tonight that could be misses for them tomorrow night. So, you have to take what the game gives you. I thought we had two or three possessions when we would get out of character now and then, but we are switching play calls and trying to hang in there with kids that are playing major minutes. We are trying to adjust to matchups sometimes. It is, in my opinion, it is a fun way to play, and I think we saw a lot of good from our inside-outside today. It sure helps a lot when your outside shot is going in.

Sophomore Guard Haley Texada

On her second half:
" I think it was more of seeing the floor a little bit. A couple of times coach Patterson got on me a little bit for going in and getting the rebound and not going back up and kicking it back out. If you see the floor a little bit more, it opens up everything.”

Senior Guard Brittany Chambers

On Oklahoma's defensive game plan:
“I think in the first half I tried to force too many shots around the rim when I needed to find my pivot and kick it out. They paid attention to the drive. They had some big players, which we knew. I think the second half we did a much better job of that and made adjustments, but in the first half, they showed a ton of attention to me on the drive as well as everyone else.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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