OU-Bradley Postgame Quotes

Oklahoma Quotes
OU vs. Bradley
Nov. 21, 2014

Head Coach Sherri Coale
Opening Statement:
“It's a historic day for our program and for women's athletics at the University of Oklahoma. It was just a tremendous ceremony tonight. I want to publicly thank Charlie Taylor and the marketing staff for everything they did to put together a first class ceremony and President [David] Boren and Joe Castiglione for being here to help recognize Stacey [Dales]. I thought that Stacey was the consummate point guard at the podium deflecting the praise and honor to her teammates, the administration and to me and anybody and everybody except herself. That's what point guards do; they defer and set everybody else up. Even in the honor, she was what she was for four great years here. It was a big night. There was a lot of emotion. I'm really proud of our team because they reflected a great deal of maturity tonight by being able to focus on what they needed to do in the midst of all of the hoopla. I thought they played in such a way that every alumnus who has been through here can be proud. There was great joy on the court, great intensity, great passion and great unity. All of those things trademark our program and make us special so I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome and everything that happened.”

On if it was fitting the way they won today:
“Yeah, especially when Maddie Manning zipped that pass to McKenna [Treece] on the block, I thought that was for Stacey. That was vintage Stacey Dales.”

On if this one of her better passing teams:
“I feel really good about that and it's everybody. It's not just one or two passers. It is a little bit of everything, too. It's the vanilla pass from point A to point B so the ball can see the post and be fed easily and efficiently, and it's the wow that you saw from Gioya [Carter] and Maddie [Manning]. We had a number of people throw those tonight.”

On the team's incredible offensive performance:
“Well, I think shot selection is a big part of it. Rhythm, you know, when guys play together and share the ball. With every extra pass, the shooting percentage escalates. There is a comfort level and there is confidence. It's all of those things. I think it begins with shooters taking the right shots.”

On why the team has so much chemistry when other teams may not:
“If I had the exact answer for that I would be very, very wealthy and I would have won a bunch of championships already. It is sort of an elusive thing. People say the same thing about communication, why teams talk, whatever, it could be any factor. Just because they talk doesn't mean that you quit teaching talking, or we quit focusing on that. It's the same thing with chemistry and unity. If you just lose your attention to it for half a second it can slip away, and it is really hard to get back. It's something you guard with all of your might and you don't ever take for granted. You work at it. Chemistry is not a thing that just happens. It's a thing that you work at every single day. It requires selfless heart. It requires constant attention and it requires internal leadership. We seem to have that right now.”

G Whitney Ritchie
On what she sees from her teammates on the court:
“I am most often the last one to come off the bench, which is fine with me. But when you watch it, you can feel it. I mean you can feel it even if you're not playing, like me. I can feel the unity, I can feel the ball movement so yeah, I think that's just something special about that team and I think that's what is making us so good right now.”

On her background with basketball in high school:
“I played my freshman year, but because tennis is so competitive, sophomore and junior year I had to make a decision and I chose tennis. And then I played my senior year once I committed to OU (in tennis).”

On if she always shoots like she did tonight:
“No, I do not. On Tuesday I was 22 percent or something – maybe I shouldn't say that. I just have fun out there and a few happened to go in tonight.”

On if she rushed the last three:
“Yeah. I was getting a little excited. It was fun.”

F Kaylon Williams
On how she has seen the game improve:
“I had a lot of fun today and I got a chance to watch all of the alumni that were there tonight. It was so cool watching them play as a young girl. But now that I have the chance to play in front of them and make them proud, that was the only thing I was thinking about tonight. My teammates and I were doing it for them because they laid the foundation for us. It was so much fun out there and you can just feel it. We just have a certain unity and it's a certain 'it' whether we have a certain rotation on the floor – it really doesn't matter who is out there, it's just a really good mix and I think that's just something special right now. I know tonight it was constant communication in the huddles and talking. We were talking before Coach [Sherri] Coale even got in the huddle – that was pretty cool. I just had a lot of fun tonight, that's all I can sum it up as.”

G Peyton Little
On the transition into this season:
“I feel like I've been here a while, I just finally got to put on the uniform. Like Whitney [Richie], [Kaylon Williams] and Coach have said, it just all comes down to the team and we are just so connected right now and I feel like that can help each individual player get going and us staying connected is what has helped.”