Washington vs. Gonzaga Quotes
December 15, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2006
Post-game Quotes
Washington vs. Gonzaga
WASHINGTON HEAD COACH June Daugherty
General Comments: "Coming into the game, we were aware of how balanced Gonzaga is offensively. All five positions are really capable of hurting you with double-figures, and they get a lot of help off of the bench. I thought that our defense was definitely going to be challenged. I thought we did a pretty good job. Offensively, against the trapping and the 1-2-2 and the run-and-jump, I think we did a good job of breaking it. Emily definitely, and I thought Stefanie Clark had a great game. She got into the middle of that zone, and just attacked the basket when we wanted to get three on two situations. I think a lot of times it just takes the wind out of a team's sail a little bit when you have that kind of speed. Emily and Stefanie were relentless on that, and were a big part of us getting some easy scores."
On slowing down Gonzaga's offense: "We really wanted to neutralize their high-low game by being really physical and trying to deny the high-post as much as possible. At times we had some success with that. In the second half their front-line was having a little bit of foul trouble. I thought that, for the most part, we did a pretty good job that way. I thought our matchup zone was really good to us tonight. There was a lot of opportunities for us to rest on defense in our matchup zone because Gonzaga was having to reverse the ball quite a bit. They were having a tough time, the shot clock was going down and that was something good for us. The longer it takes for a team to score against that, the longer we have to rest defensively, and the better off we are."
On non-conference preparation: "Part of our preseason scheduling is seeing a variety of conferences and trying to play strong, competitive teams. Right out of the gate with Marquette, now everybody realizes how good Marquette was, they are nationally ranked and are coming off of two big wins. We have challenged ourselves, just recently with Texas A&M, Nevada and Gonzaga we knew we would see a lot of pressure defense. All three of them gave us different looks. This is exactly what we need to improve and prepare for the Pac-10 which is obviously right around the corner.
WASHINGTON GUARD Emily Florence
On being a leader: "Being a junior now I know that I need to be a good leader on the floor. One of the biggest things that I am focused on is reducing my turnovers. Whether we put the defense into a zone or a man is usually my call and everyone is always looking to be for the plays as well. I just need to make sure that I am smart out there with how I make my decisions and my teammates will back me up."
On Washington style of play:"The coaches are always telling us to push the ball because we are so athletic and we can push the ball against anyone. Going into this game we were really excited to play against a rival team in Washington, so that was our primary focus, to push the ball on them. We are a really fast team and if we can push the ball fast and get it outside than we will be able to get a lot of lay-ups."
On being more proud of rebounds or steals: "I just try to do whatever I can out there. I usually just get the sloppy rebounds that the big girls tip out. A lot of times I am not a huge offensive threat, so when I can do those things I am happy."
On being ready for Pac-10 play: "I think that we have turned it around a lot this season after some early season let downs. I am excited to play some Pac-10 games and I can't wait, but we have to worry about Florida State first."
