Jan. 2, 2012

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Head Coach Bobbie Kelsey

Opening Statement:
We had some good looks from our three-point line, but when you shoot 11 percent that doesn’t really help you. I’m proud of the kids, they persevered and played hard to the end. We just couldn’t make the shots.

About the size of Penn State:
The guards, (Maggie) Lucas and (Alex) Bentley, are very key for them. But obviously, they have more than just those two, and when you have 6-5, 6-4, 6-5 and 6-4, we don’t have that kind of height. Eventually, it’s going to wear you down. It’s like a boxing match, you get hit, hit, hit. In one play, Cassie (Rochel), the girl just ran right through her. I’m not sure that was a foul or not, but when you’re that big, maybe they don’t call it, I don’t know.

About the feeling of being overmatched:
We usually make a run or two, but when you’re not making shots it just gets harder and harder. Every possession is ‘Are we going to make a shot?’ as opposed to having a lot more confidence when you have made a shot or two. I think the only shots we really got were some free throws. But again, we have to make shots and when you shoot 10-11 percent from the 3-point line that doesn’t really help, especially when they have 26 assists that means they’re scoring. If we can get more assists then that means we’re scoring.

About Penn State shooting 52 percent:
They were getting layups. If you get layups, you’re supposed to hit your layups. We tried to run at Lucas and she found the open player. We tried to go into a zone and they hit all their shots. They went into a zone as well and I don’t know if that was so they could practice it or if they felt like they really needed to, but they did and we still couldn’t hit our open looks.

That’s the difference between us winning and losing, hitting open shots. Even in games before where we have played well, they’ve gotten away from us when we stopped hitting shots. Whether that be layups, threes or jumpers, we just have to put it all together.


Penn State Head Coach Coquese Washington

On Penn State’s defensive Intensity:
I thought our defensive intensity was at a pretty high level, and that was one of the things, coming into this game, we wanted to have a better defensive effort then we had the past few games. I was pretty pleased with the effort overall defensively.

On the teams 52.3 shooting percentage:
I thought against Nebraska we didn’t do a great job of having offensive balance, and we are a better team when we have more offensive balance. Today we did a better job of making the extra pass, finding the open person and taking great shots instead of taking mediocre or poor shots.

On the contribution from the post players:
We thought coming into the game that if our post players were aggressive and assertive, they could have success. I thought they did a good job of posting strong and getting in good position. Our guards did a good job of being recognized when they had the advantage, and we didn’t do that in our last game.”