Head Coach Jonathan Tsipis

Opening Statement:
"First, I'd like to congratulate Saint Francis on a really well-played game. They stick to what they do and Joe has done a phenomenal job there. Obviously they were going to take a lot of 3's. They were going to press. We understood that part of it and again, I think even in the fourth quarter the one three they made was such a big momentum three that got them the lead back. And as I was just talking with Avy (Young) and Cayla (McMorris), there is that part of the things that we have to do better defensively. And I think our team is competing and I think trying to hang our hat on our defense obviously is not there yet. I like the passion our team plays with, the excitement, everybody is into the game but obviously we've got to do things better on the defensive end, finish possessions out, take the advantage of the rebounding total to be able to score off of that. I thought we did that better tonight than we did on Friday but it's two games in the grand scheme of things. We need to take better care of the basketball, to score 100 points and still have that many turnovers, there's a lot of opportunities left on the floor. I think our group battled and we are going to keep moving forward."

On if the team will face anything like this for the rest of the year in terms of style this extreme:
"I don't know if this extreme. We talked to the team and last year they shot 51 3's in a game. So, they were fifth in the country. They averaged 31 3-pointers attempted per game. I think that part of understanding that is the growth of our team. When you shoot 44, you are probably going to make some. You have to be able to weather that storm, to move on to the next play, to get the ball up the floor. I thought we did a much better job in the second half of that, not because we scored more points, I thought we took better shots. We talked a lot at halftime, we can get a layup, we can get to the free throw line, we can get a wide open three. I thought the first half we settled for 15 to 17 footers that they were going to give up. And again, I think it's good that we play all different kinds of styles. Teams in the Big Ten are going to stretch the 3-point line, maybe they're not going to trap and press and do everything to that point. Obviously Michigan presses a lot and different teams in the league build their offense on the 3-point line. I think every game we play in the non-conference, we have got to be able to take a learning experience from it and move forward so that it can be something to help us once we hit Big Ten play."

On what ideally he would like to see different in the defense:
"I think keeping the ball in front of us off the dribble led to a lot of the 3's. There were adjustments we made yesterday in practice from Friday night where I thought they tried to beat us off the dribble to get a pass into the post and I think we over-helped at times tonight and we are still learning that. A couple of plays where they hit 3's, I don't think we needed to have that many people help. And again, those breakdowns of understanding where we are forcing people is maybe too exaggerated. We are exaggerating it from too far out on the floor. So people are getting ahead of steam and able to get lane line drives that are going to lead to defenses having to over help. I thought our guards did a better job at times of cutting that part off but give Saint Francis credit. They continued to attack, attack, attack, even if they missed and I thought that's where Katie Reese did a great job of getting to the rim, which set a lot of the other players up."


On moving forward from this loss: 
"We talked about the battle. We want to be able to hang our hat on our defense and when you give up someone shooting 34 percent from the 3-point line and 103 points, everyone needs to be better in practice about it. You have to play possession by possession even in a fast-paced game to make sure that you're playing to your strength and taking another team out of their strength. I think Kendall Shaw is one of our strengths inside. I think the game got to a pace where we didn't take advantage of that. On the other end, they spread the floor and that doesn't take advantage of Kendall being able to clog the lane better for them. That's just one example. I was proud of Courtney (Fredrickson), who sat with two fouls in the first half and came out and attacked in the second half. I thought Cayla attacked throughout. I thought Avy (Young) set the tone on the glass. I think we had four or five offensive rebounds off of missed free throws, which is great to get the offensive rebound even though I wish we didn't have the missed free throw. Those are effort plays and our team needs to see that part of putting more of putting effort plays on both ends of the court, and that will lead to success."

On Gabby Gregory's performance:
"I thought Gabby came in the first half and really gave us a lift on the offensive end. When she came in, she attacked off the dribble. She got her feet set on the 3-point line and hit two big 3's for us. Her only miss from the 3-point line was the one at the buzzer tonight. I thought she gave us good minutes. There were a lot of times that both Cayla and Gabby, when they were guarding Jessica Kovatch, made her take a heavily contested shot. That's part of my job as the head coach is to get them to understand that part. We need them to take more of those shots, some aren't going in. Good players make tough shots. If we can get the whole team to understand that you can do that no matter who you're guarding. I thought Gabby was good when she got in motion with it but she has to trust herself more with the basketball against the press. I think that's a part of the growing process but she gave us a huge offensive lift in the first half. I think the more playing time that Gabby, Courtney and Kendra (Van Leeuwen) get, they will be exposed to situations that will help give them real game experience."


Senior F Avyanna Young
On keeping composure against a team like Saint Francis:
"We were prepared for them and knew what they were going to do. It's just us working on us. It wasn't so much us focusing on what they were doing, but more of us trusting our game plan and what we have to do to execute our plan. We were ready for it, we weren't frazzled, we just need to stay composed. That's what it basically came down to."

Junior G Cayla McMorris
On facing a guard where you have to play out far:
"I wouldn't say it's difficult because that's what we learn in practice, to always have a hand up. That's what it came down to was always putting pressure on them no matter where they are. We learned that about them is that they will shoot from anywhere, they will shoot from deep."
On guarding Jessica Kovatch:
"I will just say I have to be better defensively, knowing how to get through screens and always having a high hand up. She's a shooter, she can do everything. I needed to do a better job of knowing where she was in transition and stopping her."