"I'm really proud of our group, because after Wednesday night's game is a big point of how you finish the season. Once we got back on the plane, I think it carried ourselves into what we were able to do in practice on Thursday. One or greater than one, because I'm not going to repeat what the final score was on Wednesday, it counts as one loss. Just the same way a win by one of 49 counts as one win.
"I think it may have been the most physical, it wasn't the longest practice, but it may have been the most physical practice on Thursday. They were upset, they knew they're better than what they showed on Wednesday night at Maryland. I think that carried over yesterday, and just the execution of the game plan in practice, of switching defenses, which I thought we were able to do tonight at a high level.
"We weren't at our best offensively today, we turned it over 25 times. I will say this, they only scored eight points off that. That was a big difference from when we played in Piscataway at the beginning of January. But when the score was 18-13 and we had held them, and we went on the 10-0 to end the first half, I think you saw that belief (that) we cannot maybe be at our best offensively and still be able to put ourselves in a position to be successful.
"We fought Rutgers off, I thought at the beginning of the third quarter. Obviously it was a two-point game going into the fourth quarter and that attack mentality on our end helped us get to the (free-throw) line and I think on the other end, we didn't allow them to get to the line. And holding somebody in the fourth quarter, to keep them off the line, they didn't even get to the five-foul bonus. I'm just really, really proud.
"
Avyanna Young sitting next to me obviously didn't have her best first half, and as far as ball security, did a much better job of that in the second half. You could see no matter what lineup we had in there, trying to work together and bouncing back. I thought Avy and
Cayla McMorris, after she got that great look in the fourth quarter and missed the layup, responded by going 6-for-6 from the line.
On getting the victory:
"First I'll say, and I'm going to chart this on me, maybe I have a little bit more experience than you do, but that's a win. So whether it's played well or not, especially when you're in mid-February and you're trying to find your team scraping, but you're accurate. It wasn't pretty and I think when a game is ugly like that and two teams that are trying to increase their standing as you get closer to the Big Ten Tournament.
"I thought that whatever defense we played, we had to make them take as many contested shots as possible. I think one of the things that, when we did give up an offensive rebound, we still battled. There's been games when teams have had 13 or 15 offensive rebounds and that's ballooned into 28 or 30 second-chance points. I was really pleased with was when we switched defenses, our kids really still had a good activity level, and that didn't change if we were struggling to take care of the ball or get a great shot.
"Again, we shot well from the line, but I've been doing this long enough, there's no such thing as a good loss and there's no such thing as a bad win. But at that point, we did an okay job against the press. We burned two timeouts to get it in, we were able to get the ball into the hands of people who were able to step up and knock free throws down. But I think when teams know you really, really well, especially the second time around, I think you are going to have those where you have some grind out games in our conference, especially against two teams that know the best chance for them to win is to be really good on the defensive end."
On the team's successful attempt at the free throw line:
"I'm proud of our kids because they don't know where we stand in the Big Ten free throw percentage wise and we're protective on that. But I will say this, after two practices and you were at the one that was really physical, they spent extra time both days and today they worked equally as hard.
"Again as we try to teach them that they have confidence, they're going to make a free-throw and make a shot, their teammates have to believe that it might not go in to get to the offensive glass and I was really proud.
Ashley Kelsick stepped up, hit two right away, ended up three for four. We didn't leave any out there. There weren't any times in those free throws, I think that's an important part with the double bonus is that confidence to step up to know it's not just going to be won and you know, Marsha (Howard) goes one for two, Kendra (Van Leeuwen) goes one for two. We didn't have empty trips and that honestly is contagious when you're shooting free throws."
On what he told his team going into the fourth quarter:
"Well I thought our defense was good in the third quarter and still we had held somebody to, you know 15 (points) is obviously higher than two (in second quarter), and I thought we got some good looks and we shared the ball in the third quarter. If we're going to lose the game, lose it attacking.
"I think the other night we were on our heels a lot at Maryland, in a drive. And it doesn't mean run people over or put your head down, but continue to put the ball on the ground with a purpose, cut with a purpose. Even we they pressed, when we got to the ball to the middle of the floor and got it reversed, again we got in that bonus early and I think that helped spur our defense on the other end.
"The key word the last three days has been attack and no matter what we've done, what offensive set we ran, we knew their matchup has gotten better and better throughout the Big Ten season. We didn't want to just settle and I think maybe a little bit in the second quarter, where we had the run of threes, but I didn't feel like we settled at the 3-point line in the fourth quarter. And again, we shot five shots.
"We got to the line early, we took advantage of the technical. I think there's a big part when a team comes back and they can never get the lead. They put a lot of energy into that and continuing to talk about that part, they had made their run. We talked about it going into the fourth quarter. We had taken their punch and we were still on top. Now we can make ours and extend it out."
Avyanna Young
On the motivation for today:
"Like Coach (Tsipis) said, we were definitely upset by what happened on Wednesday and we knew that we haven't been playing our best basketball. We just went out there and did what we do. Our coaches supported us, we supported each other and we had confidence, and we were just ready to get a win."
On whether the team was trying to win too hard in the first half:
"I just had to slow down and take my time, when the double is coming, find my open teammates."
On her high school basketball team showing up:
"Those are my little sisters; I was happy to see them here. But more importantly, I was doing it for my team and we were all doing it for each other when we're out there, battling, because we know we have each other's backs. But it's good to have them here.
On the team's success at the free throw line:
"It starts off with one person and then confidence from person to person, teammate to teammate, they have confidence in us to knock it down. Just for me as I go to the line, I hear Marsha saying toes and make sure I extend so it's just they support us which helps us knock those down."
On how important it is for her to end her career on the best possible run she can:
"It's important and I know that we are going to go out as hard as we can. But it's more important than I end off on a better note with my team, chemistry wise, and we all end out together knowing that no matter what we were in this together, coach, staff and everybody."
