Texas Tech 78, Missouri 51
3/5/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 5, 2002
Missouri Quotes
Head Coach Cindy Stein
On the game:
"You've got to give credit to Texas Tech. They were a handful tonight and started off hot. I thought that we were ready to play tonight, but we just had a Tech team that was too much for us to handle."
On the difference in Texas Tech between meetings:
"I think that they got better and we didn't. I felt all year long that we weren't making the improvements that we needed to make. I could see their team improving. I saw our team improving in phases, but when you play in a league like the Big 12, a little is not good enough."
On Jia Perkins:
"She wasn't in any kind of slump. I think we broke that for her. She is a tremendous player. She made every shot, probably with a hand in her face. There were times when we gave her open looks. The team stepped up offensively, and she was the leader."
Kerensa Barr, Junior Guard:
On the grind of the Big 12:
"This conference grinds on everyone. We beat up on each other every night. That is what happens when you play in the best conference in the country. We are not the only team that has to deal with it. Other teams did a better job of dealing with it than we did."
On playing without a go-to player:
"Texas Tech put a lot of pressure on me and they were physical with me. I am not really a one-on-one scorer and that is what I ended up trying to do. It is hard to score points like that. To beat teams like Texas Tech you have to score. We have not been scoring, especially in conference."
Evan Unrau, Sophomore Forward:
On playing with an injured finger:
"I do not think that anybody would let a finger end their season. It is difficult to play with it because the cast is bulky. It was looking good in practice so I just have to go for it."
Texas Tech Quotes
Head Coach Marsha Sharp
On the game:
"We were really pleased to win tonight. This was our most important game of the week. Hopefully every time we have a chance to play well, we help our chances in the NCAA tournament and our seed purposes. Right now it's critical that we play well and try to put as many wins up as we can."
On the first half:
"I thought we came out set on go. We really had some good looks and made some plays early in the game. It got us going and helped us keep a cushion."
On utilizing the bench:
"I thought our young players were playing well enough for a long stretch of time so we could rest some of the starters. I thought it was going to be important for us to get minutes out of more players. I think if you want to take a shot at winning the tournament, you have to have that at the back of your mind. You certainly have to take care of the game first and not let anything get out of hand. At the same time, if you can find a couple of minutes here or there, I think you can really help yourself out."
Jia Perkins, So., Guard
On the confidence of the team after losing to Oklahoma in the last regular season game:
"I just move on from game to game. I just put it in the back of my head. In this tournament, all things are clear right now, so we just play it like a regular game and we just have to keep shooting."
On what Coach Sharp told them about playing in the tournament:
"Coming off (the loss to Oklahoma), (Coach Sharp) said all plays are clear now. What you did before is done with. We've just got to focus on these next few games, which is what we're trying to do."
Jolee Ayers, So., Forward
On getting inside on Missouri:
"I think that was something (Missouri) had to deal with a little more (in this game). I don't think we did as well as we would have liked to, but after we got inside a couple of times, we did some things that, hopefully, got our outside players open a little more."
On what they learned from the Baylor loss:
"I know that one thing is (that) we didn't do a very good job on (Danielle) Crockrom. The last game, we started out doing some things that we wanted to do, but I think that (it's) important (to contain Crockrom) because she's such an impact player. She does a lot of things for (Baylor). She's a great offensive rebounder and a great scorer so we need to make sure that we really contain her as much as possible."
