Post-game Quotes
3/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 19, 2003
MISSOURI HEAD COACH CINDY STEIN
on an opening round win:
"I thought this was an exciting game, but not always a fun game. It was a little ugly. I think the key was to out-ugly them, and I think we did that. I'm proud of the way we fought when things weren't going right for us - we were missing a lot of shots and it was a very physical ballgame. I'm very proud of this team. The biggest thing in a tournament is getting past the first game, and we finally did that."
on a physical game:
"Everybody that we talked to about Western Illinois told us they were extremely physical and we needed to be ready for that. I thought that we were prepared, but maybe not as prepared as we would have liked. But I think we over came that."
on Missouri's late first-half run:
"That was a great comeback by our team. It showed me a lot of character, which is something I've said all along that we have. That was one of our game goals, to find a way to win together. Sometimes you don't know what that means, but you search for it."
MISSOURI FORWARD EVAN UNRAU
On the team's slow start:
"We were all looking at each other and wondering what was going on. I think we all knew it was just a matter of us getting our rhythm and getting that first shot to go down and go from there."
MISSOURI GUARD KERENSA BARR
on the team's slow start:
"This was a hard game to play because we were coming off such a disappointing loss in the Big 12 Tournament. I think that might be why we came out a little flat. Luckily our defense kept us in the game, and we had players like MyEsha (Perkins) come in and give us a spark off the bench. Plays like that really helped us stay in the game."
WESTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH LESLIE CRANE
On the game:
"It was a great game, and I thought we just kept battling throughout the whole game. We just never let down. I told my kids that there's only going to be two kids in the nation this year that end the team on a winning note - that's whoever wins the WNIT and whoever wins the NCAAs. For us to be in the field and be playing in March, we felt very good about how we competed and what we did tonight."
On Western Illinois' defense:
"I don't know about holding a team to not a basket (for a half), but we've definitely held them (other teams) in single digits. That just tells you how great our defense is. We are a great defensive club. You're going to have some letdowns as we do, but that's what we're known for."
On the physical play:
"We don't back away from anything physical. We like those kind of games ,and when they let us play, I thought there were times we were thinking they were going to call the foul for us, and they didn't, and we didn't concentrate on hitting the shot. Overall, we don't back away from any physicality. We're used to it. That's how we play, and we like it when we can play that way."
On rebounding:
"They (Missouri) got them (second and third chances) at some very opportune times for them, and I felt like we should have done that. We had some breakdowns along those lines. You outrebound a Big 12 team like we did tonight, 53-48, and you're taking care of business. We're a rebounding team. It's a physical situation. The thing we probably did the best of was we held them to only two 3-pointers."
