Dec. 30, 2008
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Dec. 30, 2008
Box Score
OAKLAND 88, ROCHESTER COLLEGE 23
ATHLETICS CENTER O'RENA
OAKLAND HEAD COACH Beckie Francis
Opening Statement
"I was really happy with the intensity for 40 minutes and it was every single player. In case people are wondering, Jessica Pike rolled her ankle in shoot-around today and that's why she wasn't playing today. She'll be okay for the weekend. Other people just came in and stepped up and it was just really fun."
On development of younger players
"They're very solid players and because we have some seniors, they don't get a lot of time. They're working their way in and trying to get some chemistry. They are proving their ability in practice, we keep trying to get them opportunities and they keep coming through, so we look to get them more minutes."
On whether OU tries new things in a game like this
"Actually, no. We just try to fine tune our man-to-man and two-three defense and that's basically what we see in 90 percent of our games. It's a really a good game for us to just execute and to have some subs in and work together. They did a great job of that and they looked like they had been playing together for a while. I was really pleased with the chemistry."
On all players scoring tonight
"I actually focus a lot on defense. It's nice they all got on the scoreboard, but I don't actually look for that. We don't talk about that and I even tell our players to not cheer when a sub scores a basket because it's not about scoring for us. It's about being able to get stops against Rochester College. Defense wins championships and I was really pleased that everybody went in and played solid defense. We even had Brittany Carnago, who is 6-3, guarding a little guard on purpose because this weekend, North and South Dakota State shoot threes, so we were working on defensive schemes. I was pleased they were all getting stops on defense and if they got some gravy points, I didn't care."
On OU's post-player defense
"Unfortunately, in some of our losses, like when we lost by one to Southern Utah, our post players got in foul trouble. The officiating is a little different in the West Coast I think, because we played the exact same defense when we played UMKC and the other six games and they got whistled for fouls. Our interior defense, as we know, is the key to our defense, but also, it's our point guard defense. We didn't know Sharise Calhoun was going to be this good, this fast, so she's been giving us some huge minutes by guarding the point guards and giving April Kidd some relief, especially with Riikka Terava out."
On what to expect this weekend
"I expect some really good games. I expect two wins. I expect two good games, close games, but we have experience in this league and the Dakotas are new. But they're very good. South Dakota State is ranked 21st/24th in the country and North Dakota State has beaten Oral Roberts by 20 and Centenary by 50. So, they're both solid teams and they're going to be good games. They will be good tests."
JUNIOR GUARD Melissa Jeltema
On how Oakland executed offensively and defensively
"I think everybody showed up. Everybody that came off the bench all played hard and I think everybody scored. Everybody contributed."
On team mindset going into the North Dakota and South Dakota State games
"I think we're ready and focused. We've been practicing really hard."
On what OU takes a from a game like this
"We go out there and we have fun, but we also want to work on our fundamentals and get better at the things we do, too."
ROCHESTER COLLEGE HEAD COACH JOEL SCHROEDER
Opening Statement
"I would just like to thank Beckie (Francis) for having us out here. This is a great game for us. I know it wasn't very competitive, and hasn't been the last couple of years, but it helps us a lot with our program and things like that. Getting our college name out in the community."
On what he expected when he came in here and what he said to team
"We just want to compete for 40 minutes in a game like this. I saw them play against Marquette, and I know that Beckie (Francis) has a great team. We just want to come in and compete for 40 minutes and get better. We have games coming up on our own level and this helps us get to the national tournament, that's is our goal. It helps us show deficiencies in our game."
On playing against Division I players
"For us it helps in the offseason with workouts and things like that. Beckie (Francis) is great for letting us come here and play. It's a game you that your girls get excited to play in the offseason. We tell them we are going to prepare for our best opponent, so we get ready for OU all preseason long."
On which player impressed him the most
"Our big, No. 50 Liz Stockwell. She's a freshman and we play a lot of young girls. She is a 6 foot freshman from Illinois and did some nice things out there."
On playing a 2-3 zone on defense
"Marquette played a 2-3 a little bit (against Oakland) and (Brittany) Carnago got moved out to the nail and free throw line, so we thought we'd do that a little bit to get her off the block and help us out with rebounding."
