Jan. 26, 2009

Box Score

Oakland Head Coach Beckie Francis

Opening Statement
"We felt that that was a war. They're very physical, they're big inside and we knew they were going to try to attack the inside. I thought our players did a really nice job of battling back and I was extremely proud that we out-rebounded them."

On going on 21-0 run in first half
"In the beginning, it was a tough game and we knew they were going to go inside. They were hitting some shots and we weren't, but again, I credit that to our depth and I think (Jessica) Pike said it very well: we made some substitutions and we were still able to go on the run. That just shows the confidence that we have in our bench and the depth and confidence they have coming in to get the job done."

On game plan against Julia Whitted
"We did have a game plan to stop her and Jernisha Cann, so we stopped Cann. She's actually, along with Pike, probably going to be up for Player of the Year. The fact that we shut her and Nicole James down was also part of our strategy. We knew Whitted was going to get some points. We didn't know it was going to be that many and that was a little frustrating, but she just got hot. We have some things up our sleeve for what we're going to do with her when we see them next."

On Sharise Calhoun's minutes and development
"I'd like to give Katie Wolfe credit for recruiting her. I just don't want to ever take her off the floor because she is such a good defender and the key to our defense. She shuts down other point guards and doesn't get beat. Very rarely does she get beat. She was such a good track star and was actually being recruited by The Big Ten to run track, but she chose to play basketball. We know that she has that endurance and that she can just go forever. I just don't even want to take her out."

On whether Oakland could be a top-25 team
"I would say so, because we beat a top-25 team. We haven't really played enough top-25 teams to say that we should be in over teams that are ranked. But the fact that we have beaten South Dakota State and they are ranked has some merit to it. We're not treat Saturday's game against South Dakota State any different than we did tonight. We don't like to put pressure on ourselves and we're just going to go out there and play them the best we can and learn some things, because we know we're probably going to have to get through them to get to the NCAA tournament."

On Brittany Carnago defending Whitted
"We struggled against IUPUI last year down there and in fact, I think we lost because we didn't have Brittany. Not that Brittany is everything, but when they have somebody that is 6-5 and you have somebody that is 6-3, they can't lob on you and do things as easy. I also liked the fact that we can have Anna Patritto go pound on her like she did. Anna, I thought, had one of the turnaround plays when they were bouncing back, she got the steal and went coast-to-coast for a big layup for one of the biggest plays of the game. It's nice that Brittany can stop her and have some other weapons."

On guarding Whitted for the game
"What we were doing was rotating different players because when we play them again, we want to know who the best job on her and we know that Brittany and Patritto can get some stops. I want to give Julia a lot of credit tonight. She was very hot and they got her the ball and you've got to give credit to them."

Junior forward Hanna Reising

On feeling healthier now
"It's kind of been a rough season for me so far and I'm just really focusing on playing hard and doing whatever my team needs to do. That's what I tried to do tonight."

On if game was a confidence boost
"I think every player has their setbacks and I think this is the first time in my career where I've had to face a lot of setbacks in a long time. So, I just needed to focus on coming out and playing good defense and worry about if I score or not, so that's what I did. It all just came naturally to me."

Senior guard Jessica Pike

On having a breakout game before playing against South Dakota State
"It seems to be a trend as of lately, which is a good thing. We're on an eight-game winning streak, but we've really started to spread out the scoring, which we didn't do as much in the beginning of the year. It's a key part of our offense, which makes us hard to guard. So, it's big going back on the road into two tough gyms and playing two really good league games."

On holding IUPUI to 16 points and 25 percent shooting in the first half
"We forced a lot of turnovers for the whole game, especially in the first half. We just pressured the ball and keep it out of the post's hands as much as we could. I think we did a much better job in the first half than we did the second."

On eight-game winning streak
"I think the one thing we've really improved on in these last eight games is our defense and our depth. Everybody that comes in has been playing well, especially on the defensive end."

IUPUI Head Coach Shann Hart

Opening Statement
"Their game strategy was obviously a good one tonight. I'm not so sure that even if we had Jernisha Cann healthy that we would have been successful today. We just didn't play very well on the offensive end or the defensive end. Oakland did a very nice job forcing us into all the turnovers. I think we had like 25 turnovers and when you're turning the ball over that much in the half court, you are not going to win very many ballgames. I thought they did a great job as always rebounding the basketball and they had several second chance opportunities. We just didn't do that very well tonight. The real key to their success was their bench. (Hanna) Reising played 15 minutes and I think she scored like 20 points, that's the difference in the game. You look at our bench performance and we just didn't get any (production) tonight."

On Julia Whitted's second half
"I don't think they mixed up or changed what they did defensively, I just don't think she was aggressive enough, quite frankly, in that first half."

On OU's 21-0 run in the first half
"I thought it was 12:37, but I get your point. Unfortunately with us being a young team that is the downside. We have so many newcomers and freshmen that we have games where we have done well early, even against top 25 teams. We jumped out on Kentucky and then went on a 12-minute drought. So when you can't score baskets, then obviously you have to guard and defend and we didn't do that well tonight. Our rotation wasn't good. Part of that is (Jerneshia) Cann not being healthy, but even if she was, collectively as a team, we did not guard well tonight."

IUPUI CENTER JULIA WHITTED
On second half performance where she scored 19 points
"I have to thank my teammates for passing me the ball. I can't score without them. During the break, my coach gave me a very good pep talk and that motivated me for the second half."

On having a good game but the team losing
"It's frustrating when you are having a really good night and your team's shots are just not falling. I mean that was it for us, our shots weren't falling and they were scoring and we were getting really frustrated. Definitely the defense (too)."

On being more aggressive in the second half
"I think both. I wasn't used to what they were doing and then I adjusted and got used to it. I also came in more aggressive in the second half. I wanted to get the ball and go to the hoop."