Nov. 18, 2009

Box Score | Quotes | Notes

Oakland

Head Coach Beckie Francis

Opening Statement
"I thought that we really came out strong in the first half. Toledo is a very good team, being picked number one in their division of the MAC and their team was very focused and determined. I thought foul trouble with some of our post players hurt us again and Toledo just hit some big shots. We tried everything we could to stop Naama Shafir and she had a career night."

On what happened in the end of the first half when Toledo went on a 15-0 run going into the second half
"I still think that we're focusing on our rotations. I can't stay with five people who are running really smooth when we have a 10-point lead, because they might need a rest or be in foul trouble. I think we're still struggling with trying to figure out how to get our rotations clicking. I don't know exactly until I see the tape, but I have a feeling it's because Bethany picked up a second foul or Melissa Jeltema did and they had to sit. It's not saying anything about the bench, it's there's a certain unit that's flowing and you have to change it because you can't ride that unit for 40 straight minutes. We're having lulls when we are making changes."

On trying new things with inside play
"Usually, Brittany Carnago would down there swatting some of that stuff away, but now we're exposed when somebody is penetrating. They also two fantastic three-point shooters; this is a very good team. For when a great shooter is penetrating, you have to make decision whether you're going to come in or not. If you come in, she takes the three, so you have to get it done and we're going to work on it in practice. It's great practice and is exactly what Oral Roberts runs. We've been facing it for six years and we have the problems every time we play them the first time and then we fix it and beat them."

On approaching the tough non-league schedule coming up
"I just told the team that we schedule like this on purpose to make us better and expose our weaknesses. I think you elevate your game when you play a higher level. I thought we played better tonight then we did against Detroit and I think Toledo is a better team than Detroit. We just have to put two halves together and we only have two forwards: Jeltema and Bethany. We have to figure out a way, for when those two sit down, to stop inside play and we haven't figured it out yet. Teams are exposing us in that and we are just going to keep working hard at it."

Freshman forward Bethany Watterworth

On feeling transitioned to the college game
"With the injury to Brittany Carnago, I knew I needed to step up and give it my best out there. I really like our motion offense because it's very physical and I can go in and out. They did a great job of getting me the ball and when they clamped down on me, our players were open to kick it out. We have good movement on motion and I am able to get a lot of wide open looks."

On what needs to be improved on as a young group
"After tonight's game, I just think we need to work on team defense and helping out. Shafir was able to get to the lane easily and we could have done a better job of being there to stop her and taking the charge. We need to trust our defense and trust our help side, that's very important to us and that's what we need to work on."

Toledo

Head Coach Tricia Cullop

Opening Statement
"We knew this was going to be a very difficult place to play, have a lot of respect for this program. Very well coached team, scrappy team, very well skilled. I thought the first ten minutes of the ballgame Oakland abused us on the boards, abused us in transition and really made us learn some hard lessons. Our kids weren't getting back, they weren't pressuring the ball and it seemed like every time I turned around I saw the ball go in for Oakland. So we felt very fortunate by halftime to tie it because we had to work so hard to get back to that point but we really had to turn up our defense to get stops that it was a very tough thing to do. I thought our kids really reached down deep and found a way to get some defensive stops and start checking out because we weren't in the first ten minutes. I think Oakland showed its speed in the first ten minutes. We really did have a difficult time; Calhoun really made us pay if we didn't pick her up early. Second half I can't be anymore proud of Naama Shafir, she really put us on her back and when we were stagnant offensively she said we weren't going to lose. I was very impressed with her effort. I thought our kids did a lot better job on the boards and you know if you're going to win games on the road you got to hit your free throws and our kids did a really nice job of hitting their free throws and making sure that we didn't give up anything easy.

Adjustments during big runs against Oakland
I will tell you this, every time I saw a kid make a mistake on defense I subbed. If they missed a box out, if they missed pressuring the ball, we subbed. I wasn't going to yell at them, they were just going to sit down. I thought we had some inexcusable mistakes and I was tired of talking about it so, the good thing is we have enough depth where I can sub in and out and keep fresh bodies on the floor. I do think that even though we were subbing for mistakes it helped out because it kept our stamina and our intensity in longer stretches because we were subbing in and out. I thought our kids, the second chance they got; they had something to prove to me that they wanted to stay on the floor so it made a big difference in that they really stepped up showed a lot more defensive pressure. The one thing we preach is that it all starts on the defensive end. If you don't get stops then you have to trade baskets and this team is too dangerous if you do.

Naama Shafir's performance
The last time I saw her really take over a game like this was down in the Hawaii tournament last year. She had 33 points as a freshman and helped us beat Hawaii. She ended up being the MVP of the Hawaii tournament as a freshman and that was with Arizona, Loyola-Marymount and Hawaii and just did a phenomenal job. She got lapped because after that game, she didn't have a three-point shot that she felt comfortable shooting at that time and she lacked because the rest of the season she said 'I wish they didn't know how to guard me.' The first game they didn't know what she could do after that they took away the drive and she didn't have anything. Tonight I think she showed you what she has been working on all season and that's the three point shot. When she puts those two together she is very difficult to guard and she is a very good distributor of the ball. She had nine assists last game, I didn't even look to see how many assists she had tonight yet, seven. She is a very unselfish player and I'm glad she is only a sophomore.