Feb. 27, 2010

Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

Oakland Head Coach Beckie Francis

Opening Statement
"I want to give a lot of credit to our seniors. They played with a lot of emotion. This team is very close ,and the fact that they can put the emotion away and get the job done today makes me very proud of them today."

On the team's second-half runs
"As a freshman, Victoria (Lipscomb)'s stat line is so steady, but she comes up with big plays at key moments to spur us. She has been huge for us all year."

On the play of senior Riikka Terava
"Riikka is a fifth-year senior. She's the only player on our team to play in the NCAA tournament. She knows what it takes, and she has mental toughness and is incredibly smart."

On her team's confidence
"We are playing with a lot of confidence, and I keep complimenting them. I'm not trying to blow smoke, we're good. I get amazed at the things the team does when I'm watching films. Our motion offense gives us a lot of room for creativity, and with our tough defense it really helps to feed that."

Freshman Bethany Watterworth

On when she felt like she was "in the zone"
"About midway through the first half. We got stops on defense that triggered fast-break points for everyone, that got us going. We were aggressive and attacked the basket all the way. I kept my head and kept attacking."

On how she feels going into the league tournament
"We're in a really good place right now. We're coming off a lot of wins and playing well as a team."

Senior Melissa Jeltema

On how big today's win was
"This was a big win, and we as seniors thanked our teammates for pulling out the win for us on senior night."

On the strong second half
"I think our conditioning took over and we were able to get big stops on them."

IPFW Head Coach Chris Paul

Opening Statement
"Obviously, we're disappointed because we came up here to win a basketball game against a team we thought we matched up pretty well against. But they're playing really good basketball right now and they took advantage of some mismatches. Unfortunately, this game came down to a couple of runs. They went on a run, we battled back and then they went on another run. I was proud of the effort our kids made and the way we attacked the glass because rebounding has been an issue for us lately. I was proud of how hard we played in a tough environment."

On the biggest difference between the two meeting this season
"Well tonight, they shot a lot better. When you shoot 53 percent, you're going to win games. It's tough to win when you are giving up that many free throws, too. That had nothing to do with officiating and everything to do with how physical Oakland is playing right now. The main difference is that they are playing with a lot of confidence right now. It's a different basketball team. They believe that when they go out there, they are going to win. I don't think they were caryying themselves the same way when they came to our place."

On the matchup with Rosado Watterworth
"It was a tough matchup. But she had a good game, as did Stephanie. I think they offset each other. The surronding cast of Oakland did a nice job and had some key offensive rebounds."

IPFW forward Stephanie Rosado

On coming back home to Michigan
"It felt good to come home, but it feels the same, no matter where I play. I try to play each game the same way."

On getting ready for the league tournament
"We just have to learn from our mistakes and keep our heads up. We go back to work and watch film."