Jan. 19, 2002
Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer:
General Remarks: "I thought this was a great win for us tonight. We didn't shoot as well from three as we are capable of shooting but we made them when we really needed to. This is a real confidence builder for our team. We needed this win. We needed to win in front of a hostile crowd and against a team with good guards who can shoot the ball from the outside. Washington is a strong physical team and we got into some trouble in the second half when they went inside. But our team responded and did a good job on the boards and we were able to win the rebounding battle. Our team really kept their poise."
On Cori Enghusen: "Cori did a great job for us. She really stepped up big. She was huge tonight and she had a monster game against Washington State. She has really come into her own at the right time when we really needed her. This weekend she has played great, both tonight and Thursday against Washington State. She's been running the floor and making her free throws and really doing everything we've needed her to do."
Washington Head Coach June Daugherty:
On Stanford's offense: "When they brought their big line-up in, Cori (Enghusen) was a big difference maker for them tonight. It was very tough for us to extend the zone as far as we wanted on the three point shooters with Enghusen on the inside one-on-one."
On second half: "I was really proud of the way we played. I thought we showed an enormous amount of character and poise coming out that second half being out 17. It was a huge test mentally for what our team was going to do. In particular our leaders, Loree (Payne), and Giuli (Mendiola) and Cheryl (Sorenson), they were unbelievable out there on the court and on the bench encouraging the kids to keep them poised and to keep them with the idea of one possession at a time. And because of that we were able to get right back in the ballgame."
On Huskies' Offense: "I think we were a little tight coming out the first half. One of the things we asked them to do the second half was move the basketball more and have a better presence inside out. I thought (Andrea) Lalum, (Kellie) O'Neill, (Emily) Autrey, really responded well in the second half. And that's something that we have to continue to get better at. Maybe it's playing the number 4 team in the country. Maybe it's playing in front of 6,000 people, I don't know what it is. But I was pleased that they were able to second down and do what we asked the second half."
"We reminded ourselves at halftime that we didn't feel like we were aggressive. And that we needed to be the aggressor. Maybe offensively the shots weren't going for us in the first half, but we had to make up for it in other areas , getting to the glass, making things happen, taking risks on defense and I think the second half we definitely improved in that area."
Washington center Andrea Lalum:
On offensive rebounding: We knew offensively we were forcing the ball a lot in the first half. So, we weren't in position to get offensive boards. So it was kind of frustrating to get down there and someone would fire up a shot and nobody was in position to get boards and we'd be running back to stop the transition. So we knew that we needed to work the offense and get better shots and get better looks and that's what we did in the second half and then that way offensively we were in position to get rebounds.
Stanford's defense: "They definitely are a pressure defense. They match up well against everybody. They switched everyone, I had from the point guard to the post on me. They're athletic enough to switch all screens. It was definitely some pressure defense on us, but it's how we react and in the 2nd half we did a great job reacting to that.
Washington guard Giuliana Mendiola:
On comeback: It wasn't frustrating. I thought we were still playing with a lot of confidence even though they hit a lot of big shots and we thought we were cutting down the lead. But I think our emotion was there. We just kept hanging around and we kept answering back their shots so I thought we were playing with a lot of confidence and showed a lot of heart out there.
On first half offense: "I thought we were a little impatient and I just didn't shoot the ball very well today. And we weren't doing a very good job looking inside. Second half we came out and looked for Emily and Kellie and Andrea and they did a good job, but we should have done it the first half also."
Washington guard Loree Payne:
On Comeback: "We were really trying to do it one possession at a time in the second half, since we got ourselves into a hole going into halftime. We knew that we couldn't come out and take out the 17 point lead right away. We knew we had to work it each possession by each possession and our poise down the stretch really showed through."
On next game: "We have another game down there too so hopefully the time will extend down there, too. But, you know, they're a great team and they came out and played well tonight and we ended up a little short. But we're excited to go back down there and kind of start where we left off."