Bowling Green State University Athletics
BG Beats Buffalo
January 12, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
BGSU HEAD COACH CURT MILLER:
"Buffalo has played a high percentage of zone defense this year. We knew they were going to come out in zone, and we wanted to attack the zone. We did not believe, even if we made some early three's, that we could shoot them out of the zone. But, we obviously made eight three's in the first half, and we did shoot them out of that zone. I felt, in the scheme of things, that it would help us to attack their man-to-man. But, to their credit, they played a heck of a half in man-to-man, and gave us fits.""Buffalo hung in there by pounding the ball to Kim Kilpela and by attacking the offensive glass. We said that, if we got rebounded by more than about four, that we thought we would lose tonight. And, we gave up 27 offensive rebounds. To gut out a win, giving up that many offensive rebounds, I give our kids a lot of credit. We stepped up and made plays."
"Obviously, 55 points by your starting backcourt (Lindsay Austin, Kim Griech and Stefanie Wenzel) is a great sign, considering the person that arguably is our best backcourt player is out for the year. Stefanie played tremendously, and Lindsay made some driving baskets when she needed to."
"We aren't big enough in the post, and we aren't good enough in executing in the halfcourt game. When a team comes in averaging only 52 points per game, but among the national leaders in scoring defense, we had to kick up the tempo. They were going to win the battle of a slow-down game, due to their size and their post players. We begged the kids to run and push tempo and try to get easier shots. It wasn't unlike our game plan against Northern Illinois, but we finished better on the break, and made better passing decisions on the break."
"We challenged the kids in the lockerroom (at halftime) that the game was gonna be won or lost in the first four minutes of the second half, and they proved me wrong. We've played four MAC games now, and we've led all three MAC home games at halftime. (At the first media timeout of the half) our kids were angry and upset that we gave up another lead early in the second half, and they wanted the win tonight. Winning is a learned behavior, but today will go a long way in learning how to gut out a tough win, even after we've given up a lead."
BGSU SOPHOMORE STEFANIE WENZEL:
(When Buffalo took the lead early in the second half) "We wanted to stay together as a team. The five of us huddled together and talked about keeping our heads together. Sometimes, we get down on each other, but we wanted to stay more positive this time, and gut it out. We knew we were still in good position to win, and we didn't want to give up. And, we made some big plays at the end.""Kimmy (Griech) and I talked at halftime about the fact that, since we had made so many three's in the first half, they would probably jump out on us. We wanted to be more aggressive and try to take the ball to the hole, and either make the shot or try to draw the foul."
(On her free throws that gave BG a five-point lead in the final seconds:) "I was disappointed in myself last game, because I made a big mistake at the end. I wanted to make up for it. I tried not to think too much about (the free throws), but I knew they meant a lot."
BUFFALO HEAD COACH CHERYL DOZIER:
"I give Curt's kids a lot of credit. They're struggling, but I told our kids that, when you have your best player go down, somebody in that lockerroom is going to prove to the coach that they can be the next Francine Miller.""I thought his guards played extremely well. Austin did a fabulous job of penetrating against us, and they got Wenzel the ball with great looks. She killed our zone in the first half."
"I give those kids a lot of credit. They easily could have rolled over, with Francine going down, and not tried to continue to compete. But, Curt's got 'em going, and he's gonna do a fabulous job with this program. Coming into this game they were 3-and-11, and they didn't play like they were 3-and-11. They played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm today."
