Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU-Cincinnati Quotes
December 22, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2002
CINCINNATI, Ohio -
BGSU HEAD COACH CURT MILLER:
"We had a game plan to try to frustrate them. We wanted to try to do different things on offense, change our defenses throughout the game, and try to slow things down and frustrate them. But, when you put yourself in a 10-0 hole, it's hard to execute the game plan that we had."
"I'm disappointed with the start that we had, but some good things came out of the game. I think this (Cincinnati) is as talented a team as we'll play all year. One of the goals was to compete, battle and not back down from them. I thought we competed well, and I never felt like we backed down."
"Offensively in the first half, we didn't execute and we weren't as aggressive off the dribble as I wanted. But, in the second half, we shot nearly 45 percent from the field, were able to get into gaps and penetrate a lot more like we had envisioned going into the game. So, we were encouraged with our offensive execution in the second half."
"Defensively, we had bright spots throughout the game. We shut down a very talented guard in Valerie King, holding her without a field goal in the first half. But, the physical presence of Debbie Merrill and the offensive-rebounding capability of their team eventually wore us down and really hurt us."
"We got 26 points from our bench, which is a big positive for us. Our bench had to step up big for us due to Francine's (Miller) foul trouble, and a decision by the coaching staff -- once the game was out of reach -- to play the young kids against a quality opponent rather than playing our starters and risk having them tired for the consolation game tomorrow. So, we elected not to play Karen Stocz and Stefanie Wenzel a lot in the second half, and our bench players did play well."
"It was good to see our freshmen compete against high-level, quality players. They were playing against good opponents. And, we did have a couple good runs with those groups, and really played Cincinnati to a standstill in the second half until the final few moments. We gave up a couple deep 'three's' late in the game that perhaps make the score look worse than it really was."
"Individually, I felt like we got a really good performance out of Tene Lewis, with seven points and six assists in 22 minutes. She brought a lot of energy to the floor, as well as a great deal of defensive intensity."
"And, Lindsay Austin played well in her first collegiate game in her hometown. This was a big emotional game for us. We challenged her after the beginning of the game, where I thought she was settling, and she really took it at them later in the game. It's always great to be able to bring a kid home and see her play well in front of her home crowd."
