BGSU-EMU Post-Game Quotes

Feb. 23, 2002

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -

BGSU HEAD COACH CURT MILLER:

(On leading at halftime in every home MAC game this season): "We've stopped talking about it as a coaching staff, but the team has still been talking about it. It was a goal of ours to lead every single game at halftime, and it was a goal of ours here, down the stretch, to give us one more opportunity (to win the game), because we've let a couple slip away. We led at halftime of all eight home MAC games, and we went 4-4 in those games. We look to build on that."

"We pride ourselves on preparation. They (EMU) are the toughest team in the conference to defend, because they run such unique stuff. It is very unusual to go into the 27th game of the season and not have defended some of the sets that they're gonna defend. They run completely different things than anyone else, nationally, and she (Suzy Merchant) does such a great job. It creates a hard matchup, but we were prepared for it. I think we took away some of the things that they wanted to accomplish, and to our credit we played a tremendous first half offensively. We added a new offense two days ago, and that offense really clicked."

"We wanted to mix defenses against them ... We really tried to concentrate on making (Abby) Wiseman miss some tough shots in the post. She's such a hard matchup, so hard to defend ... We wanted to force them to have to make a lot of threes. We were willing to give up 10 made threes in this game, we thought they would make that many. Fortunately, they didn't."

(On the last timeout in the second half): "We talked about going out a champion. It's the last home game, with a lot of fans in the stands that have not seen us play. Give our fans something to cheer about down the stretch. I didn't want the kids to go to the lockerroom and feel like we held on. I wanted them to feel like we soundly beat a good basketball team. We wanted to put a stamp on this game."

"We got the ball early to Kelly (Kapferer), who made some tough shots. Obviously, she had a career high, and was fantastic. And, it really opened it up when we started making some threes. It finally seemed like, after 27 games, that we had multiple shooters 'on' from the three-point line. Not a case of where one player would make three or four for us, and no one else would make one. We had multiple people hitting threes, and it opened up the inside game."

"Kelly had a great game, and I couldn't be more pleased with Dana Western-Schuka, going out as a senior with a double-double. She found ways to score, but she was huge on the boards for us against a very good rebounding team."

BGSU SENIOR DANA WESTERN-SCHUKA:

"There was a lot of momentum going into this game, a lot of confidence from the Ohio game. I think everyone stepped up this afternoon, for a big win."

"We're excited to play at Ohio again. We've got some momentum going into that game."

"It's exciting to look at the future of this program. There were a lot of fans here today to see us win. It's a big confidence boost for us, for the Ohio game and for next year. Personally, I'm excited that everyone contributed this afternoon. Yeah, I'm disappointed that this (her career at Anderson Arena) is over, but we still have the tournament to look forward to."

BGSU SOPHOMORE KELLY KAPFERER:

"Our basic game plan was to spread them out wide in the zone, and also to pound it into the key and get it inside."

(On hitting a career-high three three-pointers): "I hadn't really done that all year. There have been a few games where I shoot the three every now and then, but it's not like teams say, 'Kelly Kapferer, you've got to watch out for that (three-point shooting)."

EMU HEAD COACH SUZY MERCHANT:

"I give Bowling Green a lot of credit. I did not have a good feeling about this game. I think our kids felt they could just show up and win, and when they (BGSU) shoot it, when they get hot, they are a very, very good team. We knew about #10 (Stefanie Wenzel), we knew about #20 (Kim Griech), Western ... obviously, #25 (Kelly Kapferer) had the game of her life. We made her look like all-world."

"When you can't score for 11 minutes of the game, it's just ridiculous. We didn't come to play. Again, I give Bowling Green credit, they did (come to play). They had more enthusiasm, they outhustled us, outrebounded us, outworked us, and we just didn't show up. We went from running five out to two posts to one post ... we tried everything, and our players didn't come to play ... We had wide-open looks and opportunities, but we didn't play defense. Bowling Green really played great."

"I was very worried about this game. You don't know what's gonna happen with this (EMU) team. They were feeling good, which they should. I mean, you beat Ball State and Toledo, and you've gotta feel pretty darn good. But you can't just say, 'OK, we're good,' and not perform in the next game."

"I told them at halftime that Bowling Green's been up on a lot of teams (at halftime at Anderson), and some teams like Western have been able to come back and win. I was just trying to give them something. With three minutes to go in the first half, we were down 14, and I said, 'let's make it seven,' and it ended up being 18 ... We just looked lost, unenthused, like we didn't know where to go or what to do. It was terrible."

Calendar

Upcoming Events