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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Quoting Curt Miller
November 03, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
"We've had 13 practices to date, and we have 14 practices and a closed scrimmage before we play the first game (at Youngstown State on Nov. 22). We're at the halfway point of the preseason schedule, and it's just good to get out there and play against someone other than ourselves."
"You expect, with a young group to have some inconsistencies, so I'm not surprised that we had some peaks and valleys. We will have to guard against that all year. With youth, you've got to fight through those spells and try to have as much consistency as possible."
"We played all of our available players tonight. When it comes down to it, you always want to try to win a game. Even though we got a look at everyone on our roster, at the end you still want to win the game. Situational play is something, as you put in a system with freshmen and work on offense and defense, that gets left behind."
"I'm disappointed with our last couple possessions. I feel like, when we had a three-on-one break, unless you can get an uncontested layup you can pull it out and run more clock. With a four-second shot-clock differential, we needed to run a play -- like we did -- all the way to the end of the shot clock. We ran the clock all the way down, but we certainly weren't running a play, and we had to heave it up there at the (shot-clock) buzzer. I'm a little disappointed with our situational basketball, but that's an area that not a lot of coaches work on in the first 13 days of practice."
"I think we saw a glimpse of the future, that Megan Thorburn is as advertised. She was the most-heralded freshman in the class, on paper, and she walks in from day one being able to start at the 'three.' And, I think she will be our 'three' for a long time in the future. I think if you asked Megan, she would be disappointed with her defense tonight. But, I feel the crowd goes away thinking Megan Thorburn is as advertised."
"I think the freshmen played well. I think there were some jitters and some nervousness all day, (but) I don't think they did a bad job. Ali Mann got the start, and is the prototype 'four' player that we like. She can score from the perimeter and can score inside. She may have been our best overall player early in the preseason, and she's very, very talented."
"Liz Honegger is a kid with a soft shooting touch and great size. She was 0-for-2 from the arc tonight, which is her strength. Carin Horne has a bright, bright future. She is working on learning the system, but has untapped potential. You can see, in eight minutes, how much Amber Flynn can contribute. And, Julie Gompers came in in a stretch when Lindsay Austin was struggling, and I thought she really held her own against quality guard competition."
"It is good to have Kelly Kapferer back. She's a good athlete, she brings a lot of energy and gives us a low-post scoring threat. We've challenged her to rebound more, and she was our leading rebounder tonight. I think she's going to have a really good season."
"I don't think our freshmen are fearful of anything. Sometimes, the best thing about freshmen is that they don't know any better. They don't know that Lisa Cline was one of the best ever. They don't know that Carol Ann Smith was the Player of the Year in college basketball -- not one of the best, but the best player -- and she came off the bench for that team tonight. They don't know that Jamie Lewis was one of the last players cut from the (WNBA's) Washington Mystics this past year. They don't know they're supposed to fear them or respect them; they just go out and play."
"You never want to get a loss, especially that way, but we learned a lot more about ourselves. It will be a good teaching tool in the film room. We've got 14 good days of practice coming up, and one more closed scrimmage, and I walk away from tonight's game a lot happier than I thought I would be. I think there are a lot of positives on the horizon for this season."
