Bowling Green State University Athletics
Post-Game Thoughts
February 05, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2005
Recap | Final Stats
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Quoting some of the players and coaches after the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team's 86-59 home win over Ohio University Saturday afternoon...
BGSU SOPHOMORE FORWARD Ali Mann
"It was really an up-tempo game. They (Ohio) like to pressure the ball, and that caused us to turn the ball over a little more than usual. But, it's nice to come out of here with a big win. It is huge for us to win at home -- you've got to protect that homecourt advantage -- and it is nice to stay atop the leader board."
(At halftime, did Coach Miller tell you to take the ball to the basket?)
"Yes, take the ball to the basket, and stop turning the ball over. We definitely took it to the basket harder (in the second half). We drew a lot of fouls and got ourselves to the free-throw line."
"They are a team that likes to speed the game up, and play at a high tempo, and we pride ourselves on being one of the best defensive teams in the MAC. We knew coming in that we had to take away easy baskets, and we had to rebound. For the most part, we were able to do that."
BGSU HEAD COACH Curt Miller
(Was the plan to take the ball to the basket?
"It was. Ohio is so athletic, and they are one of the few teams in the league that is smaller than we are. We felt that a couple big statistics at the end of the game would be points in the paint and offensive rebounding. Could we exploit that (taking the ball inside)? OU is a tremendous offensive rebounding team, and they generate a lot of points from their press and getting you to turn the ball over. I'm greatly pleased to see how well we rebounded the ball. And, we scored more points off turnovers than they did."
(Were you pleased with how you handled their pressure?)
"Yes, we had a couple of silly turnovers, but for the most part, we did a good job against their pressure. They were coming off a game where they forced a team (Western Michigan) to turn the ball over 34 times. So, for us to commit only 20, especially when a couple of those were with reserves in the game down the stretch, I was pleased with how we handled their pressure overall."
(Are you restoring the home-court advantage?)
"I hope so. Today's crowd was great. I was very happy to see all of the recent alumnae in the stands, and it certainly was great to see all of the Pre-Title IX letterwinners in the stands. Their ceremony this weekend was great to see. We are now 6-1 at home, so I think we've proven that we can win here and it is a tough place to play."
"They are a team that can really make big runs. They have spurtability, if that's a word -- they can really go on spurts. But, we did a good job handling that, and there were a few other factors. With the TV game, the media timeouts are a little bit longer, so your kids get a little more rest than you normally do. And, we tried to sub around the media timeouts to try to stay fresh. OU is so dangerous, but we did a good job of limiting those big runs that can decide a game."
OHIO HEAD COACH LYNN BRIA
"To Bowling Green's credit, I thought they did an outstanding job. Their rebounding was a huge key. I felt like every time we crawled back and got it to single digits, they would come back with a huge rebound, and that was the name of the game. It certainly hurt us when Kris (Kirkpatrick) and Erin (Isbell) fouled out, no question about it."
