Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons-Broncos Quotes
January 28, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Quoting the players and coaches after Bowling Green State University's 77-69 win over Western Michigan University Saturday afternoon at Anderson Arena ...
BGSU COACH Curt Miller
(Opening statement)
"Well, I think we got the game that we thought we would get. We have a lot of respect for Western; they're tremendous offensively. They have, clearly, some of the best players in the league, and their starting five is as good as any team that we play. But, we hoped that our balance could overcome their superstars, and we knew we would just have to keep plugging away."
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"We talked before the game about Western's ability to get to the foul line. A point of emphasis was for us to try to get to the foul line more often than they did, and at least battle to a close finish in points in the paint. Points in the paint came up even (28-28) and we got to the line more than they did, which was a big part of our win today."
(On his emotion, and the emotion of the players and crowd, during the late stages of the game)
"Well, I think you take on the personality of the head coach. I'm an emotional coach, and we're attracted to players, during the recruiting process, that are emotional. We love that emotion out on the floor. That (Carin Horne's late 3) was such a huge play, and we had such a great crowd today. In the last few minutes, the crowd becomes such a factor for the home team. We wanted to make sure that they were in it, and that they realized how big these last two minutes were, against a team that can score and score in a hurry. We're an emotional bunch, and I think it's a big part of our game."
(On that Carin Horne three-pointer, and the play of the team in the second half)
"Well, Carin led the charge. But, I can't be happier for this team to finally put together a second half where some 3s went. We've had some good first halves of games from the arc, but (we're) not always successful in the second half. Carin relishes the pressure moments, likes the big shots, and we like the ball in her hands in crunch time. She has consistently, throughout her career, stepped up and made big shots when we need them. She wants the ball, and that's a key -- not shying away from those opportunities, but seeking them during crunch time."
(On the play of Kate Achter)
"Kate was great today. One of her strengths is getting herself to the foul line. As the second half wore on and we got into the bonus, we ran some sets to get Kate on penetration, to see if she could score or get herself to the line. She is very good at doing that, and it was great to see how wel she shot foul shots tonight."
(On Liz Honegger getting her 1,000th point)
"I'm happy for her ... she will tell you that there was no pressure, no monkey on her back. But, I don't care who you are, you want to get past that kind of milestone, and just be able to play. What a great honor -- she not only scored her thousandth point, but she did it in her junior year. If everything holds true, she will go down as one of the best players in school history."
(Casey McDowell had the assist on Horne's big 3. Did McDowell make a difference today?)
"She did, and she has played really well recently. I think we took some pressure off of her when we got her out of the starting lineup. She can watch the game and come in fresh, and you can see her confidence in her own offensive game coming back. She has strung some games together where she is a complementary scorer for us. That is huge, considering that we have four consistent scorers, night in and night out. For her to step up these last couple games and put up points is really a bonus, because she is 'Steady Eddie' out there. She makes the extra pass, she's the quarterback on the floor, and she doesn't make many mistakes defensively. It's really nice to see her playing well again."
BGSU JUNIOR FORWARD Ali Mann
(On Liz Honegger joining her in the 1,000-point club)
"We were looking forward to her hitting that thousand-point mark. We were excited for her to be able to get that in front of the home crowd."
(On Carin Horne's late three-pointer, and the late-game atmosphere)
"That's obviously a huge play. And, you can't have Anderson Arena be a very loud place if there are no people in it -- the crowd today was just amazing. Carin is a player that likes those clutch situations. She's always telling coach, 'I want the ball.' When it comes down to it, she is a very clutch player, and I feel comfortable with the ball in her hands."
(On the physical play of Saturday's game)
"It got a little rough; the tone was set from the beginning that it was going to be a pretty rough game ... we have to learn to play like that. There are a lot of games coming up in which teams are going to play like that, and it is only going to make us better to play that way."
BGSU JUNIOR FORWARD Carin Horne
(You made a big 3 with just over two minutes left and a three-point lead. Both Ali and Coach Miller said that you want the ball in situations like that.)
"We just play. We are going to have a lot of close games down the stretch. All we have to do is execute, and if we have an open shot, take it. It just so happens that I have been the one to get the ball in close situations, and I'm comfortable with that. (Today) I just pulled the trigger, and it went in."
BGSU JUNIOR CENTER Liz Honegger
(On scoring her 1,000th point -- are you glad the chase to 1,000 is over?)
"Definitely. When Ali scored her thousandth point [on Jan. 7], that's when I realized how close I was to it. People have been talking about it for a while, and it feels good to get it over with, and maybe I can start playing."
(Western had a plan to shut you down. What are you thinking, or trying to do, in such a situation?)
"Well, I didn't take many shots today, but we were getting the ball to other people. Our team is so balanced that, if (opponents) focus on stopping one player, we are still good enough to win because of that balance."
WESTERN MICHIGAN COACH RON STEWART
(Opening statement)
"The players played hard. If you go watch a game, any basketball game, you will see a group of individuals playing really hard, with a passion, showing a lot of energy, and I think you saw that with both teams today. They got the best of us, and we may never play them again. But, if we do, we've got a reference point, and we have a pretty good one, in terms of how hard we played."
(On Western's second-half run to get within two points)
"It's a game of runs, et cetera, et cetera. You hear coaches say that all the time. Right there, we had to have some special things happen for us, in terms of getting stops and getting the ball in the hole at the other end. We had some of those happen, in order to get to that point. And then, it's not that we stopped doing what we needed to do at either end, but it just didn't necessarily happen for us, in terms of getting the ball into the hole."
"I thought that our group did a great job on Liz (Honegger). I would like to take a moment to share my honest feelings. This team (BGSU) has a lot of good players on it. They won a championship last year because people like (Casey) McDowell made seven 3s in a game, and Kate Achter came in and did a great job as a freshman, and did so many things for them. There are a lot of reasons why they were able to blend together. They still have that kind of team, but I really think it's predicated on the play of Ali Mann and Liz Honegger. You know, we're here today, and Liz scores her thousandth point, but I'm really proud of the job that our group did on Liz, by not allowing Liz to be the playmaker in those times that you're talking about, because I think she is that kind of playmaker. Unfortunately, a couple of people that we were wanting to shoot it, by design, made a big 3 in the late going, and so on and so forth. If that doesn't happen, then we might have a different outcome. But yet, we didn't win the ball game, so there's no 'if' to it."
