Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU-KSU Post-Game Reactions
February 22, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 22, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Post-game reactions after the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team's 62-50 win over Kent State University Wednesday night (Feb. 22) at Anderson Arena ...
BGSU HEAD COACH CURT MILLER
"Five years ago, we had a vision which included MAC Championships, and tonight clinched back-to-back divisional championships. To do it against my mentor, and Kent State -- the benchmark program in the conference for their consistent success -- is really the culmination of a lot of dreams that we had five years ago. And, I can't be more pleased that we clinched at home on senior night, with two of the first kids (Jill Lause and Casey McDowell) that committed in our era."
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(Lindsay Shearer reached her scoring average, but did you feel like you minimized her impact as best you could?)
"I thought we made her work hard for her points. She's a great player; I think she's going to win Player of the Year in the MAC, and she's in the top-20 in the nation in scoring. So, all you can do is try to make her work for her points. She goes to the line nine times a game, and there have been games where she goes to the line 15, 16 times a game. We only put her at the foul line eight times, which still seems like a lot, but we kept her under her average (of free-throw attempts). She is such a great free-throw shooter."
(Where do you go now that you have won the East Division?)
"We are going to enjoy this win tonight. I told the kids that we don't want to look back at this journey and feel like we never got to enjoy any wins, because we moved on too soon. But, this team never gets too high, and never gets too low; that's a great part of our success to date. Come tomorrow, we're going to start to prepare for a very hungry Ohio team. They came in here and led us at halftime, and we have to get ready for OU. Our ultimate goal is to be peaking and playing our best basketball come tournament time, and we aren't yet. We still have a lot to do to get better before the MAC Tournament."
(Can you talk about the play of Ali Mann and Liz Honegger, who each had double-doubles tonight?)
"We really emphasized this week in practice that -- when we have a good balance of inside and outside action, and we don't settle for 3s -- we are a very dangerous team. We had some turnovers trying to do it, but we really forced the ball inside tonight, and I love that. If we can do that without committing as many turnovers, I think that's a key for successful teams, year in and year out. (Successful teams) can score points in the paint, and have a low-post presence. I commend our team tonight for really concentrating on getting the ball inside. We're one of the best teams in the country in terms of taking care of the ball. We only average 12 turnovers a game in conference play, which is an unbelievable statistic. So, we've got to turn the ball over 12 or fewer times, and Coach Miller's a happy guy."
(You mentioned Shearer as a player-of-the-year candidate. Ali Mann has to be up there, too, doesn't she? Do you feel she or any of her teammates have a chance?)
"I hope they get the recognition that they deserve. I feel that four of our starters are first-teamers. I think that Liz, Ali, Kate (Achter) and Carin (Horne) could all be first-team players. We share the wealth, we're unselfish, we go to the player who is hot, and I hope all four of them are rewarded with the proper recognition, because they all are very talented."
"We have multiple kids, as many as five or six, ill with the flu or with similar symptoms. I reminded them not to feel sorry for themselves. We knew they might get tired more quickly tonight, and they might not feel great. But, I wanted them to look Casey and Jill in the eye and say, 'We're not going to let you down.' They started the journey, and what better way to go out than as a champion when you're a senior."
"We tried to steal some rest for our players tonight, by subbing around the media timeouts. Maybe our starters were only out for 30 seconds of game time, but with the timeouts, they were on the bench for two or three minutes. That (substitution pattern) was something we really tried to do tonight. And, Jessica McKenzie is a perfect example (of the bench strength). She would be playing 15 or 20 minutes nearly anywhere in this league, but she's behind Ali Mann. In the three minutes she played tonight, she was tremendous, and I am ecstatic for her future. It's hard to play behind our go-to player, but when Jess gets her minutes, she's productive. Our bench was great that way. Whether they were in 30 seconds or four minutes, they played their guts out."
(What does it mean to you to defeat Kent State for the MAC East crown?)
"It's mind-boggling to be mentioned in the same sentence with Coach Lindsay. He's still the benchmark. He's had 16-straight years with at least 16 wins. That doesn't make him just the best coach in the MAC, that makes him one of the best coaches in the country, and I have ultimate respect for him."
JUNIOR FORWARD ALI MANN
(How does it feel to win the MAC East?)
"It feels great. It's great to do it here at home, in front of our fans, and have everyone here to support us."
"We still have two more regular-season games, and then the MAC Tournament. We have to keep focused and remember what our goals are."
(On playing against Lindsay Shearer)
"It's always fun to play against the best players in the league, and Lindsay Shearer is, in my opinion, the best player in the league. It gives you extra motivation to give it all you've got, and try to shut down those players. With 20 points, we didn't totally shut her down, but it's always fun to play against these kind of teams, and you have to play for the whole 40 minutes."
