Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU/St. Bonaventure Post-Game Quotes
November 24, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2007
Recap | Final Stats
Selected thoughts from head coach Curt Miller and senior guard Kate Achter after the Falcon's late-rally win, 68-61, over the visiting St. Bonaventure Bonnies.
Bowling Green head coach Curt Miller
"Heading into today's game the word on our dry erase board was `TOUGH'. We discussed that the toughest team was going to be the winner tonight. That is a very talented, well coached and confident team. We grew up tonight. We got better tonight. We saw a lot of resilience out of a young group, we got contributions from our veterans of the bench down the stretch and we were tough when we needed to be. I am really proud. That is as gutsy of a win as I have been involved in since I have been at BG. We had every reason to fold, but we didn't, and obviously we were led by Kate Achter. She just willed us to a win."
Can you expand on Achter's performance?
"She got it going right from the tip. They [St. Bona] are a tough team to play from behind because they are going to be very patient. They will spread you out and really make you work for it on the defensive end. We talked about it that we can't dig ourselves a hole. She got it started for us, scoring the first 10 points. Down the stretch she wanted the ball in her hands and you just have to love when you can see it in a player's eyes that they want that responsibility. I tried to call a play late in the game for someone else and Kate overruled me and called her own number. And that is what it is all about. She wanted the ball late in the game and willed us to a victory."
Can you talk about the play of Tara Breske late in the game?
"She was huge, and the thing that goes unnoticed is that she defended Dana Mitchell, who is clearly the closest thing I have seen to [former BG player] Ali Mann. Tara was able to defend her; she rebounded and hit timely shots. She gave us a confident presence that we have been here before. She wasn't scared by the moment considering she was the third post off the bench tonight."
Senior Guard Kate Achter
On Tara Breske's performance ...
"Tara is the most athletic kid I've ever had the privilege of playing with. She has a great physical presence. She's a monster in the weight room - she's just so athletic. For her to come in off the bench is a huge advantage for us. Other teams that we're going to play just don't have that kind of physical presence on their team. So she's just huge asset to have on our side."
On her big night ...
"It was another big night from the free throw line. When you get 17 free throws, you're going to get the opportunity to score a lot of points. But it wasn't just an individual performance tonight. Everyone contributed in the win. Tara [Breske] came in and made some scrappy plays, got in their on the offensive boards - she had some huge rebounds for us. Then Lauren [Prochaska] had seven boards for us, which for a guard in our offense is hard to do without a lot of hard work and hustle. So even though she didn't score for us, she did the little things for us that helped. Even Lindsey [Goldsberry] was a big part of our success despite being in foul trouble. When she was in there, she just went all out for us and gave us everything she had to help us pull it out."
Did you still feel you guys had a shot despite being down a few baskets late in the game?
"Before we hit those back-to-back three pointers, I was still thinking we have enough time and I was trying to convince the team of that. We don't have any eight-point plays in basketball. You have to go at in two's or three's. But with Anderson Arena packed and the fans into the game, like they were tonight, it definitely felt like we had a sixth-man out there with us. We just fed off their energy. Then when we made those back-to-back three pointers, we just knew we had them. It totally took the wind out of their sails."
What was the key to them taking the lead in the second half on you?
"I think we let them back in the game in the first half when we committed the amount of fouls we did. They had 14 of their 33 points from the free throw line, so we were obviously fouling way too much. Then in the second half they just hit three after three after three. They just knocked down way too many outside shots on us. When they would go inside on us then, we'd foul or they'd convert on lay-ups. So I think our defense broke down a bit and we gave up too many good looks from outside."
Does a win like this help you, as a young team, prove that you can win big games and come-from-behind in games this season?
"I think so. I think pulling out a win tonight when our best offensive players didn't even have that good of a night is just huge for us. That shows the guts our young team has and I think we're only going to get better and better as time goes on. With some huge tests coming up for us, this win is going to be a great confidence booster for a lot of our younger players."
