Postgame Quotes

Jan. 18, 2015

Minnesota Head Coach Marlene Stollings

Opening statement:

"First, I want to give Indiana credit. I thought they did a nice job of keeping us out of sync. We weren't really in a solid flow and it's one of our lowest offensive outputs of the year. We just couldn't really get going. Credit to them. They had a lot of heavy help defensively. I thought it made us a lot more hesitant than we wanted to be. On the flip side of that, I'm extremely proud of our young ladies. Their grit, resiliency and desire to win and compete down the stretch of close games this year has been phenomenal. I couldn't be more proud of them and their effort--Mikayla Bailey getting the steal late, Carlie (Wagner) hitting the 3-point shot, (Amanda Zahui B.) hitting her free throws and then Shae (Kelley) just being very steady and a calming force for us."

On the importance of first-year Gophers Shae Kelley and Carlie Wagner:

"Their addition to this team changed the entire makeup of our team. They're both very talented players, obviously. What they bring to the table has been invaluable. When Amanda struggles, or obviously the loss of Rachel (Banham to an ACL tear), we've had a number of young ladies step up, but these two in particular have been very solid for us."

On whether she felt the Gophers wore down Indiana:

"Yes. We started to notice at about the six-minute mark. We thought that they were looking a little fatigued, and we wanted to try to keep the pace moving. I think that played into our advantage and played into our hands down the stretch, without question. In particular in the last two minutes, I thought it really showed."

Freshman Guard Carlie Wagner

On her 3-pointer that gave Minnesota its first lead:

"I really wouldn't have gotten the 3 up if it wasn't for (Amanda Zahui B.'s) screen. She always sets great screens, and I just knew I had to run off it tight. It rubbed the defender off and I had a little space to shoot, so I put it up."

On how it felt to make that shot:

"It was just good to finally hit a shot at a good time. It was exciting. It was just a team effort."

Senior Forward Shae Kelley

On getting involved in the game early:

"I think I just stayed aggressive and tried to get some O-boards and just stayed aggressive in the plays that Coach called and just really attacked people's feet. They left baseline open a couple times. I was just really able to get down low and inside.

On not getting frustrated by turnovers:

"I think as a team we just stayed confident, knowing what we could do as a team. Those turnovers, we don't want them as high, but you know they're going to happen. You know you're going to have some turnovers, but you've got to think next play. I think we do that well as a team. We missed one here, but let's get a stop on the other end."

Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren

Opening statement:

"I thought it was a great game. Great game to watch if you were a spectator. Great game to participate in. I hate it for our kids. I thought we did a lot of really, really good things well today. Down the stretch there we had about three or four possessions where we're on the sideline, you get a timeout, didn't get it. Again, freshmen taking the ball out of bounds. Had a difficult time guarding their inbounds. That really hurt us down the stretch. We talked about that at halftime, and didn't do what we needed to do. But I thought we did what we needed to do to win the game and it's just a shame that we're on the other end of this. Give Minnesota credit. Marlene's done a tremendous job."

On limiting Amanda Zahui B. early in the game:

"I thought that we did a tremendous job. We doubled just like probably a lot of other schools do. One of the things about Alexis Gassion is that even though she's a 3 in our league, she has the length, the size and the athleticism. Our game plan was any time that the ball was going to go inside to Zahui, we were going to try to double her and just try to create some problems for her. It paid off. I thought we lost her a few times and she buried us a few times and got easy baskets, but I thought for the most part, we were spot-on with our game plan against her. Wagner hurt us there with her late 3 and then her out-of-bounds, the 2 that she got. Obviously, Bailey hurt us in the first half. That's what you want. That's why they're in the top of the Big Ten. You've got to have the pieces in this league."

On errant passes in crunch time:

"We drew it up on the sideline, and it's something we do every day, and we didn't execute. Our 5 and our 3 on the other side of that, I don't know if they just had a moment where they all of a sudden forgot what they were supposed to do. That's kind of what it looked like over where we were at. But we just didn't execute. Like I said, that really hurt us."

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Mikayla Bailey

Shae Kelley

Carlie Wagner

Amanda Zahui B.