University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
2/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Marlene Stollings
Opening statement:
"Thank you for being here. What a heck of a game. Credit to our fans. I thought they were phenomenal tonight, our largest crowd of the season. We want to give them a big shoutout because they really help us up down the stretch, and were trying to pack the Barn for this last home game against Ohio State. What a shot by Rachel. But, credit to Iowa. They came in and they made us scrape and claw and fight for everything that we got tonight. That's typical Big Ten basketball. Nothing's easy. We didn't shoot as well as we wanted in the first half, which, that's okay, we just have to go rebound it better. All in all, [I'm] just really proud of our resilience in the second half."
On Rachel Banham having the final shot:
"Well, I mean, obviously, no timeouts as Rachel said. We would love for her to take the last shot always in those situations, absolutely, without question. I just thought it was a great heads up play by her because the team was a little bit discombobulated coming down the floor with no timeouts. She created just enough space and I don't even think the screen got set, and she nailed it. Credit to her on that."
Rachel Banham
On the last shot of the game:
"Well we didn't have any timeouts left, so we kind of just had to go. I actually forgot I was the '4,' so I had to take it out and throw it in to Shayne [Mullaney] and I was kind of standing there like, 'I don't know what I'm doing.' So I got it to Shayne and she kind of goes for a little bit, and I'm just jogging there, and coach is like, 'Get the ball!' So I grabbed the ball, and we did 'fist,' which is our high ball screen and kind of our money play. I got open on the left and just kind of let it fly. It was funny because I didn't even see it go in, but then I heard the crowd and I was like, 'Yay!'"
On how critical each win is getting closer to the tournament:
"Every game is getting closer and closer to tournament time and we talk every practice about the sense of urgency, especially with our home games. We have to get those wins and then steal a few on the road. That's always what we're trying to do. It's getting close and we're really trying to play like we want it, and I think that's how we're finishing games and that shows a lot."
On her success over the past week or so:
"I don't even know how to recap it all. It's been fantastic, all smiles from me. It's just been great, it's been a lot of fun. Our team is playing so well and I'm just having fun with everybody. We're really clicking and that's what's fun, and we're getting wins and that's what important. We're all really blessed and lucky that we get to do this every day."
Jessie Edwards
On the way Iowa kept fighting back at the end of the game:
"After [her big shots in the last 30 seconds], I was just thinking that we really had to play hard on defense, and try not to let them get back up. I was just thinking about getting back up. I wasn't thinking about the score particularly."
Carlie Wagner
On the team's rough first half:
"I think we came out too relaxed and not focused exactly the way we should have been on the game plan. They came out with a lot more energy than we did the first half and it showed. They were ahead of us in rebounding and they were keeping up with our pace. We knew that in the second half we just needed to come out with a lot of energy and play some good defense and get some rebounds. So that's what we focused on the second half and we did it."
On if it helped having been in past games with a big deficit like this game:
"I think it gives us a lot of confidence and you really buckle down because you've been in that situation before. I think we actually enjoy these situations for some reason because we're always in them. It's always super fun. We definitely have confidence in each other when we're in those final seconds and we need a play, so we really trust each other."
