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University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
11/16/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Minnesota Head Coach Marlene Stollings
Opening statement:
"I would just like to say that I am very pleased with our offense production tonight. It was really nice how we were able to share the ball, having 10 people score and having five of those in double figures. Destiny Pitts and Kenisha Bell had a double-double each. It is really nice to see a freshman coming out in only her third game getting a double-double. Then the poise of Bell and what she has taken from last year into this year and how she is playing I couldn't be more proud of her."
On her offense coming alive when playing a young team:
"It is a point of emphasis for us. We want to start all games strong. It's something we want to adjust. …We want to start the game strong and we want to start each quarter strong. I thought we did that. In the third and fourth quarter I thought we started both of those very powerful, so it is definitely a focus of our team. The rebounding piece in the second half was big for us. We were only up one at halftime on the boards, and we knew that they were a very solid rebounding team. We ended up with a plus-12 on the boards, so that was a good adjustment. We really wanted to attack the basket. We got the 26 free throws, making 24 of them, and that was a point of emphasis for us going into the game. We thought that we could attack them one-on-one at pretty much every position on the floor."
On getting points in the paint:
"We felt that if we got any kind of one-on-one situation that we had the advantage. …We knew that they would play two or three different defenses, which they did, and I thought that we handled those with poise. We picked apart the openings, and that is something from our team that we are definitely getting better at early on in the season. There is definitely a focus from last year to this year which is taking care of the ball. I am very pleased that we only had 10 turnovers on the night as well."
On Pitts' rebounding:
"The thing with Destiny that we do know is that she is very coachable and she absorbs information very well. She is mature beyond being a freshman, and I think that's what separates her a little bit being a freshman that she can absorb that information and she can go put it in. If we tell her something simple like, 'Hey, boxing out tonight is going to be really important at your position,' she takes that information and puts it into action. A lot of young kids can't do that, especially freshmen. She is very fundamentally sound. It doesn't matter if someone is 6-2 or 5-10, and I think that she understands that her positioning is proper and she fundamentally boxes out."
Kenisha Bell, Junior Guard
On what the Gophers can learn from and work on after dominant victories:
"Keeping the pace going for each game. I think these games are the times where we can practice this so that it can just flow for the games that we have in the conference."
Destiny Pitts, Freshman Guard/Forward
On how it felt to have her first double-double of the season:
"It was very exciting. My teammates were with me all through the game, so they helped me find my shot. I just knew I had to be aggressive on the boards so that they don't get second chance points when we're on defense."
On what the Gophers can learn from and work on after dominant victories:
"I also think we can work on individual defense and team defense all-around because it can help us improve for the next game."
