Additional Quotes >> USA National Team 82, Baylor 56

Nov. 6, 2007 � Waco, Texas

USA head coach Anne Donovan
On today's game:
Give Baylor a ton of credit, they came out really aggressive, moved us around in our man-to-man defense, and we struggled to guard them for stretches. Baylor came out really aggressive, we didn't come out so sharp and they made us pay for that. We did a good job regrouping and then coming out in the second half and really getting after it.

On their exhibition tour:
We're playing eight of the top 15 colleges. As you saw in the first half, we're getting great competition. Every time we step out on the court together we're getting good preparation for Beijing. That said, it is a great opportunity for these players to get back home and for a lot of fans across the United States to see our players domestically. The WNBA season is pretty short, and in limited cities, so it's nice to have our players have the opportunity to come back, and to have women's college basketball fans get to see them play. It's a good opportunity for all of us.

On what she saw from Baylor:
What you saw is a ton of fight. Fortunately, they couldn't put the ball in the bucket enough against the zone. (They were) very aggressive, and I thought they showed great composure and aggressive in the first half in particular. They showed their experience playing together. (Bernice) Mosby is a big miss, but the other players are figuring out how to play without her pretty well.

Seimone Augustus, Minnesota Lynx
On the game:
I'm glad I never played at Baylor in college; the fans here are great. They were very feisty, they were scrappy, and we just had to limit our turnovers. I think that's what they came in and executed to their advantage.

On what they take from these games:
Once you hit international ball, it's not going to be a lot of up-and-down. You're going to have to be able to run your half-court set, be efficient and be effective in the half-court. We try to do what we can to execute and run through our plays, and to target the things that coach asks us to target.

On the Baylor team:
With their tenacity and their intensity, they can compete with anybody regardless of rank. If they can come out and have us within one at the half, they can get with anybody. Number three (Jessica Morrow) came in and played wonderful, and they were very scrappy on the boards.

Sue Bird, Seattle Storm
On today's game:
Yeah, it was a tough first half. They played very well, they're a very scrappy team that forced a lot of turnovers and we didn't really come out with our best game. We regrouped at halftime, coach said some things and we were able to turn it around in the second half and play more our style. I think a lot of that was just being aggressive, both defensively and offensively.

Can you attribute the team's first half starts on this tour to the fact that you haven't really seen them before?
Yeah, it's a combination of that, as well as � you know, these teams are coming out and they want to beat us. I know they might have quotes in the paper saying, 'oh, the USA team is going to beat us by 30' but deep down they're coming out to fight. I think you see a lot of that fight in the first half. For us, once we get comfortable and figure out how we want to play the team, we seem to do pretty well. The best thing about tonight was at different moments everybody played their role, gave a little bit effectively and it ended up being a good thing for us.

Katie Feenstra, Detroit Shock
On her overall experience with the USA National Team in Ekaterinburg and during the first half of the USA's 2007 College Tour:
It's been an incredible experience, I loved it. I'm really excited that I had the opportunity to play. Not everybody gets this kind of an opportunity and I'm glad I could work things out in my schedule to be able to come. It was a great honor to play for the U.S. team. Even here on the college tour, playing with Lisa (Leslie) and other big name players that you get to play against in the league, I learned a lot, so it was a good opportunity for me.

What was it like for you to play alongside Lisa Leslie in practice?
It was incredible. Lisa and I always go to chapel (before games) so I get to talk to her then, but it's never really talking because you're competing against each other. So now with her on this tour, getting to know her, getting to know who she is as a person is a great opportunity for me. Working with her one on one, just the tidbits of information she throws at me in practice, for me it's great to be able to be coached by her. She was really great that way too.

Overall have you improved your game during your three weeks with the USA National Team?
I think being overseas in Russia it showed me how much stronger I need to be with the basketball. So I tried to be stronger with the basketball. Here, it was running up and down the court as fast as I could and trying to get the easy buckets on the offensive end. These players in college are small, well not really small but compared to the WNBA they're not as tall. For me it was hard to guard with all the college sets, all the pick and rolls and all their cuts and stuff. It was a challenge, but it was good for me.

Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Los Angeles Sparks
On the difference between the first half and second half:
We just settled down. We had a defensive goal at the beginning of the game, you never would have known it by the way we played in the first half, but we had a defensive goal to hold them under a certain number of points. In the first half I think we got a little lost, a little hurried. You play such big games and get up really hyped for Tennessee, Connecticut and you think you're going to come into Baylor and not play hard. They definitely played their hearts out and we had to step up and play hard.

On the overall first half of the tour:
We've lost some players, added some players, but we still have to work on our defense. No matter what you have to get it done on the defensive end. Being a defensive player first, for me that's paramount. There's got to be a lot more talking for us, a lot more rotation, just the defensive principles that we started with, that coach Donovan gave us at the beginning, we have to implement them even when we're tired. We have to stick to our defense and know that's going to get us through even when we're not scoring on offense.

Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
On Baylor's team:
Baylor's tough. That's what they've made their name off of in the last three or four years, that's how they won a national championship and they're contenders again. This arena gets loud, I think it's probably been the most fun place that we've played at so far, as far as the fans cheering every play. They've got a really tough team.

On trailing late in the first half:
Sometimes the motor takes a little bit longer to get started, and coach Donovan got into us a little bit, so we came out a little bit more aggressive and tried to do some different things on defense and offense.

They came out strong, they're a good team and played hard. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get the motor going. Today the motor didn't get started until the second half. We warmed it up in the first half and then we took off in the second half. You know what though? It was a good game. Things don't always go your way and when they don't, you need to find a way to fix it and we did. That's the positive I'm going to take away from this game.

On the turnovers in the first half (12) versus the second half (8):
Obviously turnovers has been a big focus for us, but that comes from not playing together a lot. When you've been together for a week people don't know the spots on the floor that they're comfortable with. It's ugly at times, but we found a way to play well in crucial spots and that works.

On what they take from these exhibitions:
It's been great to come out here and have all these fans come through and really support their college, and to come and support us means a lot. The ultimate goal is China, and all of this helps us to be a better team down the road, so that's what we take out of it.

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY QUOTES

Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey:
On her feelings during the game:
I was out there prior to the game taking pictures. I was smiling, hugging and coaching a little bit and laughing, I thought I was relaxed for me.

You are always going to be competitive and intense, and I learned a great deal about my basketball team tonight.

I learned that I have some players that can play. I thought it was funny that (the USA National Team) played a zone the whole second half, so we had to find some shooters that can take some shots. We got some good looks, it was just a matter of time before those guys quit playing with you and they start nailing shots, and they did.

On the aura of playing the USA:
I think you saw that in the misses. We saw the missed free throws all night. I think you saw it early in the game in the missed shots. But, what you did see that was real encouraging for me was I never saw but one shot where we backed away and tried to avoid something. I thought for the most part we were very aggressive and did what we usually do. We just played extremely hard and it was a lot of fun out there for me as a coach.

On her team's scoring:
It wasn't important for me to keep it under twenty. We have three games in the next three days. It did not matter to me. At that point those guys that are going to be playing significant minutest this weekend needed to get off the floor and let some other people play.

It was a very memorable night for Baylor University and we were very honored that we were selected to play against those guys.

Jessica has good size for a guard and what you saw tonight was Team USA spreading you so far. They are able to spread you so far because of their wingspan and their size and Jessica was able to do some thing because of her size. She was able to see over people where maybe the smaller guards could not. Because of their size we rushed a lot on the perimeter.

I thought what was encouraging in the first half was we only had two turnovers. I think we had twelve for the game, but that is what kept us in the ball game in the first half. We were making hustle plays and making sure we got a shot in every time down the floor.

I thought we did a pretty decent job in executing some stuff.

On respect for the USA:
Respect. Wow. All of us have watched these guys play. Some of these girls have grown up idolizing these players. I am never going to coach a team that is in awe of anybody. I am going to coach a team that respects everybody they play and plays hard. And then hug them and take pictures after the game because many athletes will never have the opportunity these athletes had tonight.

I took away a memory that eight years after taking over this program we are hosting the Olympic Team. We have won a national championship. It just doesn't get any better than this. People coach a lifetime. People try to build programs. I hate it for those people who weren't here because this may never happen again for Baylor.

Angela Tisdale:
On playing against Lisa Leslie:
She is going to block my shot if I shoot it. She is just so long. I was just afraid to go in there because I knew she would block it.

This is memories like Coach Mulkey said. I will remember it for a lifetime.

On the pace of the game:
It is the same as college pace. I was still tired either way.

We played hard the first half. They were playing soft and we were playing hard. They blew us out in the second half. But I thought everyone played hard and I wasn't expecting to win.

I looked at how Sue Bird was running the offense and I thought maybe I should start running the offense like that. She was a good point guard.

Jessica Morrow:
On playing against the USA National Team:
I was in awe. When they were out there shooting around, we were scared to get on the court.

I just started playing like we had nothing to lose and we were just having fun.

On playing against Lisa Leslie:
I told her she was my idol.

On the first half scoring:
I didn't even realize we were up by five. I was wondering why everyone was yelling, I looked at the scoreboard and realized we were up by five. I was just happy to be on the same floor as those guys.