Additional Quotes >> USA 75, Texas A&M 24

November 11, 2007 � College Station, Texas

USA head coach Anne Donovan:
On today's game:
It was another good game for USA Basketball. I felt we played hard defensively and took them out of their flow on offense. They (A&M) have great athletes and we forced them to take a lot of outside jumpers. Their defense took us out of our offense, so give A&M credit for that. We are continuing to work on our own game in preparation for Beijing.

On the play of three-time Olympian Lisa Leslie:
Tonight, she played really well down low. That's where we need her to play. The chemistry is starting to come together for our team. Our perimeter players can now take the pressure off of her inside.

Seimone Augustus, Minnesota Lynx
On tonight's game:
I think the energy, intensity and the focus for this game started at shoot around this morning. We came out and had probably the best shoot around since we've been traveling on this college tour and it just carried over to the game. We wanted to jump out on them early, put the pressure on them instead of waiting until the second half of the game to do it.

Sue Bird, Seattle Storm
On tonight's game:
Tonight's game was a good one for us. Even though we had some turnovers that I wish we could get back, overall we played much better defensively than we had any other game. With that we were able to get out and run and score some easy points. Everybody really contributed, which is a very good sign. As the tour's gone on now, we're coming towards the end, you can definitely tell we're starting to gel more.

Kara Braxton, Detroit Shock
On tonight's game:
I think I had a double-double, I just got gypped (laughs). No, but seriously, it took me a couple of games to get into the groove of things because I haven't been playing that much. But with us playing together more and more, we're getting adjusted to each other in a way, learning more about the style each other plays and it just happened to be a good night for me.

On her 3-pointer:
Yeah, I hit that three at the top. I felt good with it the whole time, it went in. I don't know about the (next) one in the corner (just inside the arc), but the one up top I felt really good about. That might be my first three in a USA game. There were a lot of people open, but there was no one by me. I was like, 'let's just let me shoot it.' And it went in. It was a good deal � I don't want to brag too much about it, but it was nothing but net.

Swin Cash, Detroit Shock
On today's game:
I think that anytime you get a whole new group together, obviously some of the players played together in Russia, but it takes some time for everyone to get acclimated to one another. I think it's starting to show now with how we're playing and getting to know each other's game a little bit more.

Kara Lawson, Sacramento
On getting into the flow of the game quicker:
It's something we talked about in pre-game. It's something the coaches talked to us about. We haven't played our best basketball in the first half of the last few games. The margin has been pretty tight. We were only up one against Baylor and it was close against Arizona State also. So we wanted to set the tone early, especially defensively in the first half and jump out to as big a lead as I could.

What did you think about Kara Braxton taking that 3-pointer from way outside the arc?
She knew she was going to take it. I could tell by the grin on her face that she was going to pull up and shoot it. I was just joking with her about that (after the game). She was wide open and she took her time, set her feet and made it. She got a little overzealous and tried to go for a little corner three (that was just inside the arc) right after that so I was like, 'K.B., no, you're not the 3-point shooter' (laughs).

Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
On returning to the University of Southern California to play in the Galen Center:
I'm excited to be able to go back to USC because I've never played in the Galen Center. It's been long-awaited to have it so I'm really excited about that. Then I get a chance to go home and see my family as well. My family will get a chance to see me play for the first time since being off for the year, as well as our Sparks fans, who I'm sure will be delighted about the fact that I'll be back out on the court. It'll be exciting.

Taj McWilliams-Franklin. Los Angles Sparks
On today's game:
I think that Texas A&M was a bit nervous and we jumped on them really strong. We had a lot of turnovers, but we played some great defense and it kind of took them out of rhythm. We're not yet used to playing with each other because a lot of the turnovers were just miscues and as we play more we'll get used to each other more and more.

Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
On tonight's game
We came in with a game plan defensively. I think we did a good job against their perimeter players tonight and we knew that we would focus on them. Obviously, they won the Big 12 Championship last year and have a good back court. (Takia) Starks and (A'Quonesia) Franklin had a tough night. They are tough players and sometimes you have nights were you just don't hit shots. Overall, I think tonight's win is another good step for USA Basketball.

On Kara Braxton's 3-pointer
Oh, man. When Kara took like nine steps and shot the 3-pointer we knew it was in the bag.

Are you excited about going to Southern California to play? I know you play in Los Angeles often with the Mercury, but people really haven't been able to watch you up close and in person with the USA Basketball uniform on.
The fam will be there, it'll be nice to see them. It'll be nice to see a lot of the friends I haven't seen in a long time, it's always nice to go back to California. And it's always special when you wear the USA uniform in front of your parents. Obviously they got the opportunity to go to the Olympics, which was nice. Other than that they really haven't seen me in this uniform, it'll definitely be nice for that reason.

TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
On the U.S. National Team:
We caught them on a good night. Their execution was very good. We were not on the same level as the four teams that played them prior to us. We have to go back and play better. We expect more. I hope our fans enjoyed seeing what high level basketball is, because they saw quality at its best. They are very unselfish, do a very good job of sharing the basketball and are in tremendous shape. We are going use this loss as a plus. It was a poor shooting night and we will learn by watching them on film.

On the first half of play:
They (A&M players) admire those girls, but they did not back down on them. We are normally not contested as well as the U.S. did on us. I think our kids got a little gun shy. It was a clinic and we learned. We will get ready for Prairie View this week. Let's give the U.S. team credit. They are No. 1 in the world and we are a better basketball team than what we gave to our fans tonight.

JUNIOR FORWARD/GUARD DANIELLE GANT
On the game:
It was fun to go up against them. Motion is a key offense for everything. We were not able to produce anything offensively. They just played good defense on us. We knew what to expect with the U.S. Team. It was a great experience to go out and play with the best in the world.