Additional Quotes >> Puerto Rico 75, USA 70

Oct. 22, 2011 • Guadalajara, Mexico

Ceal Barry
USA head coach
On tonight's game:
I do think we have improved. I felt like our team fought harder in the third quarter, and we didn't dig ourselves into a hole. It was unfortunate. We gave away a few possessions down the stretch, and that really hurt us. The players worked hard, and they did the best that they could. I have no complaints. Their coaches should be proud at how they are representing their respective programs, and they are handling themselves with a lot of class.

April Sykes came off of the bench, and we used her as our center and she had to adjust positions. I thought she did a nice job moving from the small forward to the center position.

On the challenge of building a team in a short amount of time:
We are having to call plays on the fly, and that's difficult. It's tough for these younger players to adjust against veteran teams, particularly down the stretch. Those teams know what they are going to do and we are having to orchestrate a little bit, but we've been in both games and had a chance. We'll close one out here very soon.

Do you have any concerns that this team won't be ready to face Mexico tomorrow?
I really like this team, and I have no doubt that they will continue to fight. I wish I had them longer and had a chance to put in some more things, but that's the nature of this tournament. I really like coaching them, and it's been a lot of fun.

Emilie Johnson
(UC Santa Barbara/Loomis, Calif.)
On tonight's game:
It was another game that went down to the wire. We just have to learn to close these games out. I think experience comes into play a bit. We are really playing well together, but we aren't capitalizing on our opportunities the way we should. We need to stay together, continue to play hard and finish those games out -- play forty minutes of basketball.

Are there some specific things this team can improve upon?
We can do a better job of executing and cutting down on the turnovers. Those are the main things. We are playing hard. I think we need to trust each other more. With only playing together a week, it comes down to trusting each other. We are right there.

On playing Mexico tomorrow:
We are not going to quit fighting, and I think we are all anxious to get back on the court again. We are going to learn from this. It's tough one to swallow, but we are going to learn from it and come out fired up against Mexico.

Valencia McFarland
(Mississippi/Edwards, Miss.)
On tonight's game:
I think we could have played better and finished the game. Hopefully against Mexico, we'll have a better outcome.

Are there some things this team has improved upon?
We did improve, but we still need to fnish the game.

On playing Mexico tommorw:
We have to play for forty minutes. We can't play twenty or thirty minutes of good basketball and expect to win in this tournament.

April Sykes
(Rutgers/Starkville, Miss.)
On tonight's game:
Any time you lose it's difficult. We need to learn to stay within our game, which is pushing the ball and getting back on defense. They got like four scores in a row in the second quarter on fast break points, and that kind of got their momentum up.

On playing Mexico tommorw:
We have a lot to play for. USA doesn't go anywhere and expect to lose. We are always the favorite, and think that has a lot to do with the crowd favoring other teams. We just need to stay focused and determined. We have been very close in both games, we just can't get over that hump.

Are there some things this team has improved upon?
We contained the shooters a little bit better than last night, and we gave up fewer threes. We also controlled the boards better, but we gave up to many layins.