Additional Quotes >> Australia 64, USA 58

July 10, 2010 • Alagon, Spain

Barbara Nelson
(USA and Wingate University head coach)
On tonight's game:
We've been talking to our girls about being ready taking care of your business, and we haven't felt like we've done that. We had a lot of unforced turnovers, a lot of poor passes and decision making, and I think Australia showed up ready to play. The best team tonight won, and we need to show up and play as the best team the next time we step on the court.

How would you like to see this team improve?
I just felt like we weren't very mentally tough. We did fight back, but it took timeouts to try to get us back in the game, and I think at this level, they should be a little more prepared to fight through every possession and not let possessions snowball. The second thing would probably be our unpreparedness. We let them get a big lead in the first half, we clawed our way back, cut it to two and then in the second half, when we hold them to four points in the first five minutes and have a chance, we don't gain any ground. So we weren't ready to play coming out of the gate in either half.

On the USA's shooting:
We had better improve our shooting. If we don't, we will be done quickly when we get to France and World Championship play.

On Australia:
I really had not seen Australia, other than the video from their game against Spain on Friday, and I thought that they were talented. They play very hard, and they rebound the ball very hard. I think they showed up to win this game and to make a statement going into the world championships. As I said, I think the best team tonight won.

How do you prepare for another tough game against Spain tomorrow?
We've asked the team to evaluate their play tonight, evaluate their lack of focus, their lack of being ready, their lack of toughness, and in the morning we will show up and get back to work and try to get better tomorrow against Spain.

Jordan Adams
(Mater Dei H.S./Irvine, CA)
Did Australia surprise the USA tonight?
Australia did surprise us, especially in the first five minutes of the first quarter. We didn't really know what was coming. We are used to winning by getting the first lead and the first points. We are used to coming out and blowing teams out. I think Australia brought their best game today, and we weren't ready for it.

What can this team learn from this loss?
We can use this loss to learn from because it doesn't count. Of course, games always count, but this doesn't cost us in the world championships, obviously. It's definitely a learning experience to see our weaknesses, and Australia did a good job. They exposed our weaknesses tonight.

We need to rebound and box out stronger. We are usually bigger than everybody, so we are used to out-jumping everyone. We have to box out. We also need to crash the offensive glass. We are used to our shots falling, but they weren't tonight and we had no one rebounding.

On the USA's shooting:
You have to shoot game shots, game-like when you are in warm ups, and I don't think we did that tonight.

How do you prepare for another tough game against Spain tomorrow?
Tonight, we need to do our jobs and really think about what we did wrong. We will improve some things and make adjustments tomorrow in practice. If we do all of that, we will be ready to play Spain.

Bashaara Graves
(Clarksville H.S./Clarksville, TN)
Did Australia surprise the USA tonight?
Yeah, Australia surprised us a lot tonight. I don't think we came out like we were supposed to in the beginning, and they had a big lead over us. So, that shocked us a lot.

Do you think this loss will help you prepare for the world championships next week?
I think this is the next step for us. We realize that these teams are not like the teams from last year, and we need to step it up.

The USA tied the game twice, did you think at that point you had started to turn the corner?
At halftime, I thought we had done the work to make our comeback, but we came out of halftime like we came out in the beginning of the game.

On the USA's shooting:
I think our poor shooting started with our defense. We didn't block out, and we didn't get a lot of offensive boards. That might have led to us missing a lot of open layups.

How do you prepare for another tough game against Spain tomorrow?
For sure we are going to keep going, and we are going to win and we are going to keep winning. This is not going to stop us. This loss does matter, because it's still a loss, but it is exhibition and it will help us, too.

Ariel Massengale
(Bolingbrook H.S./Bolingbrook, IL)
On tonight's game:
I think it was a lesson learned. Last year (at the U16 qualifier) we basically had easy games all the time, and we didn't have anything that pushed us or made us work hard. But I think it's a good thing this happened in a practice game and not in the world championships next week.

On the USA's shooting:
I know we are a better shooting team than we showed tonight. I don't know what happened. We just have to stay focused and stay positive.

How do you prepare for another tough game against Spain tomorrow?
We will see how it impacts us tonight, and tomorrow we will go to practice in the morning and see if we can do better. We will be ready to play Spain.

Elizabeth Williams
(Princess Anne H.S./Virginia Beach, VA)
Is Australia the toughest inside team the USA has played?
Australia is definitely the toughest inside team we have faced. Even their guards played big, and their post players were really strong. They were wide bodies.

On tonight's game:
Our field goal percentage was really low, and we missed a lot of easy shots. Defensively, we held them, we just couldn't seem to get a run going. I think if we would have come out more prepared early in the game, I think that would have helped us out a lot.

The USA tied the game twice, did you think at that point you had started to turn the corner?
I thought we had started to turn the corner, but then offensively we would either turn the ball over or miss an easy shot, and then they got their momentum back easily. Those are simple, mental mistakes that we can work on.

Did Australia surprise the USA tonight?
I think most of us were surprised. I think we should have come out a lot stronger than we did. I think it was a wake-up call for everyone. We will definitely play harder and practice a lot harder than we have been.

How do you prepare for another tough game against Spain tomorrow?
I think we will be ready. After coach talked to us, I think we are more prepared for competition and more focused, especially after a loss like that.