Quotes 01 - USA wu17 vs. France

July 16, 2010 • Rodez, France

Barbara Nelson
(USA and Wingate University head coach)
On tonight's game:
It was a very exciting game for us. We have never played, or I have never coached a game with this many people cheering, and into the game and caring about the outcome of the game. It was very exciting to be a part of that, and I'm just pleased that we were able to come out victorious.

I believe on the defensive end, we really committed 12 people. Twelve people played great team defense, and that was definitely the difference in the game. On the offensive side of the ball, we did not turn it over as many times as we had been doing, so our execution was there and our focus was there. We were willing to make easy passes in order to make the next pass that would lead to a basket, and that is great team basketball.

On the second half:
I think our bench was big. They gave us important minutes. They were able to go in and sustain defensively what we were doing the entire game, and then they were able to find a way to score baskets. We had five people in double digits, and lot of other people with points. When you spread it out like that and can rest starters, France was not able to do that. Their offensive players were required to play harder on defense, which I think cost them in the long run.

Cierra Burdick
(Butler H.S./Matthews, NC)
On the USA's improvement in the past week:
I think we are getting better as the days go by. We are fixing the little things. Turnovers were really killing us, so we are limiting those. We are also just finishing the easy shots. We hadn't been hitting those easy layups and easy jumpers, and we made those tonight. I think that helped a lot.

How much fun was tonight?
It was a lot of fun. I myself love playing in front of all of these people. I am sure my teammates love it to. They might not be cheering for us, but I love the environment.

On the USA's size and strength:
Elizabeth and (Breanna) definitely did work on the inside, and we are going to need that in future games. I'm not sure anybody can stop our inside game, so we are going to have to work inside-out, and I think we did a great job of that tonight.

Betnijah Laney
(Smryna H.S./Clayton, DE)
On tonight's game:
I think we shot pretty well and finished through all the bumping and pushing from France, and we played good defense. We slowed them down so they couldn't get as many shots up and couldn't penetrate as much.

On the second half:
I think in the second half we shot better, and we executed better on defense. We really slowed them down

Ariel Massengale
(Bolingbrook H.S./Bolingbrook, IL)
On tonight's game:
I think we made a good statement letting everybody know that we are coming ready to play every game, and we are going for this gold medal.

On the second half:
I think we just wore them out in the second half. They may have not been in a dogfight yet, and I'll say that losing to Australia in exhibition was something great to happen to us. It taught us a lesson that we needed to learn.

On the USA's execution:
We have been working hard on executing and taking care of the small things, and our small things are what won us the game tonight.

Breanna Stewart
(Cicero-North Syracuse H.S./North Syracuse, NY)
On tonight's game:
I thought it was wonderful playing in an atmosphere with a full stadium and to be playing against France in their home country.

On the USA's slow start:
We were so hyped up for this game, we might have been a little too much at the beginning, but then we calmed down and things started going our way.

On the USA's high-low execution in the post:
We just kept going at it. The coaches knew that it was open and kept telling us, 'look high-low.'

Did you notice France back off attacking the rim when you were in the game after having four block in the first half?
I noticed the guards coming into the lane, and I would look to be ready to block them, and they'd just stop and pass it out.