Quotes - USA 84, Turkey 55

July 20, 2010 • Rodez, France

Barbara Nelson
(USA and Wingate University head coach)
On tonight's game:
As I look as the stat sheet, we had a lot of turnovers, and when a team is switching defenses, whether it's man or zone, our guards have to recognize that and get us into something so that five players are on the same page. I felt like when we took Ariel Massengale off the floor, we struggled to do that. We struggled to communicate and get five players on the same page. With that also being said, I look at (the box score) and normally we are an inside-out team, and today it looks like we tried to go outside-in instead. I think we have to be more focused on what our strength is, where we have an advantage and we need to focus on using that advantage when we can.

Were you surprised by Turkey fighting back?
I don't think we weren't prepared for (Turkey to fight back). Just a week ago, or a week-and-a-half ago, we got beat by Australia, so we know we are beatable. We don't think we are invincible. We know we have to show up and play hard and prepare every game. I think probably for all teams you've got some fatigue that's settling in that not only costs you physically, but costs you mentally. I don't think it showed up as much physically for us today as it showed up mentally. We played where we just forgot assignments, forgot match-ups, who were the shooters, things that we've been able to really key on. It was almost like we tried to play on autopilot instead of playing with our head, too. And we were fortunate that physicality worked for us, and we were able to score enough points to win, but it's certainly not the mental lapses we want to continue to have.

I think Turkey, I have seen it with them all week, they haven't quit on any game. Several times, they have been behind and they've come back and fought and gotten back into games, so I think that is their personality. I think it's the personality of their coaches, and I think it's the personality of their players. They don't quit.

What were some positives from tonight's game?
Well, we won, that's positive. Anytime you can walk away with a victory playing four out of five days, you've got to be pleased with that. You know, I would say the positive thing is I went in and wrote three things on the board and covered it up and asked them the three major places they felt like we had to improve in order to continue to advance in this tournament, and they got them all three. So, that's a positive that we know what page we need to be on, and now we just need to get there.

These are bright young ladies. They are very intelligent. They are very committed, and 99 times out of 100, they work hard. So, we just have to take it for what it is. We were able to advance today and win, and we have to figure out the places we have to continue to improve.

I think as a coach, if you ever get satisfied, then you better be retiring.

Do you expect to see teams try that offensive strategy with a lot of outside shooting in the medal round?
I think it is going to be critical (for us to improve our perimeter defense) because I think some of their post players play more like perimeter players, and we have kids who are used to playing post defense defending on the perimeter more. And so that is something we are going to have to improve, because we don't want to lose our advantage on the other end by not playing our size. We would like for people to continue to have to match our size by keeping them on the floor, so we are just going to have to communicate better. We are going to have to get through screens. We are going to have to not allow that to be a team strength against us and make them come inside against us.

Cierra Burdick
(Butler H.S./Matthews, NC)
On tonight's game:
We started out well, and the we just came out and we just got a little sloppy with the turnovers. We had way to many turnovers this game, so coming out tomorrow against Japan, we are definitely going to have to cut that down. Hopefully just play better, and hopefully play the way we played initially in the beginning of the game.

What were some positives from tonight's game?
Definitely in the beginning of the game, we came out with a high energy, which is something we are working on. It had been taking us a couple of quarter to get into the flow of the game, but we came out ready at the start of the game. We just have to hold that intensity throughout the game.

Was fatigue a factor?
Obviously, going nonstop for three weeks, we are a little fatigued, but I think we are holding up well. None of the players have played over 22 minutes in a game because we are so deep, which is an advantage over the other teams. We will keep hydrating and getting rest and play this thing out.

What adjustment should the USA have made on Turkey's 3-point shooting?
We were just trying to stop the dribble penetration, and then we weren't rotating enough to stop the three ball. We have to work on our closeouts and not go flying out. Tomorrow in practice, we will work on stopping the penetration, helping and recovering on the shooters.

Betnijah Laney
(Smryna H.S./Clayton, DE)
On tonight's game:
I felt we could have done better stopping the penetration and on our closeouts to stop the 3-point shot, which was a big part of them coming back. If we would have done that defensively, we would have won by a lot more. In the long run, this could help us because now that we see what we lack on defense, we can work on that in practice to help us be prepared for other teams that have the same style.

What were some positives from tonight's game?
We shot pretty well. Everybody scored, so it was a team effort. We did get some stops and some steals, and we rebounded.

What adjustment should the USA make to stay focused for 40 minutes?
We need to stay focused on concentrate on what we are trying to do. We have break downs when we lose our focus.

Breanna Stewart
(Cicero-North Syracuse H.S./North Syracuse, NY)
On tonight's game:
I thought it was alright. We started off good, and then we kind of just played at the same level as Turkey.

Were you surprised by Turkey fighting back?
When we watched them we saw that they were good 3-point shooters, and we knew that that was going to come. It wasn't anything surprising when they were making their threes.

What adjustment should the USA have made on Turkey's 3-point shooting?
We should have closed out instead of running and jumping past them. We ended up with one less person on our defensive rotation and that left people open.

What do you expect out of Japan tomorrow?
I think they are quick, and they like to drive and dish and they are 3-point shooters. They aren't that big in the post, but they have some skilled posts.

On the USA's size advantage:
Our size advantage is nice because we can have any post rotate in, and it will be the same high-low relationship. Besides that, we are just having fun off the court also.

Morgan Tuck
(Bolingbrook H.S./Bolingbrook, IL)
On tonight's game:
We started off very good. The defensive intensity was up, so the offense was better. I think as the game went on we kind of weren't as focused, and I guess we weren't taking it as serious as we should have. Then I think we had spurts where we played hard, but we were giving up a lot of threes and just not communicating.

What adjustment should the USA have made on Turkey's 3-point shooting?
I think there just wasn't communication, and that's why they got the threes open because we didn't communicate. So, I think if we would have talked, then we would have been able to stop it.