Additional Quotes >> USA 72, Canada 56

July 24, 2008 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

USA head coach Carol Owens
On the game:
I'm really excited about our defense. Canada was a very good team, and we were able to contain them. We are an athletic enough team that we can switch positions one through four, and that athleticism gives teams problems.

We started out very well, and the we let them catch up. We relaxed, and we started to settle for jump shots. When we began to execute our offense, that made a big difference. We started to rebound better, we got good position inside, and all we had to do was catch and shoot.

Shekinna Stricklen was huge with her defense on their best player. I thought she did a great job on both ends of the floor.

On the team:
We definitely need to concentrate on that first and third quarter and how we start the game and the second half. I think that will come with maturity with this team.

On Canada:
We didn't want to allow easy shots. They are a great 3-point shooting team, and we wanted to limit their opportunities from the 3-point line and not let them get in a rythym. Switching up our defense kind of caught them off guard. With the pressure we put on them full court, they had to take some time getting up the floor, and then figure out what they wanted to do.

On qualifying for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship:
I'm glad that we qualified, and I'm glad that we were able to do that for USA Basketball. But now winning our next three games is our concern. I saw Puerto Rico yesterday, and they are a very scrappy team. They are small, but you can't take that for granted. We need to keep their guards in front of us because they like to run the ball.

Kelsey Bone
On the game:
Our coaches are preaching inside, out, inside, out because that opens everything up. Our guards are doing a really good job finding us and getting us involved early. And then they are open on the outside because the defense collapses. In the second quarter, we were pumping each other up. We came together, and we were able to hold Canada off.

On Canada:
I thought the matchups against Canada would be a little bit tougher, but overall, they are a very solid team. I'm really happy becuase this may have been our biggest game, and we were able to come out and get the win.

On the team:
I think our biggest focus has to be to continue talking, and for a full 40 minutes. We talk sometimes, and then it dies off and teams are able to make runs. We need to learn to talk through the whole game.

On qualifying for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship:
Qualifying was half the battle. Now we need to go 5-0. We want to send a message that the USA is ready, we're here and we'll see everybody in Bangkok.

Ashley Corral
On the game:
We came out really strong, but we didn't keep it up in the second quarter. But we refocused, and we came back hard. We wanted to build a lead and not let them back in the game.

On the team:
We have really strong post players. They are probably the biggest people here, so it's easy to find them, especially because they do a good job of opening up and sealing. It's tough for other teams to stop them.

On Canada:
We knew that Canada wanted to come out shooting, so tried to fight through screens and get a hand in their face. They set good screens and getting through was hard, but we just had to fight harder. We focused really hard on defense today.

Samantha Prahalis
On the game:
We knew that they could shoot, and that some of their guards liked to drive. They set a lot of back screens and flares, but we knew the screens were coming. We just communicated with each other, and talking was the big key for us today. We are doing a better job of that now that we are more comfortable with each other.

On Pu erto Rico:
Puerto Rico is going to come at us hard, and they are scrappy. We need to keep up the talk on defense, and the rest will fall into place.

On qualifying for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship:
We are happy we qualified for the World Championship, but we are here to win gold, so we need to keep the intensity up.

Shekinna Stricklen
On the game:
The coaches really got me pumped up and told me to crash the boards. I felt good out there, but mostly it was that the team was all together today. Everybody was crashing and talking, and we were focused on defense. That's how we fought off their run and got the win early in the game. Then we just needed to hold on.

On qualifying for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship:
I don't think we'll slow down now that we are qualified at all. We want to win all five games, and we will keep the intensity up.

Joslyn Tinkle
On the game:
Right from the get go, we knew that Canada was a very strong team, very similar to how we play. We knew they were going to come out strong, and the game was very physical. We just had to toughen up on defense and relax on the offensive end. Defense was key. Once we got our defense going, the offense came to us.

We were up at the beginning and then they came back on us. We knew we couldn't give them any room to stay with us if we wanted to win. So we continued to be aggressive and took it at them, and we got our flow going.

On qualifying for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship:
We are very proud of qualifying, but we aren't stopping here. We want to take the gold and go undefeated. We still have a big goal ahead of us.