Additional Quotes >> USA 68, Argentina 28

Gurabo, Puerto Rico � Aug. 16, 2012

• Story
• Box Score
• Photos

Katie Meier, USA and University of Miami head coach
On Argentina:
Argentina is one of the ball reversal teams in this tournament with a really great pace of play. We chose to be disruptive and take some risks and we really took a couple things away to see if we could disrupt their offense. Obviously it really did.

What was your plan heading into the game?
There were two players we thought could beat us, they were (Michaela) Sol Sancisi and (Victoria) Llorente. We held them scoreless in the first half. Obviously our assistant coaches did a great job scouting and our kids really bought into the scouting report. We were very, very pleased with our defensive effort at halftime. Then we just lost our focus a little bit in the second half. It was a very business-like performance. I saw my team grow up right before my eyes and it was fun to watch.

On the fouling (8 of the team�s 17) in the fourth quarter by the USA team:
I think we are obviously, with some of the adversity, just playing people out of position. Some of the stuff that stuff that we�ve worked on for 10-12 days now, we�re kind of winging it a little bit. I said at one point, �thank God you�re all versatile players.� It�s a real compliment to the team. Michaela Mabrey�s playing a lot of minutes at the point guard for us right now, and Breanna Stewart�s playing every position on the court. So, as we settle in and get some more stuff on film, I think we�ll clean it up.�

How much did it hurt to lose Jannah Tucker in the first quarter, giving you just nine for the rest of the game?
One of the things we�ve spent some time on is the concept that great athletes and great teams use adversity as fuel. It�s ironic that that was something we clung to before we were hit with all of this. Now that we�re hit with it, we�re prepared for it. I do believe this team is really, really maturing and it�s a credit to them as people. They�re great individuals.

Lexie Brown (North Gwinnett H.S. / Suwanee, Ga.)
On today�s game:
I thought it was a good game. We won by a lot. We played really well together as a team. Coach gave us a lot of defensive goals today and we met all of them. I think that�s what made us successful today in our game.

What kind of goals did you have?
(Michaela Sol Sancisi) and (Victoria Llorente) were their best players and she wanted us to get them out of the game. We literally got them out of the game. At one point their coach benched them for whatever reason. Also, we wanted to get 20-plus deflections and we got 34, so we exceeded that one.

How much did it hurt the team to lose Jannah Tucker in the first quarter and be down to nine players for the rest of the game?
A lot. We lost Allisha (Gray) earlier (Aug. 7) and we�re just short on guards right now. So her hurting her knee is killer, but it�s going to give us more fire to win this for her, for Allisha, and for each other, basically. She was great on the bench. It was like she was on the court, especially on defense. She was yelling out everything and she�s awesome. I hope nothing serious is wrong with her.

Argentina kept fighting all the way to the end, do you think they were trying to prove something?
Probably. We�re the team out here to beat, clearly. So, when it gets to a point of a blowout, I think teams just want to stop the game and try to limit possessions. It really doesn�t bother us, it makes us push back even more to score on them again and again.

On the play of Breanna Stewart:
She�s amazing. She�s a silent assassin, that�s what I think she is. She does what she needs to do at that time. I think she�s an amazing player, from one through five (positions).

Kendall Cooper (St. Anthony H.S. / Carson, Calif.)
What kind of team is Argentina?
Argentina is a very crafty team. They�re quick. They have great ball movement and they�re a very strong team. They�re very good mentally.

What was your focus tonight?
Defense. We wanted to try to stop (Victoria Llorente), (Michaela Sol Sancisi) and (Maria Jourdheuil), because they are their strongest players. If we could have stopped them, we could have done anything.

There was some breakdown on defense in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter when the team was whistled for eight of its 17 fouls. Can you tell me what happened?
For me, I thought I was just a second too late. They weren�t dumb fouls, we were just trying to help the other player out. Also, it�s just like a matter of us being tired or getting tired. We just slacked off a little bit there at the end.

After shooting close to 53 percent from the field yesterday, the team dropped to 37.1 percent today. What adjustments do you make in order to combat that?
We just come back stronger. We had to come back and get a piece of the paint, which is what we did. We tried to go in strong instead of shooting the outside shots because we�d rather get the easier layup.�

Breanna Stewart (Cicero-North H.S. / North Syracuse, N.Y.)
On her play in today�s game:
I just wanted to let the game come to me. They were pressuring a lot of our players and it left people open. I just got some good looks.

On the team�s overall play against Argentina:
Our mindset coming into the game was really good. We knew that we had to pressure (Michaela Sol Sancisi) and (Victoria Llorente), and we worked together really well on defense.

In the second half it looked as if the team lost some of its energy, was that the case?
I think it�s just our focus. We just need to learn to stay focused. That�ll come hopefully in the next couple of days, because we�re not together for that much longer. We need to just stay focused and remember that we still have to go out and play another half.

Is it due to the fact that you were up by so much?
Yeah, I think that�s part of it. We always have to go into the second half, no matter what the score is, like it�s 0-0 so that we can play our best and give our best effort.

Morgan Tuck (Bolingbrook H.S./ Bolingbrook, Ill.)
On today�s game:
I think Argentina�s a really good team. We definitely came in with a pretty specific game plan. It was a great game for us to work on, being mentally focused and listen to what our coach said.

At the end of the game it looked as if your team slowed down or lost intensity:
I think our mental focus went away a little bit because we were up by a lot, so we knew we didn�t have to play exactly how we did in the first half. That�s something we can learn from to make sure that we finish the game out.

Your shots weren�t falling like last night. What were some of the things you were doing to counter that?
We were trying to do other things. Just because the offense might not be there, I can�t shut it down. I definitely tried to play really good defense, so even though I wasn�t really helping much on offense, I definitely wanted to help on defense.

On the team�s defense:
It was probably one of our best team efforts. We definitely played really great team defense. Everyone listened to what coach said. Everyone was mentally focused. Everyone was into the game.

�