Additional Quotes >> USA 75, Russia 56
July 28, 2009 - Bangkok, Thailand
On today's game: We thought it would be a little closer than it was, but we had a shot with Skylar (Diggins) being back. She wasn't 100 percent, but Sammy (Prahalis) stepped up really big, she played a lot of minutes for us tonight. We felt like we needed her on the floor, needed her leadership on the floor. On the USA's bench play: On the USA's rebounding: In the fourth quarter did you ever look up at the scoreboard with a little surprise at how big the lead was? Does this make a statement to other teams? On the importance of the USA's bench to come into the game and keep the intensity up: How was the USA able to pull away in the fourth quarter?
USA head coach Carol Owens (Northern Illinois University)
On Russia?
We were concerned about Russia. They're similar to Spain, with their guards being able to shoot. They have a couple of guards whose game is from the 3-point line. We knew we had to guard the 3-point line. They're very versatile, their post players can step out or drive. We were concerned about matching up our post players with them in that it would pose some challenges for us.
There were times when we would stretch it out and then let them back in. In the second half we executed well down the stretch. Our defense picked up and by the fourth quarter we wore them down a little bit. It was a great effort.
Chay Shegog and LaSondra Barrett did a great job for us coming off the bench. They have the experience of playing one year in college and know how to defend those types of post players.
It was crucial for us to rebound. I didn't feel like we rebounded well in the first half. We had to rebound in the second half to win this game.
I think you get caught up with what's going on on the floor. Then you look at the board and you're like, ‘woah, we're kind of stretching it out.' By about the five minute mark we talked about managing the clock, not doing anything quick. We wanted to get stops and make sure we have a good shot on our end.
I don't know if it does or not, but I think it makes a statement for our team in just knowing the level of intensity we have to play all the time. It's our job as coaches to get that out of our team. We're still young, we still have those moments where we look really young. But all in all, when we're playing hard we're at our best and we can make some things happen.
LaSondra Barrett (Louisiana State / Jackson, Miss.)
On Russia:
It's extremely important. To either keep the lead up the starting five created, or to just bring more energy into the game, it's always important. Everybody plays a role on this team, whether you sit on the bench or playing. Going in you just have to be ready at all times. Tonight I just came ready and tried to do everything we needed.
We just played defense and rebounded. The whole game we were pretty much getting outrebounding and it was leading to them getting second shots and a lot of 3-pointers. That's what kept them close. Once we narrowed the gap in rebounding, played defense and got stops, t
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