Additional Quotes >> USA 96, Finland 30

Bill Fennelly, USA head coach (Iowa State University)
On tonight’s game:
Our effort was good, we defended really well. We finished around the basket, and we made shots. Odyssey (Sims) was resting a sore knee, so we had Shekinna Stricklen and Jackie Gemelos at the point, and I thought they did a good job of running our team. We played a pretty complete game from start to finish. But we turned the ball over 18 times, and our post players turned the ball over 13 times. We were 8-of-16 at the free throw line – you’re nit-picking a little bit, but as we head into the semifinals, those little things mean you either play for the bronze medal or the gold medal. We are going to have to clean some of those things up.

On the USA’s hot start:
The basket looked really big for Elena (Delle Donne) I think. We defended really well. Coach (Williams-Flournoy) had a great scouting report. They couldn’t get near the basket, and we scored a lot of transition shots. It was nice to see Elena get off to a good start. We attacked the basket, and seven of our first nine possessions we scored. It was 21 to nothing pretty quick. You don’t see many of those games.

What did you ask your team to focus on in the second half when you had a big lead?
The third quarter has been a struggle for us. We’ve been up on teams and not come out with the intensity that we want. Finland has had their best quarter during the tournament in the third, so we really challenged them to play a better third quarter. I thought we did that. And then we tried to slow the offense down a bit and run our stuff. We were scoring in transition so much, that we weren’t working our half court offense. So, what I told them is if you make a great defensive play and you get a transition bucket, great, but if not, slow it down and let’s run some offense.

On playing Australia in the semifinals:
Australia is a great team, and we know that. They are big, they are physical. They have a lot of experience and a lot of professional players on that team. I feel like the boy that cried wolf trying to tell the team that a tough game is coming, and in the first four games it hasn’t. We’ll get a good game tomorrow. We’ve got to make our free throws and give the attention to detail that every coach talks about. It will be exciting, and I think it will be one of the better games of the tournament.

Elena Delle Donne (University of Delaware)
On tonight's game:
We knew we wanted to come out with a strong start because we hadn’t done that very well, especially in our last game. So we knew that was really important. We studied our scouting report really hard. Offensively, our shots were falling, and defensively, we were just attacking.

Do your teammates make it easy to knock down shots?
They really do. They always find me when I’m open, and we all share the ball. It’s just amazing how everybody has a feel for each other now, and I really feel like we are starting to play well together.

On the USA’s defense:
We were able to pressure the ball a lot and follow through with the scouting report. We locked down the players who wanted to shoot and knew the players who wanted to drive. I thought we executed that perfectly.

On playing Australia in the semifinals:
Coach has been preparing us throughout these big wins for a tough game. I feel like we’ve used these games to get better and work on the things we need to improve. So we are ready to go, and we are really excited. It’s going to be a phenomenal game.

Lynetta Kizer (University of Maryland)
On tonight's game:
I think we started off really well. Elena came out and she gave us a big lead to start the game, and that really motivated everybody else to really play hard. It was a great win for us today.

Did you feel like the USA was able to maintain its focus for four quarters?
Something that coach has been harping on is playing a strong third quarter. We always play the first two quarters good, and in that third quarter we slack off because of a big lead. I think tonight we did a really good job of sustaining that same level of energy throughout the whole game.

On the USA’s defense:
Defensively, I think our communication was good. It’s still getting better each game, but tomorrow we have a really, really good Australia team that we are going up against, so we have to be a lot sharper and communicate a lot more on the defensive end. It’s going to be a good game tomorrow.

On playing Australia in the semifinals:
I think it will be a lot of fun, and it’s going to be a good competition for us tomorrow. We will definitely get tested.

Nneka Ogwumike (Stanford University)
On the USA’s hot start:
We came out with a lot of fire. I think today was the first game we really focused on the scouting report. We knew their tendencies and what each player did, and I think we just came out with a relentless attitude. We wanted to execute and defend well, and that’s what contributed to our fast start, and also making shots.

On her 8-0 run to start the second:
Coach is always talking about how we need to pass  the ball to the open person, and I think we did a really good job of finding each other tonight. They were leaving people open as we rotated the ball, and we took advantage of those looks.

On the USA’s defense:
Finland was  a pretty good team, and they had a few pretty tricky plays. We really studied the scouting report and focused on our defense. Their best player was Krista Gross (No.12), and we really wanted to shut her down. We accomplished that and defended their entire team well.

On playing Australia in the semifinals:
I am ready, and I think everyone else is too. We are excited. Obviously, it is fun to win big, but it’s also fun to play a really great team and we are ready for tomorrow.

Devereaux Peters (University of Notre Dame)
On tonight's game:
I thought we came out really well and hit them hard early. From there, we ran through a lot of our stuff, got good shots and rebounded. We did all of the things we needed to do. I thought we started out extremely well, probably our best start of the tournament. We came out strong and kept up our intensity throughout. We also started out the third quarter really well, which is something we haven’t done very well.

What was the team’s focus in the second half, when you had a big lead?
In the second half we were focused on running our plays and being a little bit crisper, not turning the ball over. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half, so we were trying to cut those down.

After four easy wins, is this team ready to face Australia?
I think we are ready for that challenge. We’ve all been in a similar situation before at our respective schools, so I think mentally we are ready and we know what to expect. We are going to work hard in our shoot around and be prepared for tomorrow night.