Feb. 8, 2017
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery
Penn State Women's BasketballPenn State vs. MinnesotaFeb. 8, 2017
Coquese Washington | Head Coach Penn State
Q: Minnesota has those two weapons in Carlie Wagner and Kenisha Bell. Was this another game where you can't let the rest of the team beat you?
A: I think they're pretty talented at a lot of positions, they're just young, kind of like us. So you never know with a young team, how they're going to perform, in particular on the road. I thought we did a really good job on Carlie Wagner, not letting her off. I thought we could have done a better job on Kenisha Bell, she got loose a few times, but really (Taiye) Bellow. She got them going, especially at the start of the game. She came out and hit a couple of big baskets for them and was big on the boards early in the game and I think that allowed them to get a little bit of confidence. They're pretty talented, they're just young.
Q: How much of a focus was put on rebounding and how do you feel the team performed on the boards tonight?
A: It was a huge focus coming into the game. We knew that they do a great job crashing the boards and they're pretty long at a number of positions so it was definitely a huge focus. I thought the second half was much better than the first half. The first half, they kind of had their way with us on the boards, but we talked about it a lot at halftime and I thought our post players in particular, our fours and fives, did a really good job of trying to battle and box out and we ended up getting some big rebounds in the third and fourth quarter that allowed us to pull away a little bit.
Q: What has the team been doing that has allowed you to string these wins together?
A: Well we do yoga at the start of every practice. I don't know. I'm kidding, we don't do yoga at the start of every practice. I think we're really just starting to gel at the right time. Much like Minnesota, we have a pretty young team. We start two freshmen, two sophomores and beyond that, just being on the court together. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to develop a rhythm and a consistency and a connection on the court. We've kind of tinkered with our starting lineup and our rotation all season long and I think these last five or six games we've kind of got into a lineup and a rotation that really works. So I think that's a big part of it, we're just gelling at the right time.
Q: What did you tell your team at halftime about rebounding and did any individual player stick out to you?
A: I think Kaliyah Mitchell stood out at halftime and I kind of challenged her at halftime to be more of a factor on the boards. I challenged our post players, Jaylen (Williams) and Ashanti (Thomas) and Peyton (Whitted) to come down with balls. I think they were in there battling and kind of slapping at it in the first half. I told them we had to be tougher. We had to be tougher in the paint. We had to be tougher on the backboard and they responded to the challenge of being tougher.
Q: Does anything Teniya Page do surprise you anymore?
A: Nothing surprises me with Teniya. She's a competitor and she likes to win and she has taken the responsibility on her shoulders of leading this team. She comes into every game and she understands that she has to set the bar high for herself and for her teammates. She knows she's going to get the toughest defensive assignment. She knows she's going to get double teams and people running at her and she's a student of the game. She tries to be very efficient and be very effective and I think she does a good job most nights.
Q: How important is Sierra Moore when she's on the court?
A: I think Sierra brings an element of toughness, intensity, tenacity to the team. It's one of the reasons why we put her in the starting lineup because she just gives us that aggressiveness. I feel like when we are kind of in a lull, she's the one who will make a play whether it's a big rebound or getting out in transition or getting to the free throw line to kind of ignite the team. She's our lightening rod, she's our energy and she has a knack for making big plays when we need them.
Sierra Moore | G | GS.
Q: How tough is it to go against a team like Minnesota who gets a lot of offensive boards? It also seemed that through out the game you guys made adjustments to that first half, you guys were out rebounded by three, then second half you outrebounded by seven, and winning those 50/50 balls too. Did coach emphasize you have to win those rebounds; you have to win those 50/50s?
A: Yeah, she emphasized it from the jump. We had to reevaluate at half time and really get our team together and come out there and do what the game plan was. I think we did a really good job changing it around in the second half.
Q: Sierra, a little slow start for you but then you turned it on in the half. Was something clicking better in the second half for you or was it the same game plan and the buckets started to fall?
A: When you're playing against tough opponents you have to focus on trying to get the ball in the basket and not worry about if you're going to get the foul or not. Its just a mentality of keep pushing and keep doing what I know how to do and my teammates will find me.
Q: You guys didn't make it to the free-throw line until almost the end of the third quarter, does that affect your game plan when you're not getting those free-throws?
A: No, we would like to get to the free throw line as much as possible, but its not going to stop us from attacking. You just have to keep attacking and hopefully you can draw the foul eventually but you have to focus on just putting the ball in the basket.
Lindsey Spann | G | SR.
Q: It was a pretty physical game, is that something you were expecting heading into this or was it something you had to adjust to?
A: We knew they were going to come in and play tough and play hard, nobody's going to sit down in the Big Ten. Everybody's going to come to play and try and give you their best, they come and play tough. It's a physical game and the Big Ten is a physical conference, so its just something we prepare for and we fought against it.
Q: How would you guys assess your game against Carlie Wagner? Although she only had six points, she had 21 looks from the field.
A: I think we did a good job. We slacked off a little bit at the beginning of the game, but we made adjustments. We stayed tough on her, we understand that she's going to get up a lot of shots regardless but we just have to make her take tough shots and don't let her get in the paint and get easy buckets.
Q: It's your second-straight win, what do you guys have to do to get a win against Purdue?
A: We definitely have to be aggressive. They're another great rebounding team, so we have to focus on rebounding and boxing out for these next two days preparing for Purdue. Just playing Lady Lion basketball, playing up tempo, fast transition game, not letting them dictate what we do but we be the aggressor and start the game strong.
Q: Lindsey, what was going through your mind as the first half ended, you hit that tough shot to tie the game, which ended up being a big three. What was going through your mind, it seemed like a scrappy play.
A: We saw the clock winding down and I knew my teammates would find me, they found me early on in the first half as well so they swung the ball and I had enough space and I shot it.