George Washington University Athletics
Rhode Island Post-Game Quotes
1/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2007
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NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
#11/13 GW 61
Rhode Island 45
Post-Game Quotes
GW Coach Joe McKeown
Opening statement
"It was a great defensive effort tonight. Offensively, we have to clean some things up if we want to challenge the upper echelon of college basketball. We addressed that after the game. It's one of those things where we can be dangerous by playing in spurts, but we have to get more consistent offensively."
Why did you have difficulty scoring inside?
"That was part of Rhode Island's strategy--to collapse on our big people. When they do that, you have to make shots. But Kenan [Cole] and Sarah-Jo [Lawrence] didn't shoot the ball great tonight. We need them to make shots."
What did you talk about at halftime to try and correct things?
"The biggest thing we addressed was `slow down a half a second.' Kenan was really rushing her shots, but then she drained a three to start the second half. But then she started rushing again. She's a rhythm player. As for Kimberly, I told her to just win the game for me. And that's what she does. I wouldn't trade her for any point guard in the country. But we have to get our big people to offensively be such a force and get double-teamed so somebody else can get open. And our other big players need to get some time. We hope to address that quickly."
You said at the start of the season that one of the intangibles this year was Whitney Allen's toughness. Is that making as much a difference as you expected?
"She is like a utility player in baseball. She figures out how to help you win the game. It's not pretty, but that's what she does. She's just a tough kid."
What are your thoughts on Xavier?
"We've had some great games since they came into the league in 1996...They lost Tara Booth, who is their all-time leading scorer. But they brought in Amber Harris and have really replaced Tara with another terrific player. Their perimeter players have all been around a long time. So it's going to be a great game.
Junior forward Whitney Allen
Do you feel like you're playing like the No. 11 team in the country?
"Somestimes yes, sometimes no. Like tonight, we weren't in rhythm and we had a few droughts. We have to go back to practice and work on our execution and things will be fine."
Junior guard Kimberly Beck
Does having a good defense give you confidence when you're not shooting well?
"It's nice to fall back on it sometimes, but in March we won't be able to fall back on our defense all the time because teams are going to score on us. We have to start clicking and get our offense together, and execute from half court."
What did Rhode Island do to make it difficult to make shots?
"We just had an off night. We went through spurts where no one could hit anything. We've got to get our posts the ball in better position. They pushed us out a bit and made us shoot, but I think it's just execution. We have to get in sync with each other, and we didn't do that tonight."
