March 8, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats

Freshman Courtney Stoermer

On heading into the Big Sky tournament

It's good that we got this win. It gives us more confidence. We came out ready to play, and we had a lot of emotion going on. So it was good that we were able to play well.

I think if we play our style of basketball and if we play to our ability, we can be pretty confident. But, again, you never know going into games. We've just got to prepare and know the scout and go into games thinking we can win.

On getting a big win in the finale

We had a lot of fun. It's always fun when you can beat a team and everyone is making shots. We shot well, and we got rebounds. We probably could have played a little bit better defense, but it's good that we played well.

Senior Danielle Hagen

On her career nearing an end

It doesn't hit as hard just because we're still going to the tournament, and we've still got a few games left - I hope we still have three more or more games left. I've thought about it, but I don't think it affected me as hard because I know we still have more games to look forward to.

On the team's stellar play the last two games

The last two games, I feel like we've really been moving the ball around (and) getting assists everywhere. Just everybody getting their shots down.

On the team's confidence heading into the Big Sky tournament

If we just keep doing what we have been doing in practice and get ready for the (tournament). And these last two games have really built up our confidence as a team together.

Coach Jaime White

On the team's dominant win

I think a lot of the girls played for Danielle tonight. Really, you get a little more energy when you play for somebody else. I think they did a good job. It was a great game for Danielle - we were trying to get her as many points as we could. But altogether, I think everybody played really well. Lizzie was on fire with the three-point shot - she did well. And Courtney, with her assists and her points, that was great. And I thought we fast-breaked really well tonight. Courtney led us on a couple fast breaks and did a good job.

On Courtney Stoermer's double-double

She has the speed and the length to do a lot of those things, and it's really been effective in our motion offense. In motion, if you don't get 18-20 assists, you're not running it well. So 25 assists as a team? That's a good job.

On the team's effective ball movement

It makes me feel good about what we're teaching. Also, I think the girls have learned it, literally every day and in every practice. So it's about that time that we see start seeing the payoff.

On playing either Montana State or Portland State first in the tournament

I feel good about either one of those, because we've beaten them so we feel good about it. Each team has beaten us last, which is also a good thing because they are going to think, `Oh, yeah, we just beat them, that should be easy,' and that's not so. Every game is going to be tough, and in the tournament I think our girls will have just a whole new energy about them.

On the team's not looking forward to the tournament

The main focus tonight was that (Sacramento State) beat us at (Sacramento), and I think our kids want to just take that one back. So I feel like tonight that was the only focus we had. Going in fifth, I think it's a great turn for our program. It shows that we've turned the corner and now we're excelling in the right direction, we're doing the right thing, our kids are playing at a high level now, and it gives us confidence going in. You want to go in as high as you can. Who cares about the matchup, let's just go in a beat them.