March 10, 2004
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery
UNLV Head Coach Regina Miller
OPENING STATEMENT
"That was close. But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. I thought the game overall was a game of runs. I thought they tried to take advantage of our lack of size in the post at times, deep in the second half and late in the first. I thought we did a nice job sustaining them by producing on the offensive end.
ON Kameca Simmons
"The decisions that she made offensively...she didn't turn the ball over, she didn't rush. She made good decisions with the basketball and moved well without the ball, particularly when they were double teaming our posts. She was slashing to the basket and finished played to the basket, something we practice all the time. She got on the boards which made a big difference. She penetrated late in the shot clock and that's what we like to do...is to put pressure on the defense. She made some plays and that's big for a freshman."
ON RanDee Henry
"I think RanDee has done a nice job of working out of the double team and is better able to see options."
ON HOLDING OFF BYU'S DEPTH
"I thought when Chamberlain and Cheesman are pretty good defensive post players and we look at RanDee and Sherry and they have four or five inches on them. When they went out, we thought offensively we could take advantage of their lack of post defense inside against Anderson and Kozlowski. We wanted to attack inside at that point. Our team is in good condition and they learned to dig deep. Sometimes you have to play 20 minutes to take advantage of opportunities that we needed to tonight."
ON COMING OUT TIRED AFTER HALFTIME
"They were charged before the game, they were excited to come out and play tonight, play the first conference game. We have a lot of first year players on our team and sometimes your emotion gets the best of you and saps your energy. But I thought we were able to refocus, dig deep and sustain their run and make better offensive decisions."
ON THE (MAJORITY OF THE TEAM'S) FIRST TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE:
"The team was so up, and sometimes you can just psych yourself out. BYU is a very good team and the way they finished isn't indicative of their potential. Our matchup tonight was one of the toughest first round games. And we played to expectations...this is what we expected of ourselves. We faced BYU a week ago and to play them again tonight....we stepped up to the challenge."
BYU Head Coach Jeff Judkins
This is all very new for us, we've been very fortunate the last few years in this tournament. I'm very proud of my team tonight, I thought they played very hard and didn't quit. That's the way this whole season has been for us, a couple plays here and there would have bounced our way. Danielle has the girl boxed out and the ball gets airballed and it falls in her hands. That's the way its happened this year. I'm very proud of the way these girls stuck together, believed in one another and I know we're going to build on this for next season. We realize we've played our best basketball the last month.
I want to give Vegas a lot of credit, I thought they played a really good game tonight. They are by far the most athletic team in our conference and they're very physical. It was a very physical game and they made shots when they had to.
ON WHAT WAS GOOD TONIGHT
"We got good shots tonight. We got the shots that we wanted to. Tonight was a great effort and this is how our season's been. Right down to the wire and as a coach you can't ask for anything more than that.
ON THE TEAM
I think we need to believe in this system. I really think the last few weeks we did that. I challenged my young ladies tonight, I said we'll work hard in the off-season, because that's when you improve. Putting the time in and working on the things you need to work on.
ON AN NIT BID
I hope we get a bid. Fifteen wins, a couple years ago Utah got offered that. I think our conference has done well in the postseason and I think that would really help us.
UNLV players
Kameca Simmons
On Freshman Experience
"I knew coming in to the game that I needed to execute and I needed to help my team more and contribute to help my team win."
RanDee Henry
On Box and One
"That's one thing that I have been working on. The first game of the season I was faced with it and had a lot of meetings with coach (Regina Miller) and she told to just relax and not get frustrated. I have been able to do those things and even though I still make mistakes it has helped me a lot."
On Physical Tiredness
"I think one of the reasons we looked tired in the second half was we came out real excited at the beginning of the game. We got down after the first half because we felt we had opportunities to put it away and we let them get back in it. It took us awhile after the half, actually a timeout to regroup ourselves."
BYU player Julie Sullivan
On Missing Free Throws
"It was my first free throw of the night and I missed it and I was really mad at myself. It was my fault, I should have just shook it off and got the next one but I was really, really upset with myself."
