Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU vs. Texas Postgame Quotes
February 25, 2010 | Cowgirl Basketball
Feb. 25, 2010
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OSU Head Coach Kurt Budke On the game "I'm very proud of our kids. There was an opportunity to quit tonight. We were down 14 to a team that is obviously very talented and well coached. With the little slide we've been in, they could have easily quit tonight but they didn't. We just hung in and just stayed with the game plan and found a way to get it done. We've got Andrea Riley on our team and when it's time for big shots she's going to step up and she wants the basketball and she's going to knock it down. I'm very proud of this win tonight."
On if he did anything differently to come back "I just thought they were hitting shots. They can hit shots. I was just hoping we'd play better defense and they'd cool off a little bit and maybe we'd have a chance. We finally took advantage of the home floor tonight. The crowd that we had was loud when we needed them and I think that little extra juice we needed at the end. Thank goodness we were at home."
On Andrea Riley "This is a tough team for Andrea to play because they are so athletic at the guard. They are so athletic at the guards and they take her out. We prepared for that. We knew it was coming. We did a better job of handling it this time than we did last time. It might get to somebody that's not a senior All-American candidate. It still can be frustrating, but at the end of the game she wasn't going to let us lose."
On what he thought when Riley pulled up for a long three to send the game to overtime "That's the spot. We've seen it over the four years here. It doesn't surprise me at all. She took exactly the shot we thought we were going to take right there."
On how the win will impact the rest of the season "I don't think there's any question that this win gets us in the NCAA Tournament - when you've beaten Baylor, an A&M, a Texas and won seven games in the No. 1 league in America; and with our RPI and strength of schedule. I think this should inspire us to do even more though. We go to Texas Tech on Sunday. They're one of the hottest teams in the league right now. We feel like that we have an opportunity to win all three of our last games. I would hope that they would enjoy the feeling they felt again tonight and let's go get it again."
OSU Player Quotes Andrea Riley On the game "It was about heart tonight. We had a lot of heart and a lot of passion and we still believed that we could win the game. It's not over until the buzzer sounds and you never know what's going to happen in basketball because it's always about adrenaline and runs. We just dug down and did what he had to do to win."
On taking over the game in the second half "I was watching a Michael Jordan documentary last night and I just felt all the words he was saying and he was saying like `your will to win will pay off' and `if you keep your head up you will succeed'. I think it really rubbed off on me and I kept believing in my teammates. I knew I had to do something to help my team win and if that's shooting all those shots then that's what has to happen."
On breaking the losing streak "It took six games to win but we stuck with it and continued to stay positive and stand together as a team."
On going into overtime "That was momentum. We thought `we're not going to come this far and lose it.' We just stuck together and you could see it in everyone's faces. The bench was loud and excited and everybody was just really positive tonight."
Tegan Cunningham On the Cowgirls' defense "I think teams overrate us and think that we can't really stop anyone so it's our effort to play defense for 40 minutes to get the stops and shoot the shots they don't want to shoot so that was a key and I think we just wanted it a lot more than they did."
On Texas shooting 4-22 in the second half "I think we could tell that they were getting a little tired. We made them run a lot and you could tell in their faces they were getting tired so we just kept running."
Texas coach Gail Goestenkors On her team's struggles late in regulation "I'm not quite sure what happened. We didn't rebound the ball and we didn't defend anymore. I don't think there is quit in this team, but I think we relaxed. They put a little press on us and we went crazy and threw the ball away. They needed the ball and we gave it to them. Great players make great plays and obviously, Andrea Riley made great plays as she always does."
On her team's offensive struggles late in the game "I don't know what the answer is, but I think we did become a little tentative. They put a little press on us. We didn't have a lot of poise against the pressure and turned the ball over."
On losing a close game this late in the season "You like to think you've learned from some past games and I thought we played a good game for about 33 minutes. The last seven minutes I think we were up 14 and we just lost our focus. We just didn't close it out and I think we've been a pretty good team at closing other times out. Tonight, we did not do that and they made us pay for it."
Texas guard Ashleigh Fontenette On Andrea Riley's performance late in the game "She was able to get the ball a little bit easier. We wanted to put pressure on her in the back court, but she broke us down and she got to the rim and made some easy baskets."
Texas guard Brittainey Raven On not being able to contain Andrea Riley at the end of regulation "Our main focus was to keep it out of her hands and then when she got it, take away the three and make her drive. Numerous times, we let her shoot the three or we came in and definitely have help or we fouled."
