March 15, 2002

Box Score |  Quotes

UC SANTA BARBARA QUOTES

UC SANTA BARBARA HEAD COACH MARK FRENCH ON THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME...
"The first thing I think I felt was how proud I was of our kids, especially when we got down by 13 in the second half. I give credit to the maturity level and mental toughness of our kids as they hung in there against a very experienced Louisiana Tech team. You could see that they expected to win that game as they exuded confidence and it is very difficult to compete against a team like that. Down the stretch, I thought our players did a great job sticking to the game plan of trying to get the ball into the posts. I'm stunned to see that we outrebounded Louisiana Tech 50-34. All of the attention we gave to rebounding this season really paid off this afternoon."

JUNIOR GUARD JESS HANSEN ON HER GAME-WINNING SHOT...
"When the clock is running down there is not much you can do. You just try to create some space and get a shot up there. I was fortunate to get the chance to do that and it went in with 1.1 seconds left. I'm just glad that we calmed down after that so we could finish up the game."

SENIOR FORWARD KAYTE CHRISTENSEN ON BEING DOWN BY 13 POINTS IN THE SECOND HALF...
"I think the main thing we were concerned with was trying to control them on the boards to keep them from getting any second chances on some easy lay-ups. In the huddle we talked about keeping our composure and making sure we all knew what we needed to do offensively."

SOPHOMORE FORWARD LINDSAY TAYLOR ON RECOVERING FROM HER COLD SPELL AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME...
"During the first half Coach (French) asked me where I felt that I was most open at and I told him whenever the ball reverses I get open. So during halftime, we talked about some plays that swing the ball so it's easier for Kayte (Christensen) and I to get open. We focused on that during the second half and that's how Kayte got a lot her shots and mine started to fall."

LOUISIANA TECH HEAD COACH LEON BARMORE ON PLAYING UCSB...
"I would like to compliment UC-Santa Barbara. They are an outstanding basketball team and if you evaluate the teams across the country and you can put them at the 12th seed, then you might be in a position where you don't do your homework. They were very deserving to win this game, but so was Louisiana Tech. I couldn't get more out of our players than I asked. We fought real hard like we've done all year, and this is just one of those losses you have to take and move on. That kid made a great shot."

ON THEIR NCAA DRAW...
"Even if we'd have played this at home, this is the hardest draw we've ever had. It was a very good team we played and they didn't surprise me. They executed a little better than we did. We have never played an opening round against a better team."

SENIOR GUARD BROOKE LASSITER ON JESS HANSEN'S GAME-WINNING SHOT...
"It was a clutch shot. This time of year, that kind of thing happens. She stepped up when she had to and unfortunately for us it didn't go our way."

ON BOTH SIDE'S DEFENSIVE PLAY...
"We've relied on our defense all year long and unfortunately, we didn't shoot that well tonight. I had a lot of open looks today but I just couldn't knock them down. We had good looks all night, but they played good defense. If you're not going to knock down shots, you're not going to win."