Merle Olberding Quotations

We want to make sure we go (to state) and play our game. We've talked about playing to our strengths and game planning to allow the kids to use their skills. If our kids go out and play together, I like our chances.

She's got a very bright future. She's a very talented young lady who understands the game of basketball and the team concept. She understands her strengths and the strengths of the people around her. You want somebody like her out on the floor playing for you.

I can't say enough about those three girls. They've accepted different roles and that's got to be tough in your senior season. They're helping us in other areas and exemplify what team players are.

I don't think we were communicating in the first half. (Norwalk) did a nice job running their offense, and we didn't do a good job identifying what they were trying to do.

For the state tournaments, some of them were in here Tuesday wanting their tickets and we didn't start selling until Wednesday.

Give them credit. They made the adjustments. We tried some different things (on offense); we just came out in the second half and weren't as aggressive.

Having somebody new come in, you wonder how are they going to gel and mix in with the rest of the team and how are they going to be accepted. It was a great fit from the very beginning. You anticipate what are going to be some problems and concerns but those were taken care of right away.

We lost some aggressiveness and we didn't respond like we had all year in those circumstances.

We made some not-so-wise decisions in the first half.

This was a good win for us. We did some nice things, and Carroll made us make some adjustments and that was one thing we needed to see as a team; could we adjust when teams do some things to us.

Our kids were loose (in the first half); the shots just didn't fall. The second half, we ran our offense, and our kids got their feet squared up. We got the ball inside, then we hit some threes to open up the lead.

We don't care who scores the points. I don't care if one player scored all 58.

We gave them some different defensive looks that maybe they were anticipating.

We always want to establish our inside game. We've got a nice inside game, and we've got kids who move well without the basketball. Our guards make the passes inside, and we get some easy baskets. When we shoot well, we're pretty tough.

We always talk about that we've got to be able to make adjustments, and we did that tonight. In the second half, we kind of clicked on all cylinders and executed, and that's a credit to the kids. We got into a flow on offense, and our defense kicked in.

We were off on our spacing offensively a little tonight and you have to give Nevada some credit for that.

There wasn't any gambling about it because the game was on the line, and they weren't going to do us any good sitting on the bench.

They're loyal supporters. They're in the stands before we get there.

I haven't, and I don't think too many people have. We were comfortable at halftime with how things were going. Obviously, coming out of the locker room for the second half, Norwalk was a different team, and we were a different team.

Ally did a nice job putting points on the board for us early, and really kept her poise out on the floor tonight. She balanced the floor, got us in a good flow, and overall was very steady in her game.

The Class 3A field is very good this year. There are eight teams in that bracket right now that think they can win it all. The four first-round games are all going to be good games.

The first half was picturesque. We couldn't have drawn it up any better. We were getting the ball inside and getting good looks. The girls were on the same page and just did an excellent job with what we wanted to do.