Preston Early Quotations

The position that she plays, I feel, is about relationships. Relationships with your coach and with your teammates and I think she's worked extremely hard in both of those areas. There is a lot of trust between us and with her and her teammates. And if everybody's playing well and we're as balanced as we are (offensively), that shows we have a good point guard.

We shared the ball really well. I'm pleased that we came down here so focused.

She's going to look to score every time she touches it. She can shoot it, she's an aggressive driver and she can post up. She's really a triple-threat player.

She does a nice job of protecting the basket and can block some shots.

I give our kids a lot of credit for coming up with that third quarter. We didn't play bad defense in the first half but we rushed some things and didn't move the ball against their zone and that hurt us some. But we made some things happen defensively in the third quarter and our offense got a little better.

We took them out of some things they wanted to do.

We made some big shots when we had to have ?em. Their guards are really good and they put pressure on us and bothered us all night.

It didn't matter that she was undersized. Her desire to perform and achieve were big.

Our kids didn't blink. We didn't play so well in the third quarter but it didn't faze our kids. That mental toughness was awesome.

Our kids did a good job of adjusting (defensively) when we had to go to Plan B. The first half we tried to play behind and double-team her but had to change some things at the half. We went back to what we normally do and that's pressuring the ball. She had a tougher time in the second half scoring. In the first half it was so easy.

Our kids changed after that win. To beat that team, especially with the way we played the night before which we felt was pretty bad, it opened our eyes. We really took off from there.

Our kids are excited about next week but I don't think there's any chance our kids are looking past Bentonville. (Playing) anybody other than Bentonville, maybe they would.

Rogers has started learning what it's like to be a basketball town -- our community's been starved for it. The crowds have been there. They've really been a force for us. It's really been like an extra player.

(Julius) was real smooth. She did a great job of focusing and knocking down some big shots for us.

We played the game a little faster than maybe they were ready for. It all started with defense. Our kids did a great job of setting the tempo and setting a high intensity level.

We needed some more plays on offense and (to make) more foul shots.

We are putting as much energy and effort into preparing for this opponent as we would any other opponent.

We thought if we could finish some possessions with shots and scrap to keep them off the boards, we could get back into the game. We put together some scores and stops and things started to snowball for us.

To me, out-rebounding people that are bigger than you and running down long rebounds, that shows a real passion for the game. That's how I describe the way that she played it. She's just real passionate about making a difference.

When you have Southside on your jersey, you expect to win. It's a game that we look at as a one or two possession game.

We self-destructed in so many phases. The free throws, the turnovers. We couldn't handle the ball. Just things like that. We didn't get any breaks (from the officials) but we shot ourselves in the foot, too.

Tonight was the first time we haven't found a way to get it done in a game like this. Our margin for error has been very slim, but we've always found a way to get it done.

We've put ourselves in a great position. We need to be confident about that and feel good about that. Now let's go attack some of these games and get it done.

We feel like we had two good days (of practice) Thursday and Friday.

We wanna focus like a laser beam on these next six (games). We want to take care of our home games and find a way (to win) on the road and keep going after that state tournament berth. That?s what we set out to do.

Believe it or not, yeah. They?re big and athletic and they?re very physical.

Early on Blaire was great. We got some points on the board and Tuesday got hot in the second half. We made enough plays and got enough stops.

This is a neat day for our program and an awesome opportunity for her. She was our quarterback and it all started with her.

They have good players and their guards are as good as anybody's. Sandy always seems to get her kids to play hard. We never for a second underestimated then or thought they wouldn't be good. They'll be in the hunt for the playoffs.

They're a great defensive team and we struggled in the second quarter. They didn't win 26 games by mistake.

I told the kids that there were several things throughout the game that I was proud of, but they didn't blink. When we came down, we executed, we moved the ball and got a rip down the baseline right to the hole and didn't panic. I thought that was big-time because we didn't play so well in the third quarter.

That (start) is what excited me about ?em and made me proud of ?em. They approached the game the right way and they understand what?s going on this time of year.

It's so critical for us to get our mind right before we practice Sunday. Our players are hurting. You can look in their eyes and see that they're hurting, and it should be like that if you really care. But by lunchtime Saturday it's got to be gone. We've got to have a great day of preparation (Sunday) and have the right attitude. We're going to break down everything that went wrong (Friday) and give it to 'em and then close the book.

They were pounding us on the glass, and we were turning the ball over like crazy.

Size is not her (only) game. She can run, she can catch and she can score. She just plays of the top of you. It will be a unique challenge for us.

The kids just decided they were going to be a really great team and they were really committed. The six weeks of our summer schedule, we had 100 percent attendance out of our entire senior class. That's just how they went about doing things. They just decided they were going to be good and it took off from there. They set a great tone and led by example.

I'm going to enjoy this one. This is a big win. Fayetteville is a very good team.

If you'd told us we'd win 23 games at the start of this year, we'd take that every day. It's been a great year for our community and our school and it's been so much fun to be a part of it.

I love our kids. We kept urging them when were behind 'Don't let go, don't let go.' They kept fighting. Cabot was one play better than us but we'll always be able to live with the results because of the way we played in the fourth quarter.

I know, obviously, everybody loves a winner but there's a lot of positive energy right now in both programs. Our kids are tight with each other and it's really a special year. Obviously, we want to keep it going as long as we can. I think '06 has a chance to be one of those special years for the girls and the boys.

I probably knew in junior high that coaching was what I wanted to. It's really the only thing I saw myself doing.