Dan Rolfes Quotations

From Day 1, we've stressed defense, defense, defense. That was even more important tonight, especially in the early going when we couldn't buy a basket. To hold them to 14 points in the first half was huge.

I think the fact that we have been here the past couple of years had a lot to do with our success. I think they were a little more nervous than we were.

That early deficit put us behind the 8-ball for sure. But I told the girls to keep their heads up, and we battled back.

I'm still shaking right now. This was such an exciting game, and wow, to be on the winning end of it.

Theresa got a little more aggressive in the second half and really got to the offensive glass. She really made things happen for us.

There's a different feel this time of year for us, and I'm sure for them as well. Since it's been almost two months since we last played each other, there's no doubt that both teams have grown and changed. There's always something new to counter.

Our defense kind of dictates the whole game for us. In the six years I've been here, we always talk about defense first.

At halftime, we talked about controlling the glass. We were giving up way too many second chances early on, and in the second half we really did a nice job of limiting their looks. That was probably the best thing we did tonight. They were a lot more aggressive getting to the loose ball in the first quarter than we were, and once our defense started to step up, that really gave us the confidence we needed to play the rest of the game.

It's been a while since we've played a team like that. They are an in-your-face, aggressive team, and we needed to adapt to that. It took us a while to get going.

It sounds great. I could get used to that on a yearly basis, that's for sure.