Silver Stars 92, Mercury 91

Postgame Quotes: Mercury at Silver Stars, Game 1 - Sept. 17, 2009


Corey�Gaines

Penny�Taylor

Dan�Hughes

Edwige Lawson-Wade

Sophia�Young

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Mercury Head Coach�Corey�Gaines

�We played a good team who hit big shots while we missed a lot of ours. That was the difference in the game. It�s the first time we�ve lost two games in a row all year. We fought hard all year for home court and we have two games at home starting on Saturday and that�s what we have fought for.�

(On second chance points)
�Second chance points hurt us because we are an up-tempo team. When they get that rebound and we don�t get it, it�s generally, in my books, a four-point switch. If they get the rebound, they get a put back or a foul. If we get the rebound, we get a score. If you do the imaginary math, it�s a four point switch hurts us.�

(On tempo of the game)
�The tempo of the game was in our favor going into halftime despite the 3-point play by the Stars at the end of the half. Their players were tired and we made our run, which we usually do. They had big shots from players who don�t usually hit them. When we were on their heels at the end of the game we turned the ball over. Turnovers will do you in especially with a team of this caliber.�


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Mercury forward�Penny�Taylor

�We have to be able to learn from this loss and take it back to Phoenix. We were down the majority of the game. They were able to play good defense on us tonight. Offensively we struggled and we have to make sure to get set in our defense next game. We are down in the series but not out of it.�

(On Diana�s struggles from the field)
�We don�t see a night like that from Diana very often. She is a great scorer. I am sure she will rebound in the next game. On offense for me, there was a lot of space on the floor on some nights because we such great wing players like Diana. There is a lot of space in the post for me to operate.�


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Silver Stars Head Coach�Dan�Hughes

�Good basketball game. Watching both team I thought that our ability to take that last run they had at us and our ability to answer it was really key. Probably the thing that helped it the most was our ball movement and I thought Sophia Young really converted on some key actions on the inside. You had players like Vickie Johnson who had eight assists and valued the ball really well. Edwige Lawson-Wade really gave us a solid game as well. It was just a good team win. We got good play off the bench in different ways, defensively and offensively. It was just a tough game and luckily we were able to control enough of it in the last two minutes enough to come away with a victory.� (on the defense) �We did enough things well, didn�t we? I think there�s some things we can take from the game that we can do better, but we did enough things well. It was that type of game. They�re just an excellent offensive team. You�re going to give up more points than your logic tells you, but if you can control a little bit of the flow and if you have periods that are good, then you have to realize that. There are some things that we can look at that we�ll have to address for Game 2, but we did have enough periods where I thought our defense gave us a chance to play back at them. We got some scores out of our offense in the transition, and that starts with your defense and your ability to play out of it.�

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Silver Stars guard�Edwige Lawson-Wade

�It feels good to win. I am open a lot of times because I am playing with players like Sophia, Becky and Ann. The defense has the tendency to help those players and that helps me a lot. I have the shots when this happens and it�s my responsibility to get the ball in the basket. We are so much better when different people score and bring something to the court. Phoenix is going to score, you are never going to stop them from scoring but you have to play better offensively than them. They are a great team offensively and I think we did a good job as well tonight.�

(On her big 3-point basket)
�Sophia made a few shots in a row that were really big and they didn�t guard me plus Vickie made a big pass to me and hit the shot. It was a team effort tonight and we all helped in big ways.�


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Silver Stars forward�Sophia�Young

�The Mercury weren�t overly physical tonight but they were a bit more aggressive than they have been in the regular season but that�s what we should be ready for in the playoffs. We were as aggressive as they were and it was a team game. We played good defense as a team.�

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