Second-half predictions for the Shock:
“All I can say is that we’re working real hard to get us somewhere close to where we were last year. Of course, we want to defend our title, we’re working real hard and executing all the things we need to do to be a championship team.”

Second-half predictions for yourself:
“Just to focus and concentrate on the task at hand with my teammates and my coaches. Just getting stuff in line.”

How do you see the league shaping up over the second half?
“Every team in the league is great. It’s a fight every night. With us winning the championship last year, everybody’s coming after us hard, so we have to be on top of our game every night.”

What does your team need to do down the stretch to reach the playoffs and go even further?
“We really need to cut down on turnovers. We need to be focused when we first come out in the game and get on top of things instead of coming from behind, which we do pretty well at, but we make it harder on ourselves sometimes.”

CHERYL FORD:

Second-half predictions for the Shock:
“Hopefully we can come out mentally tough and mentally ready to play. What’s been haunting us in the fives years that I’ve been there is the turnovers and not boxing people out. Hopefully we can come back and just continue to win.”

Second-half predictions for yourself:
“Just to continue to lead the league in rebounds and win another championship.”

The Shock stumbled into the break a bit. How do you guys right the ship and get back to the way you were playing earlier in the season?
“(Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer) told us to go and find our mental toughness over the break. We’re just gonna have to go out and get mentally focused again and play the basketball we know how to play: toughness, determination.”

DEANNA NOLAN:

Do you think this is the best year of your career?
“I think it is offensively if you look at it that way. There have been games where we’ve been off track a little bit, but I’ve been able to step it up a little bit and keep us in the games.“

Can you give me your thoughts on the second half of the season?
“We’re looking forward to it. That was a break that we needed. Mentally, getting back to Detroit basketball is important, whether it’s defense or rebounding. So this is a good break for everybody to come back in and just recuperate from the first half.”