BOX SCORE

WNBA Post-Game Quotes
Minnesota vs. Sacramento
June 26, 2008 @ Target Center

Sacramento 76
MINNESOTA 80

Minnesota Coach Don Zierden:
"That team has championship rings and a lot more experience than we do. We challenged our players before the game by telling them if you want to move up and be a team that people take seriously, you have to go toe-to-toe with the best. I thought that tonight every time they made a run, we responded. I think that is an encouraging sign for a young team. We are going to make a lot of young mistakes as you saw tonight, but we are getting better each and every game. The other thing is, it has been four or five years since Minnesota has beaten Sacramento here."

"If Seimone Augustus can play, I am going to have her run out there. I asked her before the game and she said, 'Let me start.' We tried to get her a few more subs during the game and hopefully that helped her. I thought she did a great job. Don't forget, she was guarding Nicole Powell on the defensive end. We didn't put Seimone on a weak offensive player. We challenged her, and I thought she did a very good job holding Powell to 5-for-13 shooting."

"You saw them come in here two weeks ago and we just kind of rolled over and they banged us around on the boards. I thought we fought all the way through. From a barometer standpoint, I think yes it was. We have to go on the road now and play a great San Antonio team. Tonight we found a way to beat this team, which I thought was special."

"I did (see a glimpse of the future), not just in Candice's play but in all our kids. We are a young team. Every day someone does something better than what they did the day before. We had been on Nicky Anosike a little bit, and I thought defensively she played hard for 35 minutes blocking shots, knocking balls away and fighting. All these young kids continue to be coachable and try to get better."

Minnesota Guard Anna DeForge:
"I don't think that it was (a benchmark win). We were just focused on getting a win tonight. We gave one away to them a couple weeks back, but we needed this win standings-wise, too. The win put us two games ahead of them and now we are going to San Antonio playing for second place. We just thought about staying focused and executing for 40 minutes."

"It was a tough, physical game. Sacramento is a great team and we are a great team. We executed a little bit better than them on both ends of the floor... Yes, we did talk about that, because we generally do not turn the ball over that much."

Minnesota Guard Lindsey Harding:
"Tonight we played with a little chip on our shoulders knowing that we hadn't beaten them here in a long time. We know that Sacramento is a playoff team and they have been successful. Coming out tonight with a win is big for our team."

"Tonight everybody chipped in and did their jobs, which made us successful because last year that didn't happen often. Everybody is starting to step up right now and making us a better team."

"I'm still not completely caught up mentally, but I know my teammates have my back. When I go out there and play, I know honestly that if I'm not playing well we have a lot of great players on the bench that can get the job done."

Sacramento Coach Jenny Boucek:
"I thought it was a well-played game by two good teams and a real gritty effort by both teams. It could've gone either way and it came down to a play here, a play here, a call here and a call there. If you put yourself in position to win a game on a road, it's all you can ask for. You're not usually going to blow teams out on the road."

"Rebekkah took steps in the right direction. We're going one player at a time in trying to improve them and to improve as a team, and Rebekkah had certain things she was focusing on tonight and I thought she did a really good job of meeting her individual goals for the game. Hopefully it will be a good building block for her. She's been a little bit out of rhythm this season. I thought tonight was a good step in the right direction in hopefully getting her back into rhythm, because we need her."

"(The injuries are) huge, but we have a hard time without a full roster and Kara's a huge piece to our puzzle. She's one of our main weapons and for her to go out for a large part of the game -- and then Chelsea Newton was not able to play and we were not allowed to play her either, and they're the same position -- and we're a team built on depth and pieces. I thought even considering that, our team showed great mental and physical toughness and perseverance despite some significant pieces going down."

Sacramento Forward Rebekkah Brunson:
"It was definitely a hard-fought game and both teams played tough. We knew what we had to get done defensively and we didn't quite get it done. A lot of spurts that we had some lapses where we didn't do things that we planned to do. We gave them an opportunity to get a lot of fast-break points and they scored more points than we would've liked to allow."

"I definitely had one of my better games if you're especially talking about rebounding. I think that I've been a little lax with that and I haven't been getting rebounds like I should, so I definitely came out today hungry and I knew I had it in my head that I needed to grab as many boards as I could. I tried to do that and get my team going and just assist in any way I could."

"I think both of these teams are teams that could go far into the playoffs. We showed it tonight. Both teams played hard and we would've liked to have come out on the other side of this, but we're going to take it and learn from it and watch film and look at the little things so we can ensure we play the defense we need to play."

Sacramento Guard Kara Lawson:
"I'm just disappointed. We had a chance. It was a one-possession game, we were down two, 73-71 with a little over a minute left. That's what you want, with a chance to stop, it was a one-possession game at that point. It's just a disappointing game. This was a big game for us with a conference opponent, a team that's ahead of us in the standings, so when you're that close, it stings."

"(The shoulder) is sore, it popped out. I've done it before so there's nothing you can do, (but) it doesn't make it easier. The telltale with anything is tomorrow and how it feels in the morning. I can't say tonight how it's going to be."

"I'm an emotional player and energy is something my teammates feed off from me, and when you're not in the game the only way you can impact it is by being positive and yelling and trying to give your teammates positive feedback. A that point I didn't know if I was going to go back in, so I was trying to be a good cheerleader and be positive."