Posted: Sept. 4, 2004

MERCURY HEAD COACH CARRIE GRAF: “To be back home was a plus for us, but our last two games were much more intense. We’ve been talking all year about trying to play with relentless persistence and the last two games we did. Tonight, we hung around, but we didn’t play flat out hard.”

(On starting out slow)
“That’s exactly what we said at half time, it was blah. It was just a mush of nothing. We had some wide-open shots, and we got Anna (DeForge) some great shots early, she just didn’t make them. I think to her credit, even though she didn’t roll her shot like she normally does, she did a lot of other good things for us defensively.

“To win ugly like that is a credit of where our playing is going to. I think Seattle played harder than we did. They clearly beat us on the boards, and that was disappointing from our perspective because we’ve done such a good job against two rebounding teams in Detroit and Houston.”

MERCURY GUARD DIANA TAURASI (18 pts, 7 asts): “I think for the most part, we played sluggish. That’s showing that we’re getting better, when we can win ugly and we aren’t playing our best basketball as a team. That’s what we did tonight and we found a way to win.”

(On the first half)
“We were frustrated. We couldn’t get anything going. Defensively I think we did a good job. Not having Lauren (Jackson) hurt them a bit. But they have good players that stepped up. Overall we did a good job.” (On returning home)
“We got in today. It’s the first time in a month and a half that I’ve been at my house. It felt good just to be able to take a nap in my own bed.”

MERCURY FORWARD PENNY TAYLOR (18 pts, 6 rebs):

(On winning three straight since the Olympic break)
“The difference in my mind has been the practice the girls have done while we were away. They’ve worked so hard, long days, long sessions. They’ve improved so much. Unfortunately [Diana Taurasi] and I couldn’t be here to make that improvement with them. I really notice the difference in our post play and our defense.

“None of these three games we’ve won could be described in the slightest way to be easy wins. We fought every one of them out and have the bruises to prove it. I’m very proud of the way we’ve played in the last three games.”

STORM HEAD COACH ANNE DONOVAN: “Free throws, you should always be able to knock them down. It is about taking a deep breath and blocking out fatigue or anything else and getting it done. You got to have them, it is the difference in the game.

“Even though we have been traveling, that is what this league is about, you have to learn to block out the fatigue and overcome it. Phoenix traveled today as well, so there is no excuse for the way we played. Our defense is lacking since the break in the season and team are scoring on us much more than before we went into the break. We need to get on track. The only thing I am thinking about now is Detroit”

STORM CENTER KAMILA VODICHKOVA (12 pts, 8 rebs): “I felt that we had good help and matched up well with Slobodanka Tuvic, but we were not able to get the job done on Penny Taylor, Diana Taurasi or Plenette Pierson. We were just not able to rotate and match up in time. They were scoring points from everywhere and it really hurt us.

“We need to work on our defense and be able to play better against the rest of the opponents on our WNBA schedule.”

STORM FORWARD JANELL BURSE (7 pts, 6 rebs): “Our traveling did not have a factor on how we played, we know we need to just block that kind of stuff out.

“I think our defense is what hurt us. Basically we just did not respond well to what the Phoenix Mercury was doing on offense. They were mentally stronger than we were in the game as well. Defense well be our main focus for us while we are practicing this week.”