SACRAMENTO MONARCHS | UTAH STARZZ

McHugh

Head Coach Maura McHugh
"We knew how important this game was. Obviously, when you have to start on the road, it is going to be tough, especially when we have been on the road for six days, but this is the playoffs. We have to suck it up. We have 20 wins for a reason; it is not by mistake. We have great talent on our team, and we needed to come to Utah and have everybody play their game tonight, and that is basically what we did."

"On defense, we were mixing it up a little bit. We ran a little bit of man and little bit of zone, just back and forth trying to get some different looks. On the offensive end, we just shot the ball well. We shot almost 51 percent from the floor, so that makes a big difference, too."

"Ruthie (Bolton-Holifield) has been playing really well these last 10 games. She has really given us a spark and has definitely been playing really tough defensively. She has met the physical challenge. A lot of teams we have played as of late have been really physical and Ruthie is up to the task and has done a great job."

Griffith

Center Yolanda Griffith
"We had a lot of energy at the beginning of the game, and it was important that we came to Utah and got a victory, even though we have two games at home. Teams tend to relax, and we can't do that. We have to take care of business. Utah is going to be focused when they come to Sacramento, and we just have to work on the little things that kept them in the game, and hit our free throws. I missed a lot of free throws tonight, but we are going to go back to Sacramento tomorrow and work on free throws."

"Ruthie (Bolton-Holifield) is a leader. She may not start for our team, but when she comes in, she contributes. Like coach said, the last couple of games, she has stepped up by shooting outside and playing tough defense, and she is a veteran. She wants to win. She knows we have a great team, we just have to stay focused and stick together as a team."

"A lot of times when we play against a 7-2 player, we tend to fade away on our shots, and coach told us to take it right to her. We have some quick post players and we feel we have a great rhythm with me and Tangela (Smith), and we just took it right to them. Tonight we controlled the boards, and that was a must in order for us to win tonight."

"Regular season is regular season. Playoffs is a totally different ballgame. We have the experience, and it is the first time Utah has made the playoffs. We aren't going to take anything away from them; they have a great team. Like I said before, they are going to go to Sacramento focused and we have to do the same. The series was 0-0 and now it is 1-0. The pressure is still on us because we are going home. We just have to close the door."

UTAH STARZZ

Head Coach Candi Harvey
"Obviously tonight, Sacramento was at different level than us, right from the beginning. I thought our first three or four possessions we got good shots. They didn't fall."

"Defensively, we just didn't come ready to play tonight. We pretty much let them do whatever they wanted to do on their offensive end. It wasn't about our offense; we just didn't create a lot of easy offense off our defense."

"Their zone was effective against us. It took us out of our attacking the basket, which we did a little better in the second half. I can handle what happened on the offensive end but on the defensive end there was a lack of intensity which is unacceptable. That is what happens when you don't play harder on the defensive end. (This was) A totally different team than what we saw here against L.A. the other night."

"I just think that we were too offensive minded tonight. When our shots did not fall early we didn't make up for it on the defensive end the way we have in the past. It snowballed on us and it was too much of a lead for us to get back on."

"I really thought that we were really loose. We had three good days of practice. I though we were relaxed. We spent a lot of time working against a zone. Obviously there is a different look to their zone with Yolanda (Griffith) and Tangela (Smith), but I did not feel like it was nerves."

Azzi

Guard Jennifer Azzi
"They (Sacramento) are experienced in the playoffs. Technically we're not. They played great. I don't think they could have shot better from three. It was not a good game for us. We do well with our backs against the wall, so hopefully we come out better next game."

"First of all, we need to defend them better. Everything starts on defense. You create offense by playing good defense and we just weren't there tonight. I wish I had an answer."

"Just playing in this league in general, you have to put games behind you, because you play games so frequently. We're just going to watch the tape and go through the things we need to. I don't think we expected them to play a zone for nearly 40 minutes. That's not what they have traditionally done against us. We need to adjust and we didn't adjust during the game. Hopefully we'll adjust for the next game."

Goodson

Forward Adrienne Goodson
"We just weren't on on all four cylinders, that's all. We weren't as focused as we needed to be. I think we were more focused on offense than we were on defense and it cost us the game."

"They came out on fire. There's not much you can do when people are jacking them up. They were shooting like 50 percent at the end of the first half. That's kind of tough. They shot around a lot today."

"We're going to ponder it over for awhile. We're going to think about it all the way up until tipoff on Sunday."

Williams

Forward Natalie Williams
"We basically just let them do whatever they wanted to do offensively. We let them shoot whatever shot they wanted. We didn't get a hand up. We had a hard time stopping Yolanda and Holland-Corn, who just lit us up from the three. We need to find a way to stop their three-point shooting. Make them but the ball on the floor more and find a way to double-team Yolanda."

"They are a great team and they shot well. They shot 58 percent from the three, so they did a great job shooting. We did not do a great job defending. I think we were loose but I think we need to intensify our defense more. The good thing is that we play great on the road. We will come out to play."