Postgame Quotes/Notes - San Antonio 87, Storm 77

On Kamila Vodichkova’s injury:
It changed the game, there’s no doubt. She was playing extremely well for the first seven minutes. She was doing a good job on (Margo) Dydek who then went on to score good numbers for her. It changed our game because Kamila is playing extremely well and we never did fill that spot. We never had an answer for that spot.

On giving up a season-high 87 points:
We just didn’t defend. This is a team that is averaging 63 points and we gave up 87 and 37% is what they shoot from the floor and they hit 45%. The bottom line is we just didn’t get down and guard them. And when we did, we fouled them. It was a breakdown on our part. We just did not handle penetration and we fouled (Marie) Ferdinand and (Adrienne) Goodson and put them on the line. I’ll give up those points. Margo was scoring some tough baskets. There is not a whole lot we can do about them, but the penetration killed us. Ferdinand away from the basket, to the rim. We just did not get it done defensively. We got beat every which way. Give them credit.

Forty-one points at halftime. That’s two-thirds of the way to their average. We knew things weren’t going well. Without Kamila coming off our bench we knew that we were going to struggle in the second half.

On the Storm’s offense:
We were disorganized on offense much of the game. It seems like we stand around and watch Lauren (Jackson) go to work too much these days. She is playing unbelievably. Just like a spectator, you get caught up in what she going to do next and frankly I think we got caught up in a little of that tonight.

Losing is always difficult, but it’s just a game. We were disappointed in the way we came out. We need to come out with a little more intensity. We have to be more aggressive as a team. We need to step it up a little and play hardcore defense and make people hate us. I don’t think we’re doing that. I know that we can. It’s a bit frustrating.

On getting back on track:
We’re going to get through it and play our game. The way that we’re going to win is to play hard defense. We need to be more aggressive and not be so passive. Everyone needs to step up and play their roles.

We still could have won that game. It was just a matter of us not playing how we can.

On the game:
They just beat us. We didn’t play well at all, mostly on the defensive end. We scored enough to win but we let them score way too many. When we speak of intensity and things like that, it’s mostly on the defensive end.

On the playoff race:
Nothing is set in stone. We’re not in the playoffs yet. We don’t have the three or four-seed. We have nothing right now. We need to win our next game. And from here on out we need to keep thinking that. We need to win our next game, we need to win our next game. And we do not have an easy walk. We have Phoenix at Phoenix where we have struggled a little bit. At Houston, at San Antonio. I think every team in the WNBA is going to be tough.

On the Storm’s defense:
There were things we wanted to stop. We didn’t want to put them on the line and I can’t even tell you how many three-point plays we gave up. And that’s just team defense because we should have each other’s backs. So if it’s anything, I think it’s intensity as a whole and more specifically our defense

On the game:
Wow! That was a great performance by a team that has been challenged all year. Seattle has given us a run for our money and tonight we thought we could come in and give it our all. We went back and looked at the film from the last game we played here (40-point loss) and it was awful. I think they were a little bit embarrassed by how they performed and wanted to show that they could play. They did show up. I guess it was a day of redemption for us. It made us feel a lot better. They’re a lot happier in that locker room than they were the last game we played here.

On the difference between this game and the last one:
Defense made a difference and rebounding, too. I thought Tai Dillard, a little rookie coming in, was huge. All I told her to focus on was defense. I told her, ‘Play it the way you know how to play it.’ We put her on Bird and it looked like she (Bird) got a little frazzled with that. Lauren got frustrated because it got a little physical in there, but hey, I’m really proud of them. I’m pleased with the poise they had down the stretch. That’s something that this team struggles with – poise. We get up and we get down, but they kept everything at an even keel tonight.

On the loss of Vodichkova:
I know she was very instrumental on the boards and we focused in on her knowing that she was going to take it strong. She’s a very good player. Again, we were just focusing on things that we needed to do. We struggled in there just defending their post players even when she went out so I don’t think we were even paying attention. We were just trying to get our act together.

On the game:
We’d forgotten about our loss here before. That’s the league – you have to move on. There’s no pressure on us so we just played loose finally. I think that’s why it was working because we’re just trying to have fun and play hard. We haven’t given up even though we don’t have a chance to make it to the playoffs. We want to play hard.

On Vodichkova’s injury:
I had other players defending me, too, after that (laughs). All injuries are hard. I don’t wish for anybody to get injured no matter who it is. I think we finally played good as a team – on defense especially.

On her injury and why she sat out the final minutes:
In the first half I got screened really, really bad and I bumped knees with another girl, either Vodichkova or Jackson. It was really bothering me and I was limping throughout the game. With I think two minutes left in the game we had like a seven-point lead and coach decided to take me out because of me limping around. It’s probably a bruise, a deep bruise, because it’s really bothering me right now and I’m a bit concerned, but I’m hoping it’s nothing serious.

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