Postgame Quotes/Notes - Storm 80, Atlanta 70
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TONIGHT'S NOTES | |||
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STORM HEAD COACH 
BRIAN AGLER:
On resting starters in the first half:
I wanted the starters to play most of the first half and not play the second half. To their credit, approaching a game like this is not the easiest. I just don’t think they came out sharp. To me, there’s no use for them to be out there if they’re not sharp.
On the performance of the bench:
The second group that came in got us back in the game. We weren’t going to give up on the first group so we let them come back in in the third quarter. We lost the lead a little bit, but they were starting to get into the flow of things.
On the reasoning behind resting starters:
We want to be healthy. We’ve experienced not being totally healthy in the playoffs and that is a tough road to hoe.
On Abby Bishop's minutes:
Abby’s a very good offensive player. It’s never been about her lack of ability. It’s a confidence thing; it’s her using her athleticism. She’s a better athlete than she lets herself be. She’s got great poise. She plays within herself and is always in control of what’s going on.
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STORM GUARD 
SUE BIRD:
On clinching home court throughout the playoffs:
We knew that we were probably going to clinch at some point throughout. Even though we’re fortunate, we don’t want to lose our purpose and not finish the season the right way leading into the playoffs.
On getting rest:
It falls on (Coach Agler). We’re going to do whatever he tells us. It’s a unique spot to be in - it’s almost harder. You want to play well going into the playoffs but you also want to give some people rest because they are going to probably be logging minutes come playoff time. Brian’s definitely put a lot of thought into it.
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STORM FORWARD 
CAMILLE LITTLE:
On the difference in the second half for the starters:
(We were) just maintaining our composure and keeping our poise, knocking down shots whenever they presented themselves. We were able to just keep perspective and continue to plug away. On the bench's performance:
When the bench came in in the first half they sparked something as far as us playing harder. They came in, they played hard, they kept the lead, they kept their composure, and they stayed poised. They did a really good job. And from there we took the lead as far as continuing that same fight.
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On the game:
Our players played hard; we just couldn’t find the rim. We got the looks that we wanted and the shots we needed, but we just couldn’t score. They played hard, smart and together tonight.
On the Storm:
I felt they played extremely well. They hit big shots and have played together for many years, and I think that it is definitely showing right now. In the last two or three years they haven’t been healthy going into the playoffs, and everyone is starting to see now what they are capable of.
On what the team can take from the loss:
We have to have that same type of effort that we had going into tonight’s game every night. I thought we played our game plan, and we did what we wanted to do. Seattle is such a good shooting team that when we left someone open, they knocked down the shots.
On her gameplan:
We changed our defenses up on different occasions to catch them off guard. I think the key for us is to rebound and run. I felt like we got a lot of offensive rebounds tonight. Normally we are able to put them back and score, but we did not do that tonight, and it showed in the final score.
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On lessons learned:
We have to keep our leads, and down the stretch we have to make those chip shots. In a tough situation down the stretch we have to learn how to make ours shots down the stretch.
On the Storm:
They are very smart. They have a team full of veterans that have been in the league and know what to expect. We are a little young and we are still learning, but I think this will be a game that takes us to the playoffs.
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On the game:
We came out strong and we set the tone. But we let our guard down and they came back. In the second half we fought our way back, but the last minute they hit two three-pointers and that was the end of the game.
On the gameplan:
We didn’t want to let them outmuscle us. The last game they beat us up a little bit, so we had to set in our mind that we were not going to let that happen to us again.
On her performance:
I have to make my layups. As hard as we played tonight, we can still play a little harder. We have to know our own strengths and push ourselves to take it to the next level.
