Post-Game Quotes vs. Purdue

Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On the combination of missed shots and turnovers…
There were some breakdowns defensively for sure, but I felt like tonight we couldn't make shots. Nia (Clouden) only took a couple tough ones, but for the most part I thought we had some good looks. Matilda (Ekh) had some good looks, but our starting guards were 6 for 32, we shoot 18% from the floor. It's not ideal. It's the first time Nia really didn't get downhill either, or anybody else for that matter. I thought the first half we were doing a good job getting to the line, but the second half not as much. It just didn't seem like we were as aggressive. The ball didn't go or sure. We got to be a little bit tougher. To me, the hardest part was watching the energy and focus from one game to the next, it was just very different teams. Against Nebraska, we had high energy, we were excited, and we were ready to go. Tonight, it just seemed like we were very flat and I'm not sure why.

On Nia Clouden's game…
I've been worried about this a little bit. It's hard to sustain that (production) for long periods of time. I thought she picked the ball up early instead of just dragging that out and getting it to the next girl. They were collapsing her on dribbles, so I think some of her things coming down the stretch was frustration. She's driving and they're just collapsing, so she'd get a turnover instead of kickout. I credit them, they did a good job on Nia, but I also think we kind of guarded ourselves on the perimeter tonight. We had some really good looks, whether it be at the high post or wide-open threes. Mo (Joiner) had some, Matilda (Ekh) had some, we got to get those down.

On Tamara Farquhar playing her former team…
She did really well, (her) seven offensive rebounds were basically half our team's offensive rebounds, that's just energy and effort. I think the defensive rebounding piece is what I'm looking for. I feel like we just don't pursue the ball sometimes the way we should, but I thought she played hard. She was 5 for 6, free throw (shooting) was a little empty but she got there (to the line), got some people in foul trouble, so she was good.

On the team's turnovers…
There was kind of two unforced, stupid ones where Mo (Moira Joiner) had one and fumbled the ball, Matilda (Ekh) did the same, and then DeeDee (Hagemann) had two. (We) just need to take it hard, set it up, go hard right at the defense, get a good handoff. I just didn't think we did a good job setting it up, and then the person with the ball didn't do a good job of reading that. So that was four really costly turnovers right there. Some of that looked like tiredness, seemed like a little bit of fatigue, and I thought that Purdue's guards played through their lungs a little bit, and we kind of didn't. It was a little bit tough for sure, they had kids who logged long minutes at the guard spot, so we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball when it matters. That was the difference in the stretch. We had four turnovers that were just silly and not necessary, and two of them, maybe three, were self-inflicted. Those are non-winning plays at that time. We just have to be a little sharper down the stretch.

Players Mentioned

Nia Clouden

Tamara Farquhar

Moira Joiner

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