WMU vs. CMU Quotes

Sophomore Guard A.J. Johnson

On her career high rebounding performance ...

"No one sees me as the person getting rebounds, and no one tries to hit me.  I was free under the basket, and no one was around me, so I was able to pick it up easy."

On the difference between the second half and the first half ...

"I think we got fatigued.  We were scoring in transition against them, and we stopped doing that in the second half.  We also stopped getting the ball on the inside in the second half."

Freshman Forward Miracle Woods

On scoring a career high 19 points ...

"I think the guards are recognizing more that I am open.  I am not a player that creates my own shots, so them contributing to me, led me to score."

On the playing inside the paint ...

"It was alright.  I am a physical player, so I like getting bumped and pushed around.  They were not really bumping me that much.  I feel it was more the people around me.  They did start to double team a little in the end."

On defending Central Michigan ...

"They do not move as much as we do on offense, which makes it easier.  If they could not get it inside they threw it around instead of forcing it."

Sophomore Guard Marquisha Harris

On Central Michigan's defensive pressure ...

"They just beat me tonight.  There were several times that a girl was right in front of me.  I knew that was going to happen, and you keep working and doing what you can, but it is really hard to play against that.  I knew if they were going to do this to me, Miracle Woods would be open.  You can't stop both of us.  In the beginning the guards were feeding it to Woods since they could not get the ball to me.  It was just team work."

On the difference between the first and second half ...

"We stopped getting the ball inside in the second half.  They could not stop Miracle Woods, and because they were on me so tight, she was able to get some wiggle room.  We settled too much at the start of the second period.  We knew they were still going to be physical, and they did not change their strategy at all, we just got out of our game. A lot of the plays we ran in the second half were more guard related, which was not the problem, since we could get to the rim.  We were just not finishing shots.  They are not going to call every foul, so you just have to finish through contact."

Head Coach Shane Clipfell

Commenting on the game ...

"The rebounding felt more lopsided that it was and the same goes for second chance points.  It felt like every time they rebounded it, it resulted in points for them.  I am not disappointed that we lost, but disappointed that our team crumbled the way that it did in the second half.  In my opinion, it was a lack of emotion and fight. When you are playing your fiercest rival, you should have these things.  I was trying to get them engaged the entire second half to play a good 20 minutes of basketball."

On the performance following the three game winning streak ...

"We had a bad shoot around today, but we have had those before and played really well.  Today's was different, there was a disengagement between a couple of our key players and it carried over to the game.  It is inexcusable when you are playing Central Michigan, and when you are on a three game winning streak." 

On the difference between the halves ...

"I felt good at the half, except for the way the half ended with the muffed play.  We were down three, and knew that Central Michigan was going to press in the second half.  Coming out of the half we knew what we were going to do, but it took us several minutes and a timeout to run what we had discussed."

On the effect of one of Central Michigan's players going out with an injury ...

"It probably led Central Michigan to pick up their game a little, even though I hope that is not what it looked like.  I was more concerned with my team's response, and it was still flat line.  We did not spike because of it, we did not get fired up, and nothing changed.  There were several times I looked up, and we were down by six and I think I was the only one that knew it.  It was a two-possession game in the middle of the second half and it was still like we had no pulse.  I cannot comprehend the reason for the lack of energy."