Matt Thissen Quotations

We stressed in practice (Monday), they're not going to drive to the basket. We had to play tighter on the perimeter and force them to put the ball on the floor.

We knew we were going to rely on Kim an awful lot. To play the point guard position as hard as she did, and for as many minutes as she did, says a lot about her desire and ability to pace herself during a game.

We're happy because we didn't feel we played our best over the last two games. We had a big, emotional win over Merced, but then we felt like we took a couple of steps backwards. Tonight we played with a lot of passion and a lot of desire and we ended up with a nice win.

Napa had five girls on the floor that could score and score from anywhere. It makes that team very tough to defend.

We have to play more inspired basketball. We need it from everybody, not just a couple players. It's not like we're 3-18 and trying to get the season over with. We have a lot to play for.

With the timeouts we had enough time to talk them through it. I made sure to let the referees know what we were doing and to make sure he didn't let them cross the plane.

We want to do what we do and they want to do what they do. It may come down to who can push their will on the other one.

With her talent and her academics, it was only a matter of time for Kim.

We've been talking to the girls about that. When you're sitting on top, everyone want the chance to knock you off.

We talked about other people stepping up. That was a huge 3. They were double-teaming Kim, so somebody had to be open and she found her.

We did a lot better job of playing the pace we wanted to play. I give Kim a lot of credit for that. When we're success against Merced, it's usually a low scoring game.

Every team loses quality players. It's how you can take that next group coming up and mold them together to get them to play together.

Sometimes when you watch her, you can tell she's a freshman. She can make you scratch your head. But she's such a great athlete and she loves to play against Merced.

San Diego isn't a hard place to want to go to school. It's a good school. Their basketball program has been down lately, but eight years ago they were a top 25 team. Their coach left to go coach her alma mater at Ohio State. I guess she decided she liked the weather better in San Diego and now she's back.

Probably her most complete game she's played in her four years. The only thing she didn't do tonight was sweep the floor at halftime.

It's a win-win situation. They're getting a heck of a player. I think Kim flew under the radar because she opted not to play travel basketball and play with her high school team. She didn't get a lot of exposure, but if you're good enough, they'll find you.

For four years, she's run our offense and we've never had to worry about that position. She's a complete basketball player.

It seemed like every time we got something going they had an answer.

I've got to compliment Turlock on how their players played. They played with a lot of passion and desire and they really took the game to us.

It was great to see, especially on senior night. Rachel works as hard as anybody.

I laid into them probably the hardest I have all year. We had a lack of intensity on defense lack of effort to block out was unacceptable.

The loss doesn't take away from our season. We still had a 20-win season and I can't say enough about Kim and Kelly. They both had four outstanding years. They were the hear and soul of this team.