Connie Allen Quotations

They didn't do anything different. We had shots falling in the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter we had open looks but they just didn't fall. Once they got the lead late, they didn't force the issue as much. We would step out but they did a good job taking care of the ball.

I was very proud of her in the second half. You could see her getting ready to go for the basketball, and it would have been an over-the-back call and she backed off. That's a good thing, to see them taking what you tell them and going out and doing it, especially going into the tournament. We're going to need her to stay out of foul trouble.

I was very impressed with our second half. We played a 2-3 zone, but we didn't box out well so we have to work on that. But I was very pleased. We took care of the basketball. Morgan Reeves played a tremendous game. She sparks our defense. She did a great job doing that. She took a charge from (Heath's) Maggie Combs and was in her face the whole game. She was able to rattle Heath a little bit.

I was very impressed with our defense the first half. We didn't take care of the ball as much as I would like us to. We had eight turnovers in the first quarter, but we limited it to 11 in the first half. When you have possession of the ball it makes it a lot easier to score.

I was happy the first half. The second half was a letdown that I usually don't see with this team, so that has me concerned.

Luckily, Chelsea hit those free throws at the end. If we would have made them at the beginning, it wouldn't have been that close, but we made them when it counted.

When you play your rival, you have to know that they're going to come with everything they've got. Records mean nothing. It doesn't matter who's playing well, who's not playing well. It's who comes out and wants to win it. Northridge came out and wanted to win it. We just happened to want it more in the fourth quarter and we did things right in the fourth quarter.

I lost a cousin about three years ago. I felt helpless and wished there was something I could have done.

We practiced against the 3-2 but we were passive. We didn't attack it.

It was the same thing (as in a 66-55 loss to Utica on Jan. 13). They started out on fire, and I don't know if we shut them down or if they got cold in the second half. The same thing happened this time, but we just didn't get the offensive scores we needed and we had some girls in foul trouble.