Post-Game Quotes: Oakland

MSU head coach Suzy Merchant

On the freshmen class…
They do play defense? Yeah, gosh I didn't think we played very well at all collectively tonight when it came to that. But yeah I think our freshmen bring a lot to the court. They're still freshmen. There's times you're like 'ugh' - they forget plays and just little things like that. I really like our freshmen class. I think they bring a lot of energy and toughness. They're work in progress; they're freshmen. We can't rely on them - that's where you need your upperclassmen and tonight not having some of our key kids. Today I felt we needed Shay (Colley) and Coco (Gaines) from an experience standpoint. At the same time, it's good for someone like Kayla (Belles) to get some minutes because she didn't play a ton last year obviously with her injury, coming back from that. Then she had other kids in front of her. It was good to see her in the second half come back from that. But I like our freshman class. I think there's obviously times and plays that they have to get better at.

On Mardrekia Cook's performance…
She was a huge bright spot; she really attacked the rim well. That's the thing Drek (Mardrekia Cook) does well. We've been talking to her about being more aggressive and playing with that kind of toughness and competitive spirit that we know she has. I thought she did well at Notre Dame. I think that tonight was another step forward. She's battled injuries the last two years, now she really doesn't have that component. Now it's just about getting those reps and really competing and fighting through that fatigue. She was a huge reason why I thought we had some nice plays where we were able to pull away in the second half but I thought she did great.

On Kayla Belles' performance tonight…
Well not really well in the first part, I mean a foul in the first 1:39. I don't know what was going on there. So I challenged her a little bit; it was like get out of your own mind. It's time to go compete. It's time to get out of your way, get out of your head. And I thought she did a great job in the second half. We put her in a lot of ball screen roll situations. She's got good hands and can finish around the bucket so I was really actually excited to see that because that's what we see in practice and now she's got to challenge herself to be consistent with that in both halves, hopefully building from here.

On Taryn McCutcheon's play…
The thing with Taryn (McCutcheon), she has to shoot those shots; that's her game. At Notre Dame, she didn't make any shots either at times but at the same time, I think the kid brings a lot to the table for us. She's tough, she got a motor, she defends, and she communicates. She's a four-year straight starter here and a captain. You have a lot of confidence in someone like that. I thought she did a really good job looking for her shot. I'd like everyone else to shoot that good, I don't know what happened there. We've got kids that can shoot it, but I don't know what happened there.

Players Mentioned

Kayla Belles

Mardrekia Cook

Taryn McCutcheon

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