Oregon State Quotes vs. Washington
Head Coach Scott Rueck
Opening comment…
“Once again, an incredible atmosphere for women’s basketball. I think we had over 3,000 with the whole lower bowl packed. What an incredible atmosphere to play in and compete in. I am so thankful for Beaver Nation coming out and supporting us like they did. Hats off to Washington, they played a great basketball game. I thought they defended us really well and made things tough on us. They are so hard to stop. They transitioned well but I thought as the game went on we adapted to it. It felt like one of those games were we could have gotten away from them, but as soon as that happened next thing you know they made a couple plays. I thought we showed a ton of heart just like we did the other night. In closing this one out we executed well down the stretch on both ends of the floor and we got the rebounds that we needed. It was another gut check game that just showed the character of this team.”
On Ali Gibson’s defensive play at the end of the game…
“The two words that I said before the game was ‘make plays’. A year ago Ali was struggling going into our Washington game and actually struggled the first few minutes of the game. I kind of got on her on the bench and told her that we needed her to make plays for us. They were just so calm and comfortable defensively and that’s who Ali is. She is a gritty, tough defender that makes every hustle play that you can ask a player to make. We needed that grit and she brought us that toughness.”
Junior Jamie Weisner
On scoring 25 and 26 this weekend to help carry the team…
“That’s what I feel like my team needed from me this weekend, and they got me the ball. Washington helped in on Ruth a lot and it opened up the outside for me to take shots.”
On getting a tough effort from Washington and from the whole conference now…
“I think we have a huge target on our back being ranked in the Top 10 in the nation. You’re going to get everyone’s best effort every night.”
Junior Ruth Hamblin
On Washington’s defense....
“It was a different look from Washington State. Here they decided to bring the weak side defender to help, which is something that I had to adjust to. In the end, we were able to sort it out fairly well. It got us more looks, especially the kick-out and we attacked that.”
On current record...
“We just have this instilled confidence in ourselves to know that we’re going to make the right plays down the stretch. We know what it feels like to win these games and we know how to do it.”
