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3/5 BAYLOR 79 (15-1/4-0), rv/- IOWA STATE 47 (11-4/2-2)
Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015
Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)
Attendance: 6,045

BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES

Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey
On the start of the game:
"Someone actually brought to my attention on how many halves this year that we're holding opponents to 18 points or less, and sometimes I need a wake-up call as a coach to realize these kids are giving me about all they have. The mistakes we're making are to be expected. I think they listened to the scouting report, which said you can't allow Iowa State to light you up from three, and I thought our defense was good. I thought our press was as good as it has been, not because sometimes we got a steal and a turnover, but I'm hoping that just them having to fight to get it up the floor, that three they're missing is due to fatigue a little bit. It starts with (Khadijiah Cave), she is so good on the ball and trapping with her long arms. It was just a game where everyone will leave feeling good about themselves. Everybody played significant minutes, everybody scored, so we can go home, rest a little, and start back on Thursday with the scouting report for Kansas."

On Iowa State Bill Fennelly saying this BU team was harder to guard than previous teams:
"I understand his comment, because back then everybody focused on one player. Who are you going to focus on our team? When we went through our practice, I didn't know who he would do his Diamond-and-2, was it going to be Imani, was it going to be (Alexis) Prince, or Kristy (Wallace), or Niya (Johnson)? We score from a lot of players in a lot of ways, so I understand his comment, and I certainly agree with him that we have a lot of kids who can do a lot of things."

On the defensive effort:
"Well it's hard to guard people who spread you out. I thought what made it better is that I have a quiet team, and as they gain confidence they're going to start talking more and communicating. Tonight they talked more and switched and when you do those things, it eliminates the open shot. Even our post players are athletic enough that they can go out there and guard a perimeter shooter. We held their leading two scorers to zero and four points, now that just doesn't happen. That started out with Prince, and Imani (Wright), Kristy, and Niya, and anyone else who guarded them. It's a pride thing really, and I just looked at that scouting report and saw that we held them to such low figures."

On the early run:
"Imani had been starting, and I just moved Kristy in there, and I can easily move Imani back. Other than these two (Nina Davis and Niya), my lineup can change on a consistent basis. (Cave) can go in and she's instantly a deer down the floor, you know she's going to run and catch it, and Niya just threads the needle to her, and she's also our best offensive rebounder. Niya's instincts for the game allow her to do a lot of things like rebounding and determining when to and when not to help. Shooters tend to think when they miss a shot or two that they're off their game. I don't have one on my team who would pass a shot up. They all fight for Niya to throw them the ball, so it's good to see Imani get off and shoot like that especially when you see the crazy zones and junk defenses that Iowa State's coach throws at you."

On getting everyone into the game:
"The benefit of that is it allows me to have more confidence in the players in what I thought they could do, which they did. Kristina (Higgins) had nine big rebounds. I don't care if she scores a point, I just want her to be a beast on the boards. I thought Dekeiya (Cohen) did some things that I knew she could do. I thought Ieshia (Small) took some good shots that were good looks. You make sure those players hear that from you. There was a stretch where I didn't even look at the scoreboard, but I just told my players to go out there and do what you do best. I wish we could play every game and have that many minutes for everybody."

Sophomore Nina Davis
On Iowa State's defense:
""I was more prepared for it. When we played West Virginia, I wasn't sure what to expect, so I was forcing shots and doing things that weren't necessary, but this game we went over it in practice and I was more relaxed and knew how to take it better."

Junior Niya Johnson
On playing well of late:
"Coach mentioned that we have to rebound on both ends, and I just try to help the posts out by rebounding, especially against Iowa State. They shoot a lot of threes so the ball is coming out to the perimeter, so I just try and find the ball and beat them to it."

On Baylor's defense in the game:
"I think we did very well tonight defending the three. We communicated very well. We played close attention to the scouting report, and we stepped it up tonight."

On Baylor's offense in the game:
"You don't try to pass on one shot, we try and pass the ball to get the defense moving. You just try to attack and find the open player to make great plays, so as long as we score I can't complain."

IOWA STATE POSTGAME QUOTES
Iowa State Head Coach Bill Fennelly
Opening Statement:
"It's pretty simple. We just got our butt kicked - royally. I think some of our players were still celebrating what they did Saturday. Kidd [Nicole Blaskowsky] was great, but when your starters besides her go 5-for-37, and 1-of-18 from the three, and 1-for-11 from the bench, [it's hard because] we're a team that's got to make baskets and we certainly didn't do that today. They're a very good team. We made some mistakes early, but we got to make shots, and we didn't do the things we needed to do. Give them a lot of credit, they made it happen and we couldn't make anything good happen. When you play a great team on the road, you got to do everything right. We did basically nothing right."

On his teams mentality coming in:
"We had decent practices and I felt like we knew what we wanted to do and had to do. We talked as a staff about having to hit 14 or 15 threes, and trying to get to the free-throw line, and hope they miss a few. It's a typical Baylor team. They compete really hard. They share the ball. They do what they do. When they get it going, they're really good. That's a credit to Kim (Mulkey), her staff and the kids on her team."

On Baylor's team this year vs. past years:
"I think, in a weird way, and for us, I don't know about other teams, they might be a little bit harder to guard. Britney was Britney, and Odyssey was Odyssey but they share the ball - it's obvious when you have 31 assists on 34 field goals. They have a lot of people who know their roles, whether its shooters, or players on the block or the big bodies they can run at you. But at the end of the day, it's a good, balanced offense and a good defense that defends hard. They do not give you anything easy, and they make you pay for your mistakes. Their versatility will serve them really well. I think the parts they have to use are going to make them a very tough team to play against. Very impressive team."

Junior Guard Nicole "Kidd" Blaskowsky
On what caused problems for them:
"I think we lost focus when things weren't going our way. They're all very different. They're a very versatile team. We needed to lock in more and focus on our plan instead of making stuff up."

On what makes Baylor good:
"They have very aggressive players. Obviously they're well coached. They have really good chemistry, but they just play hard. Against anybody - us or a team out of the conference - they're going to play hard. That's something any coach would want - is girls who are just going to push themselves no matter what. They work at what they do, and know each other to the point where they know what each other can do. And they play really hard."