Baylor, McNeese State Postgame Quotes
12/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Gallery 
Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015
Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)
Attendance: 5,625
BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES
Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey
Opening statement on Niya Johnson's newest assist recordà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"A lot of the times I don't know [about records]. I don't know if it was Jennifer Roberts or who told me, but they caught me and said, 'Coach, you might want to play her a few more minutes to see if she can break a record.' I was like, 'What record?' and she said assists, and that just grabs my heart. Most kids it's about points, and I said, 'Well, I'll let her start the fourth quarter,' and she was able to get two or three more right there quickly. Records don't matter to me, but if there's ever an opportunity where you can do it, I'm not opposed to it. It caught me at the right time."
On playing Khadijiah Caveà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Well, the only thing I wish I might have not done was play KK [Cave]. I was going to give her a shot with a bad finger, and I could tell when she missed two rebounds right there in front of us, I was like, 'You know what, why am I doing this?' and I pulled her out. I didn't intend to play her. She could have played, but I could tell that it was still sore, and that's really the only thing I can kick myself about tonight. What matters the most is Florida and Dec. 30. Just let that thing heal a little bit."
On Beatrice Mompremierà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I saw what I see every day at practice. Beatrice is an athlete. She went up on an in-bounds lob that was really a bad pass and just reached behind her head with one arm with her left hand and got it. She is athletic. She has the size. She can alter your shot. She gets rebounds. She is learning to stay with it. She had a couple misses there that she thought were going to go in, and she started backpedaling, and if she would have stayed like Nina [Davis] did, then she would have gotten her own miss, an offensive board and a put back. She just gets better and better."
On Baylor's post playersà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I think Kalani [Brown] and Beatrice are two of the finest post players in the country, and they're just freshmen. They get schooled pretty much every day by the upperclassmen, but it makes them better when they get to the games, and when I say schooled, they've got to bring it out if they want to compete. If you look at the minutes that those two bigs play this year, they're producing. If you base it on minutes played and production, we're going to see what happens starting Dec. 30. They're going to see a whole another level."
On Kalani Brownà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Kalani is a gentle giant. She plays the game very tough and can be physical, but her body language is just pleasant. I can only imagine what she's going to be like two or three years down the road."
Freshman Kalani Brown
On posting a career-high 24 pointsà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"The more games we play we're gelling together as a team and learning the personnel and stuff. I'm getting more comfortable the more I play. Jitters are gone."
On teammate Niya Johnsonà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Niya is a very great player. You just have to make eye contact. As soon as she's coming down on the floor, you've got to look and she'll throw it and you're not even looking. You'll be open and you don't even know it, but it's because Niya sees everything. She's a floor general, and at first I wasn't really used to it, but as you go on then it's getting better."
Senior Niya Johnson
On her career performance against McNeese Stateà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It's a blessing. I don't pay attention to many of those records. It doesn't mean anything. As long as we get team awards, I'm there. Single records don't mean a lot to me, but I am thankful though. If I don't get it, then I don't care as long as we win."
McNEESE STATE POSTGAME QUOTES
McNeese State Head Coach Brooks Donald-Williams
Opening Statementà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I think it was a great game for us, honestly. No matter the tough situations we were put in, and no matter we got calls or didn't get calls, I felt like our kids kept their composure and just really battled. I also think we needed to get better defending different things. Our transition defense was good today. That was one area we've really concentrated on lately. I thought there were different things that really helped us. I think always playing competition like Baylor has right now, playing one of the best teams in the country, makes you better. I think it made us better today."
On Baylor's sizeà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It was a huge difference. I thought we did a pretty good job in the first half at times defending their postgame. In the second half, they did a really good job of dominating inside and taking advantage of their height advantage."
On the foul troubleà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I think our foul trouble in general gave us a lot of trouble. My starters weren't able to play even half the game. My two leading scorers, Jayln Johnson and Allison Baggett, for them to not ever really get to play and play comfortably, it hurt us. There's no question about that. Allison could never really get in the flow. She would get a few minutes and get a foul and we would have to sit her and wait. Same thing with Jayln, and same thing with our post game. We just never could have our first group in there competing consistently."
On Niya Johnson's playà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"She's good. She's one of the best point guards in the country. Here we are playing off of her and doing different things just so we can help guard inside, and she's still able to take advantage and set her teammates up for scores. She's one of the best in the country. Kim does a great job of utilizing her and her talents. Again, she leads her team and does great things for them."
