Coaches
Arizona Head Coach Joan Bonvicini:
"It is out of our hands (tournament selections), but I am proud that we
won. We played better, because when you l ose a few you lose your
confidence. Reshea (Bristol) almost had a triple-double and our freshmen
really stepped up. Thank god we won another game. No matter what tournament
we go to it will help us grow and mature. It was just great to end our
regular season with a win."
"We got better throughout the course of the game. Michelle Mitchell really
stepped up for us. We also have four freshman in an eight-player rotation,
we gutted it out. Reshea (Bristol) played better, a win for us just feel
really good."
On four players scoring in double figures:
"It was important to spread it out, and get a win."
"Aimee (Gryzb) and Candace (Allen) have been sick, and they gave it to the
rest of the team. Every team deals with it, but we don't have a huge
roster. We have learned so much, and overcome a lot of adversity. We lean
on each other and we know that there is a lot of light at the end of the
tunnel. I would be really happy to play in the postseason, the team needs
to know what it means. The University of Arizona should always be in the
postseason."
On the different starting lineup California used:
"It did, but it didn't surprise me. They have seven seniors and Courtney
Johnson played her heart out. We needed to get a win."
On senior Reshea Bristol:
"Reshea had a tremendous game. In the past she has had great games or parts
of a season that were good, but we really needed her to be consistent. She
makes people better around her, she is unselfish, and she got better
throughout the course of the year."
California Head Coach Caren Horstmeyer:
On starting five:
"I played the ones who practiced the hardest. I wanted to switch it up and
felt that this group had the best defense."
"They pressure the ball, they are aggressive and this group has great
chemistry."
"We didn't shoot well, but we got a lot of rebounds. They never gave up and
that says a lot about our character. The offensive rebounds also tells you
that we didn't give up."
"They knew that this was their last game and they came in with the
confidence to beat Cal. When they are unsure about the other team they
don't do so well."
Arizona Player quotes:
Guard Candice Allen
"It was very important that we finish the season with a win. We've been in a four game slump. We hustled in this game, which got people involved. We had tips, blocks, people we're really involved. Hopefully now we can be a bubble team in the tournament, we'll find out tomorrow."
"We need to do more to play as a team. In this game, we were talking to each other. We came in pumped. Coach Bonvicini told us to win this game for Reshea (Bristol)."
Guard Reshea Bristol
"It feels good to finish the season with a win. The team played a good game. We have a good inside-outside game. The team played with fire and desire tonight. The freshmen stepped up tonight. They just came in here and played their game. We were all faced with adversity this year, and the freshmen didn't know how to deal with that."
"Cal is a very physical team. They gave us a run for our money. They were doing a lot of trash talking during the game. When they do that, we just have to show them our game."
On her Last game:
"It's kind of sad. We've been faced with so much adversity this year, with people getting suspended. It's good to finish my last game with a win. The five years went by so fast."
