While there isn’t much to report on Prairie View’s 42 point (82-40) loss to Baylor, Sunday in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, there are some interesting post game quotes worth sharing.
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey seems to think that Prairie View head coach Toyelle Wilson should get a pay raise for getting her team to the big dance three consecutive years.
“As I told their coach before the game, if she hasn’t gotten a pay raise, she needs to find another job. She’s been to the tournament three straight years and that program had only been to the tournament two years prior to that. She’s done one heck of a job with her basketball program. Give those guys credit.”
Early in the first half, the Lady Panthers actually had a 1 point lead over Baylor which was the result of a 6-0 run.
Prairie View guard/forward Latia Williams about the run:
“It all started with us believing that we can compete with Baylor and I think we showed it. For the first couple of minutes we were running with them and the gym was quiet. It was silent, no fans were cheering or anything. We started believing in ourselves even more and started to run a little bit. We just didn’t execute like we thought we could.”
Williams about matching up against Brittney Griner:
“She is not really that tall, but her wing span is amazing. Her hands are huge. When she grabbed my hand playing defense her hands were like my forearm. She is an amazing athlete and it was a great experience to go against her.”
Coach Toyelle Wilson on preparing for Brittney Griner:
“We had one of the men’s basketball players who is 6’8 try to emulate Brittney. There is no emulating her. She changes the game in so many facets and so many ways. You have to make so many adjustments because she covers space quickly. She’s just a game changer. Double-teaming her, she still shoots 50%.”
Baylor committed only 3 fouls the entire game; a stat line that even had Wilson asking questions.
“I asked the ref if he had ever had a game that only had three fouls and he said yes. I asked if it was Baylor and he said no. So, I stopped the conversation after that. It’s hard for the refs because if you don’t attack the basket, it’s hard. We didn’t go in there much because of Brittney, so the refs had to make a decision on what to do.”
Along with 33 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots, Baylor’s Brittney Griner added her 15th career dunk. Wilson, in an attempt to keep her team up beat, tried to get them to look at Griner’s dunk on the bright side of things.
“When Brittney had dunked I called a time out and said ‘at least it wasn’t on anybody.’”
