Postgame Notes
Chattanooga 44, Mississippi State 69
Starkville, Miss. | Humphrey Coliseum
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Deandra Schirmer, head coach
On the need for consistency and coming together as a team
"The thing that we need from this group is consistency more than anything. You see us go on runs, you see us get aggressive, obviously, cutting it down to end the quarter. We talk about if we don't have some poor fouls, some undisciplined fouls at the end of the shot clock, they fouled the 3-point shooter and then Ava [Card] fouled another. It's a lot of undisciplined stuff, which with a young team that we have, you're gonna get some of that. But the thing that we want to impose on our team is if we could be consistent, we can hang with any team in the country. I feel like this is a good microcosm of that a little bit.
"We're playing well and then we come out in the third flat and they're hitting shots. They were making some big plays. Credit to Mississippi State. I thought Coach did a good job today, but also, we gave up some lapses. We weren't defending the way that we're supposed to. It's one of those things that when you get back into a film session as a coach, you really look forward to a film session because you can sit there and say 'See this. This is why we drill. This is why you've got to be consistent.' If we can consistently do our job and get to that point of consistency, I think we're going to have a really special season."
On free throw shooting and strong rebounding
"We can't make a free throw. We've been struggling all year with free throws. I think from our standpoint, I was proud of our bigs and how they fought. Brooke [Anya] giving up six inches to that kid. I just feel like the mental mistakes that we keep making night in and night out, some of our turnovers that we had in the press and everything like that, it's about getting into the film room, focusing on us and making sure that we are getting better in those capacities.
"The other thing I was really proud of this group as well was our execution out of a time out. I want to say out of our 44 points, at least 12 of those were execution out of a time out. So, really proud of that."
On Izzy McPherson and whole team contributions
"Izzy [McPherson] played fantastic. I think we've had a different leading scorer each game. That's something we take a lot of pride in. Looking at another stat sheet with everybody that's getting in is contributing in some way whether it's rebounds, whether it's points. So from our standpoint, if we can find some consistency and keep this group to buy in, we're happy with the direction that we're moving in."
"Here's the thing we talk about all the time, if you meet Izzy on the street, she's real timid. When she gets in the game, it's this other gear and that's the piece that as a coaching staff, we're still learning. We have a lot of talented pieces, but we're still learning how we can put them together. I feel like we've been relying so heavily on Caia [Elisaldez] and Sigrun [Olafsdottir] to kind of create and for Izzy to come in and be able to create her own shots and hit some knockdown, that's really going to help us because now people gotta be out on that perimeter, they've got to be bellied up to Izzy. And if that's the case, then Caia can get some more open looks, Brooke's gonna get some open looks inside. I really feel like we saw some good things tonight even if the outcome really wasn't what we were looking for.
Sigrun Olafsdottir, Sr., G
On rebounding against a bigger team
"We knew coming in that they were going to be big so we prepared a lot for rebounding and a fast game. I think we did good in the first half keeping them down, but we came out flat in the third quarter and that's what got us."
On the run in the first half
"We did good coming back, but then we need to come back in the second half and finish that run
On freshman Izzy McPherson's performance
"Really good. She's been getting better every day, growing a lot. It was her first college start. I'm just really proud of her. She came in and attacked it. I just love that for her."
