Laudermill	Theriot	Havers
----------------------------- 1 2 total Illinois (NR) 33 24 57 NEBRASKA (15) 30 29 59 -----------------------------

Illinois Head Coach Matt Bollant Opening Statement

"This team has had some really quality wins during the year, Kentucky and Iowa, two top-10 teams in the RPI, and I told our players I was as proud of them tonight as either one of those games. Just because of their effort and resiliency in a tough environment. I thought we did a lot of good things to put ourselves in a position to win the game. We just weren't able to quite finish it. I thought the three by (Natalie) Romeo was a huge three. It was a really big play with like a minute left and we were up, I thought that three was really big. I thought we did a lot of good things but give Nebraska credit for coming back and finding a way to win."

On the shot Illinois got at the end of the game "I liked the look. We got all the way to the rim and I thought there was quite a bit of contact but I liked the look we got."

On whether attacking the basket was the plan for the last shot of the game "It was either Kyley (Simmons) or Brittany (Carter), whoever got it to spread the floor and see what they did and try and get to the rim and if they helped kick it for a three. They didn't help, they played it one-on-one, and she got in deep and got a really good look."

On playing Chatrice White with four fouls "It's always hard. We have done that kind of throughout, and I would rather have her on the floor with a chance to win it than sitting on the bench and get down, that's been our mentality. She plays really smart and has been great with foul trouble, so I give her a lot of credit for that. We have a lot of faith in how smart she is and her ability to do the right things when it matters."

On Chatrice's shots "We would like her to take 20 shots. She obviously hit four threes tonight, and we would obviously like our five to get as many shots as possible. I thought we got a lot of points in the paint in that first half and that's one thing that hurt us late. With these guys being in foul trouble, we didn't get nearly as many points in the paint in the second half."

On offense outside of Chatrice "I think it came down to the other kids just not making shots. Jacqui (Grant) had a great first half and then she didn't get to play a lot of minutes in the second because of foul trouble. I think Brittany (Carter) did some good things as well. We had three kids make over one shot, we just needed Amarah (Coleman) and Kyley (Simmons) to get open or another player to step up."

On this being a fun series "We've got three players that played on the Cornhusker AAU team, so it's neat for those kids to come back . It's a great atmosphere here. Obviously this is an important game for those three and to us because of that. It was a fun atmosphere, but I think we really let this one slip away with an eight-point lead with eight minutes left. Give Nebraska credit for stepping up and making the plays when they had to."

On their recent struggles against Nebraska "I give them credit. I think at our place (Rachel) Theriot stepped up and made some big shots. Today the three Romeo hit with a second on the shot clock was big today. Give them credit. There's some games where you feel like you let it slip away but tonight I felt like Nebraska stepped up and made plays down the stretch. I didn't feel like we blew this tonight or lost it, I felt like maybe they won that and I give them credit for that."

Chatrice White

On what today was like for her "It was great to be home. It was great to see all of my family and friends in the crowd wearing orange, that was nice. Nebraska is a great team and they always have been. It's a great atmosphere here. I think we still really showed up and competed today and played our butts off for 40 minutes. We had some downfalls in parts of the game, but we were resilient tonight and that was our theme for the game."

On averaging almost 20 shots a game "I think I just made up my mind that I was going to post more. We have been working on that lot more in practice and the guards did a good job of getting it to me tonight. Some of them were some forced shots, but I think a lot of them were some tough shots."

On her motivation level tonight "It was very high. I knew there was going to be a lot of people here to watch me play and watch our team compete. A lot of people wanted to know why I chose Illinois over Nebraska, and I think it showed that I love Illinois and I love playing for this team and these coaches. It was really motivating coming back to my home state, but it was a fun game."