Only two teams finish the season with a win — the team that wins the state title and the third-place finisher. The fact that we ended up where we did, I think we surpassed what...

Sycamore was much improved from the last time we played them.

Some shots didn’t fall, but it’s part of the game. We had a few shots blocked early, and I think that had an effect. It made us a little tentative the first half to attack...

It was a nine-point game, but it sure felt a lot closer than nine points.

No matter what, now we have this conference championship. There’s a lot of celebrating in there (the locker room).

Only two teams, the third place and state champion, go out with a win. I think we surpassed what many people thought we could accomplish.

It was a tale of two halves. The first half, we came out flat and couldn’t hit anything. They (North Stars) were scoring, it almost seemed, at will. At halftime, I challenged the girls to...

We couldn’t hang onto the ball. I’d say a good portion of our turnovers were unforced errors. The ball came right to us and it dribbled right off our hands. I don’t know if that’s...

We stayed in our zone and it probably looked more like a saggy man-to-man when they went four out in the second half.

Candace was due to start scoring again. She’s too good a player to hold down. Our lack of offensive execution especially in the third quarter hurt us.

We knew we had to come to play tonight, especially with it being their Senior Night. They’re a good team. They fight. They’re scrappy.

I thought our defense was the key for us tonight. We talked about that before the game. We knew that was going to be the key for us. The last time we played them, (Kate)...

I’ll take seven girls scoring rather than one having 25 points any day. I like to see that balance.

I was impressed with our balance tonight. A lot of kids stepped up and contributed.

She had a huge bump, but she wasn’t sure what hit her. It swelled up when she was out there. She didn’t want to come out of the game because she’s such a tough kid....

I was really pleased with our second-half defense. I expected better and they came out in the second half and it all came down to communicating better on the floor.

We couldn’t have played much worse the first time we played against West Chicago. And they shot incredibly well, while we shot incredibly poorly.

They just never quit, and they always played with such passion and such heart. Those are the things we can control out there, and they really believed that when they played.

I thought she did a great job. She really played great defense tonight.

I think for us offensively, our catalyst has been our defense, and so to get some steals or a break off the rebound, we play best when we do that.

They came out and hit some shots early and we got a little flustered. I took a timeout to try to get them to relax and told them to take it to them and they...

It’s very good for us when we get this kind of balanced scoring.

I think our defense was the key tonight. They played hard, and with heart and passion, like they’ve done all year.

They’re a good team and they came back and scrapped in the second half. We knew we could never sit back. We knew we had to keep attacking.

She might be a freshman in class but not on the basketball floor. She plays with the same intensity that any upperclassmen does.

[West Chicago] is a great team, and man it feels good. Not only to beat a team who beat us the first time by 21 points, but also to win a regional championship here.

Taylor and Bailey hit such important shots. Taylor’s defense is amazing. She has no fear. She just went right at them and did a great job.

It was such a team effort [Tuesday]. Everyone contributed, offensively and defensively.

We came out strong to start the second half, and I think that helped set a tempo for us.

We’ll be ready to go. We only [had Wednesday] to prepare, but we’ll be ready. I’ll go through some things, but I think at this point, and we have talked about it a lot, it’s...