Comets forward Sheryl Swoopes, right, watches as Storm guard Betty Lennox drives to the hoop. Terrence Vaccaro/NBAE/Getty Images

"I know any game that any of our post players get into foul trouble, I'm going to have to step up and do whatever Bill asks me to do, and tonight it was just working for me."
• Detroit Shock forward Plenette Pierson, to the Detroit Free Press.

"They started to feel how hard we have to play, but we just started in too big of a hole."
• Sacramento Monarchs coach Jenny Boucek after her first regular season game, a loss to Detroit, to the Sacramento Bee.

"I think we take this game and build off it. There's nothing wrong with 33-1."
• Sacramento Monarchs forward DeMya Walker, to the Sacramento Bee.

"(To an assistant) Should I put Latta in? (To Latta) Hey Latta, you have a choice: Do you want to play 16 seconds or not?"
• Detroit Shock coach Bill Laimbeer to rookie guard Ivory Latta, who hadn't yet gotten onto the court, near the end of their season opening win against Sacramento. Latta said yes, and played the final 16 seconds of the game, overheard on ABC-TV.

"It was the power of not giving up and the power of KeyArena."
• Seattle Storm coach Anne Donovan after her team overcame a 22-point deficit with 5:20 to go in the third quarter and went on to rout Houston 82-69, to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"I don't think we were ever cruising along. We knew they were going to make a run and were going to come back. I think they wanted it a little more than we did. When you go up by 20 points, you let up a little bit when you're playing any team. We just weren't able to hold them off."
• Houston Comets forward Sheryl Swoopes, who finished with 15 points and six rebounds, to the Houston Chronicle.

"After what you saw tonight, you certainly couldn't argue with that."
• Minnesota Lynx coach Don Zierden after an 83-64 loss to the Indiana Fever on how several WNBA general managers picked the Fever to be the top challengers to the defending champion Detroit Shock, to the Indianapolis Star.

"To us, we still felt discombobulated. I think that's a good thing. It only shows how good we can be."
• Indiana Fever forward Tamika Whitmore after her team's 83-64 win over Minnesota, to the Indianapolis Star.

"It took us five games last year. This is progress."
• Phoenix Mercury coach Paul Westhead after last season's 0-4 start before winning their first game, to the Arizona Republic.

"If we'd have been sitting down 10 or 11, this would have been a heck of a finish."
• San Antonio Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes after being down 48-28 at intermission and coming back to within 73-64 with 3:30 to play, to the Associated Press.

"She's our Gilbert Arenas. She's certainly one of our better players. … It'll be her decision (when she returns to the lineup). It will be when she feels comfortable."
• Washington Mystics coach Richie Adubato on star guard Alana Beard who missed Saturday's game with a strained left shoulder and continues to be listed as day-to-day, to the Washington Post.

"You've just got to run the plays, play good defense and everything else will fall into place. We're a very calm, confident bunch, and that's going to win us a lot of games."
• Connecticut Sun forward Nykesha Sales, who led the Sun with 20 points, after their season opening win over Washington, to the Hartford Courant.

"It was nice. (But) it is more important to win games. If I am not hitting those shots, I want someone else out there hitting those shots."
• New York Liberty guard Erin Thorn on how she felt after hitting seven 3-pointers and finishing with a career-high 28 points in the teams' win over Chicago, to the Associated Press.

"I thought we played very well in the first (half) and not so well in the second."
• Chicago Sky coach Bo Overton after his team jumped out to a 42-33 lead at halftime before faltering in the second half and losing by 12, to the Associated Press.

"It wasn't, individually, my best performance. But as a team, I think we are slowly taking steps to be better."
• Minnesota Lynx guard Lindsey Harding after scoring four points and going 1-12 from the field in Sunday's 74-64 loss to the Monarchs, to the Sacramento Bee.