We did a good job getting out on them. We played good defense. We struggled a little offensively but we finished strong in the fourth quarter.

I think the girls now know, even if we get a little bit behind, that we can come back and stretch the lead again. The thing they did a good job of was playing defense. We stopped their fast break a little bit. They know when it gets tight like that, it's just as much our opportunity as it is (for the other team).

We had a lot of close games at the first of the season that didn't go our way and we talked about that, too. As we get better, we said those games will go our way. For the girls, it's just the confidence. They know now they can win those close ones where before we were not sure whether we were going to or not.

The defense is young and fast, plus they have a lot of options down low. The strength of this team is going to be how hard they play. With Christian, Jesse and Dan and a good returning core at midfield, we should be OK.

When we need those plays, both on offense and defense, they're coming through,'' Rams quarterback Marc Bulger said.

We played some good defense, but just got unlucky.