Nov. 12, 2005

Recap |  Box Score

Maryland Head Coach Brenda Freese
On tonight's game:
"I thought Kristi [Toliver] did a tremendous job tonight leading us from the point and it was great to be able to have [Laura] Harper back with all of her energy and enthusiasm. On the flip side, we have a lot of things we have to work on. When we go into scoring droughts, we have a hard time focusing on the defensive end, which is something we need to do. We're also extremely disappointed in our rebounding effort. We think we should always be the better rebounding team, but we just didn't get it done tonight. But it was a good exhibition game and we'll work on the things we didn't do well tonight to get us ready for Friday's tip against Sienna on Friday."

On three-point shooters:
"We really have a lot of threats this year with the confidence that Kristi played with tonight and of course Shay [Doron], Marissa[Coleman] and Ashleigh [Newman]. That combined with our inside presence is going to give us a great balanced attack."

On building the program:
"From the coaching end, it's great to finally feel like we have a lot of different options and a lot of different looks we can throw at a team. When team's double down on Lang, they're going to have to be careful because of our shooters. We also pressed a little bit more than we have in the past, which is something new."

On team's depth:
"We really feel that we have a tremendous amount of depth this year. Tonight the game was called really tight, and we got into some foul trouble. It was nice to be able to go to a nine or 10-player rotation because of our depth."

On return of forward Laura Harper:
"Last year, if we got into foul trouble, we had to play with four guards. But now with Harper back we have more depth. Laura's size, and her ability to block shots gives us a great presence down low."

Sophomore Forward Laura Harper
On return to team:
"It feels really good to be back. This game meant so much to me. To have the support of my teammates and to play well was really important. I was really nervous for the game, and I don't know what I would have done without my teammates, who were able to calm me down a little bit. I think this first game was the monumental one. Now, all we have to do is get ready as a team."

Freshman Guard Kristi Toliver
On her play tonight:
"Knocking down my first two shots gave me even more confidence on the defensive end. I had a lot of fun playing tonight and I wasn't really too nervous."