Feb. 19, 2012

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Postgame Quotes
#7 Maryland vs. #5 Duke
Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012
College Park, Md. (Comcast Center)

Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese

Opening statement:
"I told the team in the locker room this one was special for a lot of different reasons. I think first and foremost was to have a game of this magnitude and the adversity that we faced obviously in the first half and just to be able to see the heart and the character that we played with throughout a very difficult game. And credit Duke, they were tremendous and really gave us fits in terms of what we were looking at.

"[I'm] really proud. Obviously, this is a fun group to coach. I mean you challenge Tianna [Hawkins] at halftime - [after] no rebounds [in the first half] and she goes out and gets nine offensive rebounds. Lauren Mincy - you talk about someone who late game against Miami had a three that didn't go down for her and had the courage and the confidence today to be able to step up and continue to make plays for us. I mean that's what makes her so special. And then you talk about Baby Bones (Brene Moseley) over here growing up and having her number called and just being confident to be able to come in here and want to make plays. We were 12 strong. This team is getting better. We're excited obviously about the momentum that we're gaining and we just want to stay humble and hungry and finish this thing strong with the two games that we have remaining."

On her team's performance rebounding the ball:
"We were disappointed down there [in Durham, NC]. We gave up too many offensive rebounds to them and [Duke] is a great rebounding team so that absolutely was an area that we felt like we wanted to be able to attack strongly and be able to rebound the basketball."

On her team's slow start:
"It was ugly. I thought [Duke] tried to come in and kind of punch us early. It took us about 10 minutes to get our senses to what we were doing, but from then on out I thought we started looking like our old selves. We've got to do a better job taking care of the basketball. We're fortunate to come out with this win, but 19 turnovers are too many for us with what we want to do. So we've got to continue to address that."

On the play of Alyssa Thomas:
"We've been spending a lot of time - Alyssa and I - in terms of talking about the other things that she can do for this team. You talk about on the defensive end that play [to end the game]. [She did a] phenomenal job in terms of sticking with it and using her length for a late game block. It was special."

On defending the last possession:
"We talked about it. We obviously did not want to give up a three. We really felt like they were going to go to [Chelsea] Gray. That's where they went late in games before. So, we put in Kim Rodgers - her strength alone kind of matches Chelsea. And then we kind of wanted to give some great help defense off the drive when we could. I just thought that they are really starting to trust each other defensively in terms of the help side defense that we have to have."

Junior Forward Tianna Hawkins

On her play at the end of the game:
"We went through a spell today where we couldn't do much on offense. Coach told us we needed to adjust and get on the boards. I was able to get the rebound and was fortunate enough to convert the three-point play."

Freshman Guard Brene Moseley

On limiting turnovers today:
"My biggest focus today was to not have any turnovers. I have to credit my teammates because they helped me out. I was giving the ball to Tianna [Hawkins], Lynetta [Kizer], [Laurin] Mincy, and AT [Alyssa Thomas] was knocking shots down. It made my job easy."

Sophomore Guard Laurin Mincy

On her outside game:
"I just want to credit my teammates for having the confidence in me to take the shot. I know that I missed two threes before that. I heard the bench telling me to continue shooting. Eventually I was able to hit a few shots."

On what the win today means:
"It means that we have the ability to compete with anyone in the country. We have to keep working and are looking forward to the remainder of the ACC schedule and the ACC Tournament."

Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie

Opening Statement:
"It was just a great game for women's basketball. We had a really great environment here, I really admire that. With 15,000 people it was very similar to a game we played in Lexington, unfortunately it ended in the same result. It was a very physical basketball game, and a one position game."

On Rebounding:
"It was absolutely the difference in the game without question, not only the rebounding differential, but the offensive rebounding. There is no excuse for that, and to think that they had seven more shots at the bucket because of their rebounding, defensively is inexcusable. These things led them to the outcome that they are currently enjoying."

On final position:
"Chelsea had just scored down the middle easily on the position before so we were trying to go down the middle, but she got to the side and that was a little problematic with 10 seconds left. You have to credit Maryland's defense there. One time it worked and one time it didn't."

On their first loss in the ACC this season:
"We are just trying to get better as a team. Those kinds of things might be important after this season, but if we are not going to rebound and dominate the boards then we are in big trouble with a lot of teams. You have to really get after it, it's a tough world out there, and it's very physical. You have to dictate the game, you can't wait a half to dictate it, and you have to do it for the full 40 minutes. We are going to use this game to improve ourselves as best we can.

Freshman Center Elizabeth Williams

On the physicality of this game:
"I don't think it was a matter of them being more physical, I just think we didn't do the things we needed to do. We missed so many box-outs, and like Coach P said they had like 16 offensive rebounds, so that really changed the game. Those are the things that we can control and we really didn't do that today.