Feb. 13, 2005
Recap |
Box Score |
Notes
Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese
On the crowd
"Obviously it says a lot about our fans and our support. Our team can be very proud of the fact that we broke the all-time attendance record and that's going to be something that when they are done playing, they can look back and remember for a long time and to do it here at Maryland."
On the game
"Obviously we are disappointed about the outcome. I am proud of the fact that we never quit and played hard for 40 minutes. Tough night, tough shooting night for us. Probably the worst game we've had in terms of our shooting percentage and it would fall tonight. But, probably the fact that we never gave up and kept working hard. Duke's a great team and they took it at us a lot defensively. They were very tough inside. And like what we talked about in the locker room, this is going to make us better and where we're headed and what direction we want to go. I think a lot of time we were just rushed and took quick shots, one pass and we needed to be more fluid with what we were doing in terms of working the ball and just a lot more movement from the offense. And it could have been a little of the crowd but we are going to gain nothing but positives from this."
On defending Duke
"Wynter Whitley, our game plan was to give her the open shot and was some one we were doubling off of and she was the x-factor in my opinion we lose by 11, she scored 11, so she gave them some big minutes and big plays and all eight players can step up and obviously shoot the ball. And they each have a tremendous rolle on their team and they did a tremendous job tonight."
On the team
"I mean I've never seen us be so passive, which was unfortunate. We were 1-6 in the first half from the free throw line and never got back there in the second half and I think that tells you how tentative we were. But a lot of things, the physicalness of Duke and what they were able to do physically. We'll bounce back from it and this is a team that's hungry and we'll learn a lot from film and move on. I think we talked about giving the ball to Crystal (Langhorne) and we didn't follow through with that very well. But a lot of that had to do with their defense. They were sagging off of out point guard and making it hard to get the ball inside. We're going to be able to learn. We can't do it with one guard or two guards; we have to be able to do it as a team. And we'll be able to learn a lot from this."
On putting it behind
"I think it will be easy. I think we have their attention now and the one thing I'll say is that I think we showed our youth tonight and I think we have to put it into perspective. We started two freshmen and two sophomores and you know to be going against the number 3 or number 4 team in the country and we're just going to be able to gain valuable experience from this. We've got every single player in that locker room."
Sophomore Guard Shay Doron
On the game
"I think the past two games, which have made us successful is the extra pass that we were making and I don't think we did that tonight. I think it was nerves and I think we need to get back to that."
On having all eyes on you
"I don't think it was tougher, Duke's a great team. Like I said their defense was pretty good and very physical and took us out of some parts of our offense and we just couldn't hit the shots we normally do."
On learning from this experience
"We can definitely learn form this and we're going to be playing in some big crowds coming up and I think the experience is good and to get this game out of the way is good. And to know how to play is something we need to go through once and I definitely think every game you go through you learn and gain more experience. And we can learn from this game's experience."
Sophomore Guard Kalika France
On the game
"I just tried to follow the game plan. We worked all week trying to stop Monique (Currie) and we all know she is leading the league in scoring and we tried to make her take the most difficult shots possible. My teammates have my back and times that I got beat, they were there for me and have to give them credit for that too."
Duke Head Coach Gail Goestenkors
On the game and the record crowd
"I'm really happy to come away with a win. It was just a tremendous environment for women's basketball. I'm really impressed with the job that Brenda Frese has done here and this crowd was just tremendous. It's always tough to play Maryland, and tough to play them here, so I'm really proud of my team. I know it wasn't a pretty game. I think both teams played exceptional defense. The defense was really good for both sides. Fortunately I think our bench came through and gave us some good minutes. Chante [Black] and Wynter Whitley in particular gave us a big boost that we needed."
On the rebounding edge in the second half
"I told them that the rebounds were tied and I thought that the game was going to come down to rebounding. They were scoring off their offensive rebounds. If we could become more aggressive on the glass, I thought that would be the difference in the game. I thought we made a commitment to rebounding in the second half."
On Monique Currie
"She's such a calming factor. Even if she's not hitting her shots, she's getting big rebounds. She demands attention. Even if she's not hitting her shot, she's helping us to get other people open. She can change the game just with her presence on the floor."
On stopping Crystal Langhorne
"Give a lot of credit to our posts. I thought our team defense overall was very good, but the post defense was exceptional. Mistie Williams did a great job starting on her, and then Alison [Bales] and Chante [Black] and Winter [Whitley] did a good job. So I think with four different post players, they gave her four different looks defensively."
Duke center Chante Black
On rebounding
"Rebounding is my strong point, so I definitely focused on getting more boards and attacking the glass."
On the environment
"That just gave us more energy to keep going, so to come into this environment was great. We just took it there and came out with a victory."
Duke guard Wanisha Smith
On the environment and playing close to her hometown
"My whole family was excited I was coming home, but it was just another game for us. Afterwards, we came out with a big victory, and I can go say hi to my family."
Duke forward Monique Currie
On playing close to home
"It's always fun to come home. Obviously, it was a struggle but Maryland has always been home to me and the fans were great so I was excited to come back here."
On her struggling shooting
"I really don't have any excuses. They did a great job. [Kalika] France was face-guarding me a lot and a lot of my shots were contested so I guess it was a combination of great defense and not being balanced. It just wasn't falling today."
