Feb. 24, 2005
Recap |
Box Score
Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese
On the game
"First of all I want to apologize to our fans and the people who have supported us all season long because where our team is at this point in the season is disappointing. Obviously it's a privilege to put the uniform on, and the way we're playing right now is disappointing. Virginia Tech did a tremendous job tonight. Another team that outworked us, out-hustled us. It's just disappointing with the talent we have on this team for us not to want to lay it out on the line for 40 minutes."
On the second half lineup
"We felt like we have had the support from our bench all season long, and they don't take it for granted any time that they get on floor. We don't have enough talent on this team as individuals to get it done, we have to be united as a team and we're just not getting that spark."
On the turnovers
"It depends which team shows up. We go in the first half and have 100% free throw shooting, which is not characteristic of this team, but then we have 11 turnovers and give up 48 points defensively. I don't have those answers, which is hard. I wish I knew."
On the starters
"They expect to start, they don't expect to be benched. They expect that they're going to get a lot of minutes like they normally do, and I think we need to start showing a little leadership as a team, and get back to our old ways of playing as a team and playing with more heart."
On the play of Virginia Tech
"They got any shot that they wanted. They were going by our guards on the perimeter anytime they wanted. Every team has more size on the perimeter than we do, that's not a surprise, so you have to do it with the little things, and we don't think that's important enough. We get all these great things--playing in the number one facility in the country, having great road trips, everything is taken care of for us--but when it comes to doing the little things, it's hard for this young team to understand. That is what separates you."
Maryland guard Kalika France
On the message sent by the second half benching
"It was very effective. I was giving myself a gut-check. Obviously it's something that I'm not doing correctly or maybe I'm not playing hard enough. At the same time, I wanted to make sure that I was very supportive of my teammates because they don't get a chance to play often and they gave us very valuable minutes tonight, which lets you know what kind of people they are. As starters, we're supposed to be setting the tone, and we didn't do that tonight. They bring it every day in practice knowing that they really aren't looking forward to any game play, and we take that for granted."
Virginia Tech Head Coach Beth Dunkenberger
On tonight's game
"We were in the situation where we felt like we really needed this win tonight. The thing I liked is that we stayed poised. I think we played with a lot of heart tonight, we shot the ball well. It was a real team effort and I am real proud of them. I really thought, with the full court pressure, that if we were patient than we could get some lay-ups out of them. We got some pretty good looks at it."
On Scoring 87 points
"I think we shared the ball pretty well, we moved around and we played at lot of people to keep people fresh."
On Maryland's second half line up
"We came out in the second half and saw their line up and there were some players we didn't recognize. I told them to do their best to match up and we wanted to make a push. I tried to make it more of an attack mindset coming out of the half."
On the importance of this win
"It was key for us because we need to get some momentum going into the tournament. Although we lost at FSU, that shouldn't be a momentum buster. If anything it should be a momentum builder because we were on the road and we took a top 25 team into overtime and really we should have won that game. This game, again on the road, top 20 team and took it right to them. Hopefully this will propel them because we have a huge game on Sunday. I'm sure it's important. They look how you did down the stretch and how you do against top 25 teams. We've played a tough season. It's a tribute to our team. They've been enthusiastic and they've worked hard. This win will hopefully pay off. We've got to continue to take care of business. The next game is just as important."
Junior Guard Dawn Chriss
On the game
"I feel pretty good coming off the last game and I think my mentality has changed. I'm coming out a lot more aggressive and looking to shoot more and stay positive. I really don't think their defense was good, I think we id a good job. We took our time and we were a lot more aggressive and poised. These last couple games are important and we just need to stay positive. We just need to get momentum and play our game. We don't focus on what's going on with the other team."
