Jan. 19, 2007
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Head Coach Brenda Frese
Opening statement:
"I thought our team showed a lot of character tonight. Especially in terms of the focus we have had at practice all week and really taking our last game to heart, I thought every player really stepped outside of their comfort zone tonight and stepped up to the plate."
On defensive play:
"I was very pleased with our improvement defensively. I thought we really focused and brought a lot of energy to the game tonight. The challenge is to do that consistently on the defensive end. But for this game everyone stepped up and I think they achieved what they set out to do this game."
On playing after their first loss of the season:
"Any individual is going to take that game personally and take it to heart. The long delay between games just makes you hungry to get back out and get that bad taste out of your mouth. We wanted to move on and get ready to play another game."
On dropping from number one to number three in the polls:
"We haven't talked about that. Our goals haven't changed; they have always been about improving to get better. When you do that, everything else will take care of itself. Last year we finished first in the polls, and that's where we want to finish. More importantly we want to be consistent and we want to stay hungry."
Forward Laura Harper
On preparing for the game:
"I think that after the Duke game I realized that intensity needs to be brought by each of us in every game. We just need to play with more energy and things will go well."
Guard Kristi Toliver
On bouncing back after the Duke loss:
"We had a tough one down in Durham, but there was only one thing we could do and that was to recover and regroup. I think that by doing that we showed that we are more mature than in the past because we could have folded again. UVA is a very talented team, but we came out with a lot of focus and that transferred into a good game today."
Forward/Center Crystal Langhorne
On the Maryland-Virginia rivalry:
"Virginia is one of our big rivals. We play them twice a year, and last year was the first year in a long time that we swept them, so we've always had a big rivalry with them. The Virginia game is always exciting."
On Laura Harper:
"I think she is one of the most underrated player in the country, and when she comes out and plays like this it just shows everyone how great of a player she is. She's one of many great players on our team and people don't recognize that enough."
Virginia Head Coach Debbie Ryan
Opening comments
"I thought we came out and started the game fine. I think Monica Wright's foul trouble hurt us a tremendous amount. We don't have a deep bench. There is not a lot of room for error. We played very well in a lot respects. I thought our assist to turnover ratio was excellent. I thought we defended them as best we could under some adverse situations. I thought we scored well. We put up 68 points against the number three team in the county that was the number one team for most of the season. I don't feel like it was a complete and total loss."
On playing Maryland after their first loss in 25 games
"I don't thing we got anything different than we normally get. We know they lost their game to Duke, but I am not going to tell my team to be afraid. That doesn't do any good."
On the tempo of the game
"We know Maryland is a team that likes to run. To be honest with you we are not a "slow it down" team. We did our best to slow them down on the offense. They really didn't run on us. They ran their half court offense. They didn't get a lot of points off transition."
On defending Maryland
"I thought we did a fairly good job on getting back and making them play their half court offense. They are very talented, skilled, and big inside. We don't have that kind of size to match up with them on the inside. I told our team we need to get better defensively. We are still a young team."
Freshmen Guard Monica Wright
Overall Comments
"The first half was frustrating. We still played as hard as possible. We stuck with them as long possible. "
Comments on the ACC season
"As far as the ACC goes, I'm open to this experience. I'm learning something new everyday and every game. I have my teammates and coaches with me every step of the way."
