Dec. 29, 2010
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Head Coach Brenda Freese
Opening Statement:
“We were tested today and it was great to be able to see just how we battled. I though we did a tremendous job with a great St. John’s team. I thought that they presented a lot of different matchups to us -- obviously some that gave us problems. I thought our defense was really, really good this morning. I thought we got better and collectively as a team I thought we were really unselfish with our play it was just a great solid team win for us.”
On what the win means:
“I just see our confidence growing and I see us improving and that’s what it’s all about. A great team like St. John’s gets you ready for ACC play. I see this team coming together and that’s the exciting thing. With our versatility and the many different combinations that we can throw at people I think we’re hard to scout because of the depth that we have.”
On the slow start:
“I kind of felt like at the beginning both teams were evenly matched and I thought defensively it was just really hard to score because everybody had such great intensity to start the game. So, it was really hard to score because they were so evenly matched I thought.”
On her team’s turnovers:
“It’s definitely a concern and an area we’ve got to continue to improve on. We were just fortunate that we gave ourselves a cushion with the lead and if you’re in close games obviously you don’t have that buffer, so it is an area that we have to continue to get better at.”
Junior Center Lynetta Kizer
On the early tip-off possibly causing the slow start:
"I don’t think it was really too much the time of the day, the only thing I can really say was really early was probably pre-game. We still went through our regular routine and there was a lot of energy in warm-ups. By the time we started the game we probably couldn’t tell what time it was, so I don’t think it was anything with the time.”
On being out-rebounded:
“It was very disappointing. Being number one in the nation in rebounding is something we pride ourselves on and to have them come in here and out-rebound us is very disappointing. But, that’s something we can circle back on Friday when we come in and just keep working at it. We let this one slide, I think it’s the first game all season that we’ve been outrebounded. So, [we’ll] learn from this and won’t let it happen again pretty much.
Sophomore Forward Diandra Tchatchouang
On success shooting the 3-pointer this season:
“I’m more comfortable. My teammates know how to find me and it makes things easier.”
On being able to score early when her teammates could not:
“There was no difference, but like I said we came out with a lot of energy.”
Junior Guard Kim Rodgers
On the team’s late second half letdown:
“There was obviously a letdown, that’s how they got back in the game. I think when I looked at the clock and saw we were up by 20 with five minutes left we lost a little bit of energy and intensity and started being a little careless with the ball. I think that’s a part of being a relatively young team and not understanding that you have to keep the pressure on somebody and really put teams away because when we get into conference play that’s exactly what’s going to happen. So, I think it was a learning experience and luckily we were able to get the win today.”
St. John’s Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico
Opening Statement:
“Maryland is an excellent team I thought they played extremely well today. They made great runs on us, Coach [Frese] does an excellent job and I think they’re extremely talented. They took advantage of us at times and I think we got banged up when we lost our point guard, who I think is one of the best point guards in the country, I think that hurt us a lot. We ran out of gas a little bit, but I was proud of the way, after they got a pretty big lead on us, we were able to fight back and battle to the end. But they’re a great program and I thought it was a great basketball game today.”
On what she thought when her team’s opening shots weren’t falling:
“Well don’t think we’ve played against that type of pressure or that type of size all year, so I knew there would be a little bit of an adjustment period. I think we kind of shied away, Da’Shena [Stevens] especially, when her early shots were blocked she kind of didn’t go aggressively against for a few more minutes. During one of the timeouts we said hey it doesn’t matter if they block 20 shots we have to keep going after it, we got to keep playing our game. I think once we settled down and started to handle that pressure a little bit better we were more successful. But, like you talked about their length, they played 2-3 zone and you ccan’t even match up on a wing because they take away an entire wing with their length. So I think it took a little bit of an adjustment for us to figure out how we were going to score against them and we haven’t faced that all year so I wasn’t surprised when it took us a couple minutes. Once we settled down I thought we did a better job.”
On if she was pleased on her defense was playing:
“Yeah, I thought early we did a great job defensively. We pride ourselves on our defense and to be able to out rebound them, as much as [Maryland] is one of the biggest teams ion the country, we’re probably one of the smallest teams in the country. For us to be that competitive on the glass is a positive for us.”
Sophomore Guard Eugeneia McPherson
On what Maryland did to bother the team:
“Their pressure defense. They saw Shenneika [Smith] was hot with every shot she made yesterday, and limited her touches.”
On whether or not Maryland’s pressure on Shenneika Smith led to her being open:
“Yeah, Shenneika [Smith] gets me open. She gives me a lot of open looks”
On if Maryland reminded her of any other teams:
“You really can’t compare them to anybody, but we’ll face a lot of teams that will pressure like them with long and lengthy guards.”
Junior Forward Da'Shena Stevens
On her feelings in the opening minutes of play when her team could not get shots to fall:
“I think like a lot of times this year we started off slow. We knew with a game like this we couldn’t start off slow, and we actually got stops on defense. Our little shots weren’t falling, but we knew they would fall we just had to keep getting stops on defense. Eventually it picked up.”
