Feb. 21, 2010
Recap |
Notes
Head Coach Brenda Frese
Opening Statement:
"Like I told the team in the locker room, I'm really proud of our young team. To have five freshmen and four sophomores come in here and battle the No. 7 team in the country the way we did, in terms of the physicality of the game, the aggressiveness. Like I told them, the first 36 minutes, we were there. The last four minutes, you saw veterans for Duke step up and provide great leadership. And I thought the last four minutes of the game was the difference - the offensive rebounds, the fouls, the put-backs - things we could control, they did a tremendous job. Obviously, I think the five-point play - the first I think I've ever seen in my coaching career. Probably it was the difference in the game in terms of that play being made. But credit Duke's defense. I thought they really were aggressive, forced us into a lot of turnovers."
On Maryland's play in the second half:
"Obviously, we had to play small. We were in serious foul trouble to have two players foul out. It changes the strategy in terms of what you're doing. But you credit Bridgette Mitchell as a senior. She seems at both our place and here, I mean she just always seems to make a big play, and that's what seniors do - they step up and make big plays, just like Lori [Bjork] has for us all season. But for us, we only have one senior on the roster. So that just was the difference in the game, I thought, in the second half.
On what the team can learn from the loss:
"I told them after the game, I still love where we're playing at. There were moments and stretches in this game where I'm watching our defense and I'm watching our intensity, and we're matching it on the road at Duke against a team that I think is really physical and extremely tough, and the ranking is deserving. Absolutely, and I feel like there's still so much of the season left for us to be able to continue to gain momentum from this game with what we have left."
On Maryland's progress this season:
"When you look at our first ACC game to where we are now, and I think that's the thing I'm most proud of, is that there was a point in this season this team could have folded. It just shows great character to be able to come out every single day to practice and just want to improve and want to get better."
On getting a bid to the NCAA tournament:
"I think we just continue to take one day at a time. I think there's a lot of basketball left for us - with the two games we have left, with the ACC tournament. When you play hard and you compete like we did today, those things will all take care of itself."
On matching up with Duke:
"I think, first of all, our team believes we can beat them. I think that's the first thing when you watch teams come in here and kind of lay an egg. We have the confidence because we've done it in the past. We love the matchup. It brings out the best in us. But I think rebounding-wise, we can match it, especially with the way they like to go to the offensive end. So, I think from that end, it's been an area that's helped us be successful against them."
On limiting Duke's Jasmine Thomas:
"If you would have told me before we started the game if we held Jasmine to eight points you were going to lose, I wouldn't have believed you. I thought [Karima] Christmas was spectacular. Those three's she hit from the three-point line, it was Christmas for her. I just thought she did a tremendous job and was a big difference, obviously, for them, stepping up and making those plays while Jasmine was in foul trouble."
On Maryland's defensive play:
"Minus those four minutes that got away from us - I think obviously, when you lose Diandra [Tchatchouang], which we did, and you lose that kind of 6-3 presence inside on the glass, we had to go smaller in terms of the zone and even our man matchups. I think that's what hurt us. But absolutely, I feel like this team can rebound with anybody."
Sophomore Center Lynetta Kizer
On the atmosphere at Cameron:
"It was a great atmosphere. All week we just talked about embracing it, and I think that's what we did today - just embrace the atmosphere."
Senior Guard Lori Bjork
On the rivalry with Duke:
"It's a lot of fun. This is why, I think, everybody in a red uniform, why we came to Maryland. We wanted to play in these types of matchups, so it's something that, like Lynetta said, we definitely embraced it and we wanted to play in it."
On Duke limiting her in the second half:
"I think every team at this point knows that if they leave me wide open, I'm probably going to shoot it, and I might make it. They do a good job of identifying me. I just thought in the second half, their pressure didn't necessarily give our guards a chance to even find me, because I thought they upped their pressure another level, and it was very hard to find me even when I was open."
On Duke's pressure late in the game:
"They were forcing us to take time off the clock, obviously, at the end, in the last four minutes or so. We've just got to attack the basket, and I thought we showed some signs of doing that, and that's what we have to build off of."
