March 20, 2011
Recap |
Box Score |
Notes |
AP Photo Gallery 
Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese
Opening statement:
"I liked how we came out and we set the tone early, that's something that we had talked about, is wanting to come out and jump on them early. Credit to this team, I thought we were focused and we were ready to play. I thought our defense led to our transition game, obviously we were able to use our strengths in terms of our dominance in size and being able to go to the glass. Credit Saint Francis, a lot of heart, scrappiness and fight, I thought in the second half they never quit. I think they continued to play extremely hard and did some great things, but we're excited about moving on after today being one of the last 32 teams in the tournament."
On the fast start:
"I thought that was a big factor. I thought, to credit our team, that they were ready to play, especially with the time off. I credit their psyche and just having themselves mentally prepared. "
On expectations:
"Throughout the week you could feel some nerves and a level of confidence. The comforting thing for us as coaches was that yesterday we had one of our best practices. I thought as the week built up, we continued to get stronger and stronger, and obviously that is your concern with a young team when you only three returning players is how are they going to handle the NCAA Tournament, and I think that they handled it really well like the winners they are and just played with confidence. That's what we're wanting to see."
On nerves:
"It's kind of like a roller coaster sometimes the unpredictability of this team being so young. I thought after the selection show on Monday, we had a really good practice on Tuesday and then we're off Wednesday another one on Thursday. Friday was not so good in terms of how we practiced. So it was nice to be able to, again, have a really good practice on Saturday. Again, with this team that's what you're trying to look for is a consistency factor, but I knew as it got closer to game time that they would have themselves prepared."
Junior Center Lynetta Kizer
On fast start:
"It was us just telling ourselves we were going to come out and be ready to play. I think that was something that we did, it was just us being excited and being ready to play. I think we did a good job and it's just about sustaining it for 40 minutes."
On experience preparing younger players:
"These past two weeks in practice we got a lot of people stepping out of their shell, especially coming from Kim Rodgers. Just going into practice and hearing her voice more, she knows so much about the basketball game itself that just hearing her talk to the freshmen and having us come together and give our knowledge about what it's going to be like playing in this NCAA tournament was a big difference these past two weeks."
On comparing NCAA/WNIT:
"With the WNIT, it was more of a disappointment, but that's last year and we got a whole new year this year. Being able to get back to the tournament is a lot of fun for us. I know the freshmen are excited and me, Kim Rodgers and Anjale Barrett are trying to do a good job keeping everybody's motivation up. Just going out and being able to step on the court again as a team and going out and being able to play for another run at this title is amazing for us."
Freshman Forward Alyssa Thomas
On first NCAA Tournament:
"Again, we just wanted to go out there and take their confidence away from the beginning. As far as playing in my first NCAA game, I was pretty excited and just fed off the energy out there."
Junior Anjale Barrett
On Maryland's pressure defense:
"Ball pressure has been a big focus for us lately and we work on it in practice and make sure we have good help side. It's not only me pressuring the ball, but it's team defense and I think we started off really well with that. Being able to sustain that throughout the whole game was key."
