Jan. 16, 2012
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No. 8 Maryland 68, Virginia 61
Jan. 16, 2012
College Park, Md. (Comcast Center)
Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese
Opening Statement:
"I thought that Virginia was really, really good tonight. They came in and had a really good game plan and made us play their tempo and style of play. They were very, very aggressive and I thought it took us awhile to get into the rhythm of the game. But in the second half I think that we were able to wear them down and understand how to break up the match-up zone. I think that we were really good at getting inside outside touches on the offensive end in the second half."
On turnovers and defending:
"Those were two things we specifically talked about after the game - turnovers and defense. We could have had a wider margin had we done those two things. We needed to defend and get stops and obviously be able to get some looks on the offensive end."
On her guards' play:
"I think we were able to get better flashes in the middle of the floor and be more aggressive in terms of breaking it. I think our guards' did a really nice job of being aggressive and bringing the ball up.
On Alyssa Thomas' game:
"Sometimes you have a game like that where you are out of rhythm, credit the defense that they played on her. Obviously the guards Laurin [Mincy], Kim [Rodgers] and Brene [Moseley] had a lot of threes. That is what is so exciting is the depth we have on this team and the plays they were able to make."
On lagging transitions:
"We made that adjustment in the second half and I think that it really made a big difference. I think out post defense was really solid tonight and that was a big difference."
On rebounding from the loss at Miami:
"Anytime you lose you don't want to feel that again anytime soon. We wanted to get back out and play, especially a game against UVA that is a rivalry. Joanne (Boyle) does a tremendous job. Absolutely we wanted to get back out on the floor and play right away."
On the play of her bigs:
"They were really good. I am excited because that is something that we stressed coming back from Miami. For us to be a team we have to be able to have inside-outside play. We can't solely rely on our guards. Our bigs are too talented and we need to have that play."
On Kim Rodgers:
"I am proud of Kim (Rodgers). She has persevered through all of these injuries. She has stayed the course. I am excited for her to have this success. It's what we needed. It gives us more bench depth. We know that Kim is a tremendous competitor and we are excited for her."
On Laurin Mincy:
"We had a lot of isolation with her. We love the ball in her hands. She went one-on-one, had some pick and rolls. I thought she got very aggressive going to the rim. When she can shoot the three and attack off the bounce she is hard to guard. We have challenged Laurin with her consistency. She brought it tonight, she brought it on both ends of the floor."
Senior Forward Lynetta Kizer
On losing to UVA is past years:
"I told the underclassmen that we always go 1-1 against UVA. We seem to get them down there and then they come back up here and beat us. We really wanted to focus on getting good solid wins and protecting our house. We bounced back from Miami and got a good win."
Sophomore Guard Laurin Mincy
On her picking up the scoring from Alyssa Thomas:
"I figured I needed to step up since she (Alyssa Thomas) wasn't scoring like she usually does. We all did a good job of stepping up."
On Virginia's Ariana Moorer and Ataira Franklin:
"They are two great players. (Ariana) Moorer is more of a driver, she is strong. (Ataira Franklin) is a shooter. She gets it off the bounce a little but they are two great players."
On Virginia fatiguing:
"Coach told us to keep pushing in transition and that they would slow down eventually."
Virginia Head Coach Joanne Boyle
On Virginia's fatigue:
"If you notice, we have a pretty short bench, and we're trying to press a lot of the game. Fatigue did set in, we tried to use timeouts accordingly, but once you get a stop or a steal, or you get them to turn it over, it just reinvigorates us and I thought the kids did a great job. We went away from it when they were really tired and then tried to bring it back at the end."
On their shooting:
"They run that zone, and it kind of goes into a man and if you over think it, then you second-guess your shots. What we have to get better at is we're getting stops on defense and being able to convert easy buckets so we don't go against half-court defense all night. I think we put ourselves in that situation too many times."
On the pace of the game:
"I thought it was a good pace early. When we got tired, it got slow for us. We've been talking a lot as a group to have a better pace to our offense and I thought there were times that we had a good pace and times that we didn't. That's just a work in progress for us."
On the difference in the game:
"All the credit goes to Maryland, they're a great team and they know how to fight off opponents. We are not going to play a perfect game, so we have to control the things we can control. So, we don't box out, not converting on two-on-one situations, we're capable of doing that and we've got to finish those things out. I thought their post played really physical with us down the stretch and we didn't really match that. The game got away from us a little bit."
Sophomore Guard Ataira Franklin
On playing with a lack of depth:
"When we are in the game, we can't save anything. All I can do is go 100 percent for as long as I can, get a sub when I can, get water during a timeout. That's pretty much all I can do. In a game like this you have to leave it all on the court, so I can't worry about the next break."
