Head Coach Brenda Frese
Opening statement:
"It was a tremendous win, and a special night when you can send your senior, Laurin [Mincy], out here the right way with a win. I thought the team played hard in terms of wanting to be able to get the win. At times we pressed a little bit too much tonight in terms of how much we wanted it for her, but credit Indiana - I thought they played hard. I thought they did a really nice job with their game play and 3s were important for us. It's a late game in terms of the stops we were able to get and the execution at the offensive end."
On senior guard Laurin Mincy's game:
"She was able to exploit them off the bounce, get to the free-throw line, pull up shots and make her 3s. She was just really aggressive and you could just really feel how much she wanted this game."
On Maryland potentially going undefeated in the Big Ten:
"We're always excited to play. I think it speaks volumes in terms of a consistency factor when you talk about being ready to play. Northwestern is a great team, it's going to be their senior day and they're going to be ready to play. We're going to have to play better than we did tonight though. If we play like this we're not going to get it. At the end of the day for us it's getting better every game that you play, and it's about getting ourselves ready for the Big Ten Tournament."
Redshirt Senior Guard Laurin Mincy
On playing in her senior night:
"I didn't have a senior night in high school, so I wanted to come out here and play hard. I had a lot of family, friends and fans here, so I wanted to go out with a bang."
On what she is going to miss about playing at Maryland:
"I'm going to miss my teammates, and being around our family atmosphere. The fans as well. They come out and support us every game faithfully."
Junior Center Malina Howard
On the impact of Laurin Mincy:
"Having a senior like Laurin, it's really special to send her out that way. She's put so much into the program and she means a lot to all of us. We all love and care about her. To have a teammate that you care so much about, you want to send them out on the right note."
On the emotion of the game and showing her emotions:
"I knew this game was for Laurin. It's been an emotional week knowing it is Senior Night. When it's someone who has been there with you for three years, and a person you care about a lot, I knew we needed energy at that point and it was just perfect timing."
Sophomore Guard Lexie Brown
On the team's performance in conference play:
"It's exciting. We look at every game the same, we just want to win. We are going to go out there and play as hard as we can. We were able to get the regular season championship, so that was one goal we were able to check off."
Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren
Opening statement:
“I’m really proud of our basketball team tonight. I thought we showed a lot of fight, showed a lot of resilience against the No. 5 team in the country. To only give up only eight offensive rebounds was a great stat that jumps off the sheet tonight because Maryland averages around 19 offensive rebounds. For us to only give up eight when we were clearly overmatched as far as size, Jenn Anderson had to go out in the second half with a small head injury. So we had to go a little smaller in the second half down the stretch which probably hurt us. The other stat that sticks out is the 30 times they got to the free throw line. That hurt us, obviously those are easy points that are free and that was a little frustrating from time to time. I’m really pleased with our basketball team and just the toughness that we showed throughout the 40 minutes.”
On Maryland Guard Laurin Mincy’s big game on senior night
“We kind of knew, we cautioned our kids; it’s senior night. Senior night is always a special night for those young ladies and she’s a terrific player. We cautioned our kids that there was a good chance that she would try to have an extra special night in front of her family, friends and fans here. Not surprised, like I said she’s a tremendous player. I have a ton of respect not only for her, but for the entire Maryland team.”
On Maryland one win away from a perfect conference record:“
To say I’m surprised and shocked, a little bit; only because this is such a crazy game and night in and night. They clearly have to play with a special mark on their back and they’re going to get everyone’s best shot. For them to stay undefeated is a make-up of a very special team. They have tremendous tradition; they were in the Final Four. One of the things we all said earlier about the Big Ten is the Big Ten wasn’t going to have to get used to Maryland; the rest of the Big Ten had to make sure that we were ready for what Maryland and Rutgers were going to bring and that was a different style. Athleticism, size, and I think the adjustment was not clearly for Maryland or Rutgers, it was the rest of the Big Ten adjusting to those two teams."
