Quotes: Duke 102, Northeastern 49

Duke Coach Gail Goestenkors:

Opening Statement:
“I give Northeastern a lot of credit, they're coming off a tough year last year. They have a good coach, and I think they're going to do great things there. I thought they came out ready to play, they were aggressive, they weren't intimidated. I was disappointed in our first half effort on both ends of the floor. But I give credit to Northeastern for really coming at us; they're going to do a good job this year. I thought we played better in the second half; we need to finish some of our lay-ups. In the first half we missed a bunch of wide-open shots. Overall, I'm pleased to get this one under our belt.”

On what was missing:
“I thought it was intensity and focus, those two things. The intensity on the defensive end, they were pushing the ball at us. They were doing a better job with their transition offense than we were with our transition defense. To me that is intensity. Then missing those open shots, I think that's focus. So those were the two things that we talked about at halftime.”

On leaving players out on the floor for long periods during the second half:
“We feel like we have good depth and in the first half we didn't really use our depth. We went with our starters most of the time, so we wanted to make a conscious effort to play our bench more. Then players like Brittany (Mitch), Joy (Cheek) and Bridgette (Mitchell), those guys are just going to keep getting better and better with time. Brittany, she has to be patient with herself because she is really a freshman and we have her playing all 5 positions really. She played the point for us, the wing, and then she is down on the post, so I think it is a lot for her to handle. She's thinking probably a little bit too much right now. It was necessary for her to just play a lot to get a feel for the game and it was really good to see the ball go in the basket finally for her because she is a good shooter.”

On defensive pressure:
“We're always going to rely on our defense. That's one of our mainstays. It's what we spend most of our time with in practice. Getting those steals, getting out on the fast break, that's the style that our team really enjoys. The crowd loves it as well. When we get a steal or blocked shot, defensively, it is emotional for us and good things happen.”

On Alison Bales' trouble with dealing with double teams:
“It's good that our guards really worked to get her the ball inside, it's something that's been a focus for us and she has been much more aggressive with the basketball, which is important. She's had two really good exhibitions, so this game she obviously didn't finish around the basket and we're going to need her to do that. This was a tough game for her, but hopefully a game where she can learn and we will break this down and watch video with her so she can see some of the moves she probably could have made and slowed down a little bit. She was in a hurry because she knew she had the size advantage, she rushed things.”

On Alison Bales' confidence:
“It was high at the beginning of the game, it's probably not right now. But she's been feeling good, she's been playing well for us, really well, and she's been finishing around the basket. So today was an anomaly. She's going to have to let that go and learn from it.”

On Chante Black's return:
“Hopefully she is about a week away. She's going to see how she feels on Monday and she'll try to do a little bit in practice.”

On the freshmen's performance:
“They've practiced really well and hard everyday for us. I wouldn't say I'm surprised, maybe the rebounding, the fact that they both got double-doubles. Joy goes against Alison every day in practice and does not back down. She's not intimidated by anybody, she's very aggressive and assertive and has great confidence and so that's just made her better. Bridgette plays inside and outside for us and she always plays so hard, she makes good things happen.”

Sophomore Carrem Gay:
On using the game as a spring board into the season:
“Definitely, I know the two exhibitions weren't my best and I'm looking forward to the season.”

Freshman Bridgette Mitchell:
On using the game as a spring board into the season:
“I'm looking forward to the season. This was a good start, well a good second half start.”

On approaching the second half after her first half struggles:
“I just relaxed and I was like, ?I can't worry about everything' and just play. Play basketball.”

Abby Waner:
On getting back out onto the court:
“Yeah, it was fun. It was really fun when we get to see everybody on the floor doing great things. I think every single person on this team made a great play at some point. And I'm especially proud of our freshman. In their first collegiate game they both come in and get double-doubles. I think that's pretty amazing.”

Northeastern Coach Danyia La-Force Mann:

Opening Statement:
“Like I said to my team down there, we scored 49 points against Duke. Some of the ways that they scored their points, they had 40 points off turnovers, 30 second-chance points. Turnovers and second-chance are things that we can control as a team. We can box out better, we can take better care of the basketball, and if we did those things, it would be a whole different game. But I'm proud of my team, they put up a good fight, they never gave up for the entire 40 minutes. But those two things, turnovers and second chance points, are two things that we need to do better as a team in order to have an opportunity to win some games.”

On Duke getting frustrated early in the first half:
“I don't know if it was frustration. It might have been somewhat of a surprise. Maybe they didn't know what to expect from us. When the first half began, we took it at them a couple of times, and they were just taking it back, but I don't think they were frustrated. They're too good of a basketball team, with rich history and great legacy, to be frustrated when things like this happen.”

On their game plan:
“We were definitely trying to run the ball and fast break a little bit more, and get early points in transition. I didn't think playing a half court offense against Duke would be effective, but our style is definitely to get the ball out on defense as quickly as possible and get a lot of points in fast break opportunities. Defensively, we just wanted to mix it up, a little bit of man, a little bit of zone, and just keep them guessing as to what we were going to do defensively. It's hard to get it to zone if you're not scoring on offense and I think we fixed that a little bit in the game.”

On controlling Alison Bales:
“We've had two scrimmages so far before this game, and that was something we emphasized as a coaching staff that needed to get better for this game. Our post-defense in those two scrimmages wasn't too good, so really took time with our post players before this game and told them they have to be aggressive and stay active around Bales, and I thought they did a great job of doing that. Stefani Hodel did a wonderful job, Kim Carr did a good job, just staying active and pushing her off the block and making it easier for us to defend her.”

On the effect of Duke's defensive pressure:
“We knew what we were going to expect in terms of defensive pressure. Our kids were expecting the double teams and expecting the hard denials on the wing, but I just don't think that they offensively executed well enough. But we were expecting to face that kind of defensive pressure.”