Quote: Duke 69, Vanderbilt 48

Duke Coach Gail Goestenkors

Opening Statement:
“Vanderbilt is an excellent team and I think that anybody who watched the game understands that the score is not indicative of the game. It was much closer than that. I thought they did a great job. They are a very difficult team to defend because they have so many weapons inside and out. I am really proud of our defense. We lost Caroline Williams twice on two occasions and on both of them she made us pay with three pointers. But from that point on we did a nice job on her and she's tough to defend. They're so patient offensively that we had to play defense for long periods of time. So overall I'm very pleased with our defense. Offensively, I think we got in a rush. I give them credit for their defense, they changed things up, and made us work and made us think. But we committed too many turnovers. We didn't have the patience that we need to have to be the best team we can be.”

On Dee Davis taking more shots than usual:
“We were getting help off of her when we could down inside. So she was open a good bit more than she normally is, but when she got the ball then we wanted to pressure her to try and limit vision. She's a great player, she's a competitor and she knew that they were having a tough time scoring, so she took it upon herself to take some more looks at the basket. She was trying to help her team win and that's what great point guards do.”

On staying with the starters in the second half:
“I thought our starters were just doing a really good job, playing well together. I knew it was a close game and just felt like I was going to go with the players who were playing well at that point in time.”

On defensive game plan:
“They're an excellent team when they get to run their sets. They're like third in the nation in assists. I told the team we wanted to play pressure defense and we wanted to make them uncomfortable. So, we switched a lot on screens. We felt like if we made them one-on-one players, their not as comfortable playing one-on-one basketball. We talked about their assists and I was really proud that they only had five assists, because that means that we were really doing our job.”

On limiting full court press:
“They're such a great passing team and Dee Davis is one of the best point guards in the nation and they will pick you apart. They've got Caroline Williams on the wing and if your traps and rotations aren't perfect, then they'll find her. Because they've got so many weapons and because they're such a great passing team, we really limited our traps.”

Senior Alison Bales

On defending Carla Thomas:
“She's a very talented player. I kind of switched it up in the middle of the game, but really it was just trying to stop her from scoring, just being physical with her when she was low and trying to keep her off the block. She has her outside shot and a drive, so she's talented and it was a good challenge for me.”

On out-rebounding Vanderbilt:
“Coach G[oestenkors] has really been on us to rebound since day one, so I think tonight it just culminated. They play a lot of zone defense and sometimes they lose us and we just really crashed the boards really hard, and I think we did a good job of team rebounding.”

Senior Lindsey Harding

On Duke's early struggles in the transition offense:
“I think that we were just in a rush because every team that we've played, we were able just to get out and throw the ball and go and it just took us a while to adjust because Vanderbilt's a great team and they got back really quick. So, it took us time to adjust and we just had to figure out when to pull it out and when to push the ball.”

On guarding Dee Davis:
“I think she was. She does a great job of running their team, making sure they get into sets, and what I wanted to do is limit her vision. We know that she gets about seven or eight assists a game, and that was her job for their team, so what I wanted to do was limit those assists.”

On her offensive production in the second half:
“I think I attacked more than I did in the first half. I was kind of busy looking at Ali[son Bales] posting up and, as [Coach] G[oestenkors] would say, we were passing it in and watching her. So I started passing it and moving and I started to get my team into the sets and I open shots. I actually wasn't working as hard as I was the first half and getting open shots because I was running the plays through.”

Sophomore Abby Waner

On Duke's eight-point possession:
“I think that was a huge play for us. I'm not sure what the point difference was, but I know it was still extremely close, and that definitely got our crowd into it. And that's what we needed, is that when our crowd got into it, we started getting energy on the floor. I think we really just took the game over from that point.”

Vanderbilt Coach Melanie Balcomb

On whether an explanation was given for the intentional foul:
“There was none. That's what I was trying to get.

“I don't think the game was won or lost on that play. You have a lot of chances to do a lot of things all game. That was a tough situation for us, obviously, but I don't think it was won or lost on that play. I never think a game is won or lost on one play.”

On defending against Alison Bales:
“Just play her straight up. She's a great passer, so we didn't want to double her. She'll kill you with her passing. She's an incredibly good passer, and she wants to bring the double. She's very unselfish. She's a very good high/low passer. We were more concerned about her passing. She did a good job one-on-one, but we wanted to push her off the block. We did not want to give her those wide open 15-foot shots where she shoots so well.”

On Vanderbilt's overall performance:
“This is a good measuring stick for us. I don't think we're that far. I thought we were in the game the whole game, but we couldn't get it below that six-point mark. They're ranked four in the country and we're on their home court, and win or lose we were going to learn a lot from this game.”

Officials Comment On Play With 4:18 Remaining:
(Joe Cunningham, Lawson Newton, June Courteau)

Why did the basket count?

The offensive player was deemed to be in the act of shooting as defined by Rule 4 Section 67 Article 2.

Why did the intentional foul not negate the basket?

The intentional foul does not negate the basket or attempt because a live ball does not become dead when a foul is committed by an opponent of a player who starts a try for goal before a foul occurs. (Rule 6 Section 6 Article 2).