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Women's Basketball
vs Countdown to Craziness
Quotes: Duke 63, UConn 61 OT
3/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Duke Coach Gail Goestenkors
Opening Statement
"I think that was probably the most beautiful, ugly win we've ever had in the history of our program. It was not pretty by any means. We shot so poorly in the first half and (Monique Currie) had been on the bench, and I thought we can't possibly shoot this poorly for two halves. Connecticut did a fantastic job; they came ready to play. It was a war out there, a battle for every rebound, every loose ball ? They made us work. Things did not go well for us, and I give Connecticut credit for that. At the same time, we did what was necessary to win. We showed great character and finished strong."
On Alison Bales' play
"She changes the game on both ends of the floor but specifically on defense. It allows our guards to really pressure the ball and get up in the passing lanes. They know that if they get beat they've got (Bales) back there to he them out. She blocked eight shots, but she probably changed 10 more shots, because she had people thinking that she might block their shot. Once she gets into your head, she changes the things you want to do. She changed the game for us; she was the difference."
On three ACC teams in the Final Four
"We've felt like we've had a great conference for the last two years. It may be the best conference in the country from top to bottom, but until you can back it up and get teams to the Final Four and win National Championships it's all talk. People were still skeptical, but now we've shown people we have a pretty good conference."
On how a tough game like this can help win a National Championship
"I told our players that it is not a bad thing that we played this kind of game. It's been almost too easy up to this point. Everything was in sync; we were clicking, we were playing really excellent basketball. I thought this would be the toughest game for us, because there was so much at stake."
On the crowd
"I'm not quite sure if it affected the team. I love a great crowd, and so does our team. I thought they were pretty intimidating. I think they really helped Connecticut more than they hurt us. I'm not sureif it hurt us or not."
On winning the regional after losing at this point the last couple of years
"It feels amazing to win a regional final and to win with the teammates I have. Connecticut is a great team and they gave us quite a game."
On her rough start and regaining composure
"I was a little frustrated, but coach did a good job telling me not to worry about it. She told me to just focus, and I'd have a good game. That really helped. The rest of the game I did exactly what she told me, and it worked."
On her defense
"It's always about defense. I got frustrated early because I got scored on the first two plays of the game. I love defense, I guess. My teammates are thankful, because a lot of times they can pressure more because they know I'll be on help side. It's a momentum stopper for the other team, and it helps our momentum."
On the sense of relief after not scoring in final minutes of overtime
"We fought and took their best shot. We weren't really able to get ours, so we're just happy to get this win. We really fought hard for it."
On UConn frustrating her on defense
"I don't know if it was necessarily what they did. I just couldn't get into a rhythm the entire game. They switched up defenses, and when I drove there were a lot of players waiting there for me. I was just hoping my teammates would pull us through, and they did. They did an excellent job ? They won the game for us."
On Alison Bales
"Coming into the game, I knew (Alison Bales) would make a difference in deciding whether we would win or lose this game. I am so proud of her. She's been showing what she can do throughout the entire tournament. We've known she could do that all year. She's just a tough match-up for a lot of players. If she continues to play like that, we can continue to be dominant on the inside."
On getting back to the Final Four
"It means everything right now. Our ultimate goal is to win a National Championship. We took a huge step making it to Boston. We've tried to keep that in the back of our minds all season, so it's finally here, and we can get closer to what we want to do. We worked really hard, and I'm glad to be going to Boston."
On the final play
"I was hoping it wouldn't go down. It rolled in and went out, thankfully. (Charde Houston) had a good look; I was on the ground, and (Bales came over). I think she hesitated, and that threw off her shot."
UConn Coach Geno Auriemma
Opening Statement
"They say that you really don't understand what winning is and really don't appreciate what winning is until you've had your share of losing. I think just the opposite is true. I don't think you quite fathom how much losing hurts when you've had as much opportunities for winning as we've had over the years and today, we played almost well enough to win the game and we did almost enough things to win the game and we had almost enough guys play heroically and it wasn't enough. If we had played a lesser team, it would've been enough, but the team we played was too good for us to play almost."
Barbara Turner
On her health down the stretch
"It didn't. I was out on the floor. If I was hurt, I shouldn't have been out there. I was out there just competing as hard as I could, working without my legs. I tried to go until I couldn't go anymore."
Players Mentioned
C
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