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Women's Basketball
vs Countdown to Craziness
Quotes: Duke 72, Miami 42
1/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Duke Coach Gail Goestenkors
Opening Statement:
“I thought it was an extremely slow start for us. It took us awhile to really get our energy and our focus where it needed to be. Once we got going, I thought we did a pretty good job. Once again I thought our defense overall was good. We did a good job on the boards. Offensively, we had a lot of open shots? didn't put them down, but what's important right now I think is we're executing and we're getting the open shots because I know they eventually will fall for us. It just wasn't our night offensively.”
On defense where it needs to be at this point of the season:
“We feel good about our defense. We play a variety of defenses and I think we have a confidence in all of them.”
On defending against Miami's Renee Taylor:
“I thought we did a decent job--- I didn't think we did a great job because we fouled her. Everything else I thought we did a good job with. She's tough because she can shoot the step-back three--- she's so quick she can turn the corner and get to the basket. Overall I thought we did a good job except for putting her on the free throw line. I give her credit because she does a good job drawing contact.”
On attacking Taylor's dribble:
“We think she's a good ball handler, and we think she prefers to go left a little bit. We started switching off on some ball screens they were running and I think that kind of caught her by surprise by a little bit.”
On Duke's biggest asset defensively:
“I think it's the team mentality that we have. We take great pride in our defense. It starts with Lindsey Harding at the point--- she's the ACC reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and it's anchored by Alison Bales and the way she can help her teammates out and block shots. But everybody on the court playing together, understanding what our scheme is for that particular game, takes great pride in shutting teams down.”
On relaxing the team after a slow start:
“I usually yell at them. No, the good thing is we've got so many different options. We're not waiting for Alana (Beard) or Monique (Curry) or somebody or one person to just automatically take over for us. So we have to really rely on one another. It may take us a little bit longer, but I think in the long run it makes us much more difficult to defend.”
On bench play:
“They've had some great practices, and so I wanted to give them some minutes because they deserve them. They've been doing a great job and Emily (Waner) once again I thought came in and gave us a spark. She's been doing that pretty consistently now since the Texas game. Joy Cheek did a nice job--- she had a couple of kickouts to Ali (Bales) for shots. ?B' (Bridgette Mitchell) came in and she's always high energy for us, which is really important. I thought we really made a run when ?Britt' (Brittany Mitch) and Emily (Waner) were both in the game at the same time. That's when we made our run in the first half. I thought they'd been practicing well and I thought it showed today in the way they played the game.”
Senior Center Alison Bales
On Duke's slow start:
“I just don't think we were ready to play coming out. We just need to get our focus in warm-ups and be ready to play when the game starts.”
On her outside shooting:
“They weren't really guarding me out there and I like to pride myself on the fact that I can step out and hit from the outside anywhere in the two-point range. If they were going to give it to me, then I was going to take it and luckily they were going in in the first half.”
Sophomore Forward Carrem Gay
On Duke's rebounding:
“One of our goals going into the game was to attack the offensive glass. All of the [post players] like to rebound.”
Sophomore Guard Abby Waner
On Duke's slow start:
“I feel like in the first half once we started getting up and down the floor a little bit we knew that Miami was a very good transition team and we knew that we could probably beat them going the other way as well. Once we started pushing the ball a little bit, getting up and down, I think that's when we had our big run and we kind of settled down from there.”
On attacking the basket:
“The coaches are always telling me that if shots aren't falling to start getting to the basket and see what opens up from there. I told Ali [Bales] at half time that she was going to be taking me spot in all the plays that are designed for a shot at the three-point line.”
On playing an all-around game:
“I've learned that you can't base a game on how many shots fall and how many shots don't fall. If we can do all of the other things, we'll be fine. We don't just have to rely solely on the outside shot.”
Miami Coach Katie Meier
Opening Statement:
"It was obviously not a pretty game in terms of shooting percentages. I think holding Duke to 36 percent on their home floor is something we can take away from this game. My whole feeling is that it just came down to grabbing the ball and I felt like Duke was grabbing the rebounds, going for loose balls, going for steals, and whenever we had a rebound they would grab it from us. In a 30-point loss there are a lot of things that went wrong, but my initial impression is to get my team tougher. Duke is so mentally focused and alert. They were more alert and more aggressive to the ball and that really hurt us and that is a credit to them. They're a very well-coached and well-conditioned team and everybody really just loves basketball and you can see there is a really unique spirit about them. I said it before the game and I'll say it after, they're one of the smartest teams in America. They have great chemistry and a great spirit and that's something I'm working to build down at Miami.”
On what makes Duke so successful on defense:
“I think we're going to face a lot of athletic ability, pressure and that kind of thing, but I don't think that's what overwhelms you about Duke; I think it's that they're just so smart. They have the ability athletically but their cohesiveness, their communication and their ability to make adjustments is what gets you. It's a total team defense. I think it starts with Lindsey [Harding] taking the point guard and pushing her off to the hash mark on the sideline and saying, you can try to run your offense but I'm not going to let you.”
On coming back to Duke as a coach:
“I'm a very sentimental and emotional person and I thought it would be more overwhelming than it was. Joanne Boyle's mother came and said hello to me and that really got to me. Other than that, I'm really so focused on this team and building it and teaching lessons and getting them tough. I love going in these arenas and playing in the ACC and I love coaching against the coaches. It wasn't just another ACC game, but it felt very comfortable.”
Miami Senior Guard, Renee Taylor
On Duke's defense:
“Coach set up a lot of good codes but it's just up to us to walk out and really be disciplined and run them all the way through and not take early shots. I think it was us holding our composure and trying to execute on the plays. Other than that, I think we would have done well if we would have gotten all the way through the plays.”
Players Mentioned
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