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Quotes: Duke 95, Utah Valley 61
12/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Duke Coach Joanne P. McCallie
On her overall impression of the game, and the performance of senior Abby Waner:
“This was a great team game, a game where a lot of people got involved. I really appreciate watching the senior leadership of Abby on the floor. Many times, she's synonymous with offense because she's such a terrific shooter, but in this case, 10 steals is a remarkable accomplishment. That is a remarkable thing that she was able to do by the way she hustled and the way she played. It was really uplifting to see, it was energizing and it was something that the team needs to see, that kind of hustle and intensity. I don't know if you realize how hard that is; you have to play the game to realize how hard that is to accomplish by anybody. It shows a completeness that I was very excited to see from Abby.”
On the return of Wanisha Smith to the lineup, and the performance of other players:
“It was great to have (Wanisha Smith) back. It was her first game back and she gave us energy. She had some measure of frustration in just getting her timing, but she gave us some excellent leadership. (Chante Black) has been very steady for us and she continues to be steady. Joy (Cheek) and Carrem (Gay) also supplied a lot of leadership, experience and poise. It's ironic that they still out-rebounded us. That's been a thorn in our side. Officially, they had 49 and we had 46, and that's something that we'll think about and build on.”
On the 20-rebound outing of Utah Valley junior Robyn Fairbanks:
“I'm going to say that Robyn Fairbanks ? talk about a person who's relentless. To set a record in our own place, that's a little bit painful. It's a great compliment to her, but I believe the 20 rebounds is a Cameron Indoor Stadium for women's basketball. We're just going to have to do something about.”
On how Duke handled several missed shots throughout the game:
“I think they played through it. They'll be their own toughest critics. We're working on focus. A lot of those layups were short shots with a lot of hands and movement and activity, and it takes an enormous amount of focus to finish those shots and it shouldn't be taken for granted. It wasn't like they were wide open layups ? there were people, there were bodies. We have to grow in that area and get excited to finish. Also, I think at times, we kind of rushed. We almost tried to get it too quick, and that's something we'll get better at.”
On the team's defensive strategy:
“Just work on our man defense, improve our help side in relation to number 10 and spot up on their shooters. I was looking for Julie McMurray ? she had seven points ? and then there was Sandy Marvin, their other go-to player, who had nine points. We did a decent job on the guards, spotting up and trying to take away their two go-to guards. Of course, it was Fairbanks who got away from us on some occasions, but we did some good things defensively. I felt we were in better position most of the time.”
On playing Abby Waner at the point:
“It's the way the game developed and it's something we know we always had. I think it was time too. Abby has a great deal of experience, and Wanisha does too, but I think Abby has more experience playing multiple positions. We will be flexible there and do what we have to do. Abby leading us in assists with seven did a fantastic job at point guard, and she was our point guard tonight. I think we have to be open about it and see how games flow.”
On her record-setting defensive performance:
"Coach P's talked a lot about defense leading into offense. Offensively, I've struggled lately, so my focus has turned to defense. That's the focus of our team too, is really trying to improve our man-to-man defense."
On what she did well, and what she needs to work on:
"I was just focused and concentrating on defensive stops and helping out other teammates. Fortunately, they turned the ball over 39 times, so I got some steals with that. Other than that, I've still got to concentrate because their post player scored in double digits and rebounds. I've got to cut down on that."
Joy Cheek
On her 15-point outing:
"I had a lot of open shots and my teammates did a good job of getting me the ball. Too bad I couldn't connect on the majority of them, but I think today was just a great team effort. Our post came up big, Abby (Waner) came up big and we got great defense from (Keturah Jackson). I didn't play that well, but there was 11 of us to pick it up."
Utah Valley Coach Cathy Nixon
On keeping her team motivated going into and throughout the game:
“That's something we talked about going into the game. Obviously Duke has tremendous talent and if they're more talented than us maybe that's not our fault, but if they work harder than we do, that's something we have control over. Our focus coming into this game, as it is with every game, basically was to make sure that we're controlling our effort and working hard. I was proud of our kids. I thought they battled well against a very talented team.”
On Abby Waner:
“She is such a hard-working player. She is the epitome of what a coach would want in a player as far as her work ethic. She takes every pass defensively personally; it's a personal thing to her if somebody catches the ball. There was that one swing in about 10 seconds where she got a steal, hit a shot, got a tip; her work ethic is just tremendous. I think it's exciting for our players to be able to watch something like that and for me as a coach, obviously the work ethic is the thing that I think separates her from any other player.”
On goals going into the game:
“We had some specific offensive and defensive goals. We always do. We actually did meet one of them, which was to out-rebound them. Robyn Fairbanks I thought had a tremendous game. Defensively, I thought she was very good against some very tough, athletic kids. She did miss a few shots that would have been great for her to make, but for her to compete that way on the boards and on both ends of the floor, I thought she had a great game. One of our goals in every game is to have a positive assists to turnover ratio and obviously that is the statistic that killed us tonight. There are definitely many things that are team can take back. This is our fourth year as a Division I program. My intent in bringing my team here was to have a measuring stick of where we matched up against one of the best teams in the country. I'm tremendously proud of our kids. We did some good things tonight and I hope that people can appreciate our hard work.”
On Chante Black:
“It's difficult. We tried to keep her out of her comfort zone a little bit and I thought our post players did a fairly good job of that. We did have her out a little bit; she had to face up and shoot a little. Obviously she has a nice touch, but there's not a lot you can do for that. We tried to work hard on the boards to keep her second chances down. Her reach is so long that obviously she has a big impact on the game, but I felt like our kids did a good job battling her. She's a difficult player to stop.”
Players Mentioned
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