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7 p.m.
Women's Basketball
vs Countdown to Craziness
Quotes: Duke 67, North Carolina 62
2/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Duke Coach Gail Goestenkors
Opening Statement:
“I'm just really proud of the team. This was another great environment. I'm proud of the fans. It was a great environment for women's basketball. This wasn't one of our best games. I think we struggled a little bit offensively. I give [North] Carolina credit for that. I thought their defense was really good. But once again, we did what was necessary to win. I thought we did a good job on the boards. We were aggressive to the basket. Unfortunately, we didn't make our free throws. We're usually an excellent free throw shooting team, so that was a little disheartening. But it feels good to be able to shoot as poorly as we did from the free throw line and still come away with the win.”
On the performance of freshman Joy Cheek and sophomore Carrem Gay:
“I'm so proud of Joy [Cheek]. She did a great job for us. Carrem [Gay] was injured in the Maryland game, and she hadn't practiced all week. She practiced a little bit yesterday but we knew her shoulder was still very sore, and she was tentative. So we told her we were just going to play her in short spurts. Joy and B[ridgette Mitchell] knew that they needed to be ready to play, and Joy came out. Because it was such a physical game, she was much more effective for us.”
On what going undefeated in the regular season means to her:
“It doesn't really mean anything to me. We've never focused on going undefeated. If we would have lost a game, that would have been fine, too, because we knew that we were going to get better. I think the thing that means the most to me is that it's something special for these two seniors. Because nobody else can top that. They've put so much into this program, and they've been willing to be role players for several years, and now it's been there time to shine. So I think that's what makes me feel best about this season, is that it's something more than any other team has done.”
On whether Duke has an edge after playing a tougher regular season schedule than UNC:
“I think, at this point, probably none. They've played us, they've played Maryland, they've played Tennessee, Connecticut. At this point in the season they've played some tough teams. I think what it did was to give us some confidence heading into the ACC season. Every big game we play, every big game we have against great competition is going to give us more confidence.”
Senior guard Lindsey Harding
On whether rolling her ankles affected her play:
“It really didn't, because it happened in practice and you just kind of shake it off and keep playing. I rolled my right one. I was crossing the ball, I think I crossed myself over, and just rolled my right one. And then in the second half, I rolled my left one again, but it was fine. I just shook it off.”
On students tenting for tonight's game:
“They were out there for how many days, in the cold, in the rain? It was raining and it was freezing. I wanted to come out there and I wanted to give them a show. I wanted to win for them, for myself, my last game, for my team and everything. They get you pumped up with a lay-up, one score, one steal, they continue just to keep you pumped up.”
Senior center Alison Bales
On her offensive performance:
“Last time against Carolina, I didn't really score, especially in the first half. I really wasn't aggressive enough. I was getting my shot blocked. So, I wanted to come into this game, forget about that game and really come in aggressive, and I did and luckily my outside shot was falling.”
On going undefeated in the regular season:
“In the long run, you don't get a banner that says ?undefeated for the season.' It is an accomplishment, and I think that right now we're very proud of what we've done so far this season, but also in the same regards we're still ready for the next part of our season.”
On the team's expectations:
“I think our expectations are the same as when we started the season. We knew we were going to be good going into the season, and I don't think that going undefeated changes what we want. At the end of the season we want to be national champions.”
On the crowd support:
“Duke's known for its Cameron Crazies, and I think that it's just an amazing feeling to have them be as supportive as they were tonight for the women's team just like they are for the men ... It was really exciting to have them support us like they did tonight.”
Sophomore guard Abby Waner
On defending Ivory Latta:
“We realized that last game she did go 3-for-20, but most of her looks were wide open, and when you're a good player like she is, you're not going to go 3-for-20 again. We were consciously aware of where she was at all times. Especially in a zone, it's hard to lose somebody except for we all knew what side she was on and paid a little bit more attention to that side.”
On getting steals at the end of the game:
“I told Ali[son Bales] at halftime that when I get beat, sometimes it's just because I feel like letting her get a block. It's a comfort level that you can pressure and if you happen to get beat then there is that next line of defense. And also, towards the end of the game, they had some of there bigger players up top, like Camille Little and Rashanda McCants, handling the ball. As a defender, you have to learn to recognize that ? when you can go for steals and be a little bit more aggressive ? whereas if somebody like Ivory [Latta] had the ball, she's a little bit quicker and you have to be more conservative.”
North Carolina Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening Statement:
“If everybody rebounded like Erlana [Larkins] we would have probably won the game. She had 19 rebounds and thank goodness she had those because I thought rebounding made a big difference. Overall, except for Erlana, I was disappointed in our rebounding efforts. We had some turnovers that were really costly at different times. But, I thought we were in a position to win the game and they took it from us a few times in some crucial situations. The foul line was major, too. You have to get on the foul line a better. We were trying; we were taking it in there but they got on the foul line and we didn't. Basically, that was the difference in the game.”
On Duke's zone:
“When I saw them go zone, I actually was very happy because we have been great against zone all year. I was really surprised they went zone because not many people play us zone because our efficiency rating against the zone has been great. I was disappointed that we didn't attack it the way we should have. There were a lot of gaps and holes in the zone because they were spread out so much and we just didn't do a good job attacking it. They gambled and they did a good job with that.”
On Jessica Breland:
“She's been playing well lately. She's just getting better and better as she understands. She's been coming up and watching film a lot. She's going to be a good player. She just has to understand more what to do and intensity levels. She can get up there and rebound and again, she's just got to get more experience.”
On turnovers in the last 10 minutes:
“Ivory [Latta] and Alex [Miller] were both out front. I don't know; we had some turnovers where I thought we were just too loose with the ball and we took the ball inside to Rashanda [McCants] and Camille [Little] and had some turnovers that were very costly. When I saw them go zone I was very happy because like I said we have been very effective against the zone. There were a lot of gaps and holes in there but when we took it inside we turned it over. We'll get better with that and hopefully we'll get to play again, maybe next Sunday.”
On Duke:
“They're definitely better [this year] than anyone expected. The fact that they've had the record they've had and the players that graduated last year; they play well together. That's the strong point of their team. They play off their strengths and they do a good job playing together. I told Gail before the game, sometimes when kids have opportunities they take advantage of it and I think their kids who didn't play a lot last year are taking that now. They play well as a team. I told my kids in the locker room, we haven't played our best basketball. We can play better than we're playing. I've watched Duke play a lot this year and they've played really well. I don't know how much better they can play.”
Junior Forward Erlana Larkins
On playing against Alison Bales:
“I wasn't worried about her blocking my shot because she's done that to me many times before and that happens. But, that doesn't stop you from taking it to her. I just didn't want to settle for the shot. We hadn't been getting on the free throw line much and I was trying to take it to her, so even though she was giving me the shot I didn't want to settle for it.”
On the confidence of the team going into the ACC Tournament:
“I don't know. Like coach said, we had an excellent game plan and she felt we didn't do what we needed to do. She asked the rhetorical question, what are we going to do about it? Hopefully we can step up to the challenge and go into the ACC Tournament and do something. Even though I got in there and got 19 rebounds, it's not about me. We have to do it as a team. I just think we have to answer coach's question and step up and accept the challenge.”
Senior Guard Ivory Latta
On what went wrong:
“I really don't know. I would definitely say we weren't aggressive in going to the hole. We got the ball inside and just weren't getting the call. We weren't aggressive. I noticed that I wasn't [aggressive during the game] but at the same time I was just trying to focus on running the play. I should have taken it to the hole a little bit more.”
On her shooting:
“I had some good looks and unfortunately they didn't fall. I had some good looks.”
On the disappointment of today's loss:
“It's always disappointing to lose no matter who it is, especially to Duke. We just have to let it go; we have the ACC Tournament. Everybody wants that number one seed and everybody wants to win the ACC Tournament. We've won it back to back. It's always disappointing.”
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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