Quotes: Duke 71, Wake Forest 36

Duke Coach Joanne P. McCallie

Opening Statement:
“Just a great team effort today?a lot of hustle, a lot of focus, which was just really impressive. Sometimes when scores get separated a little bit, teams can stop focusing and I just really thought it was a total team effort in every sense of the word?defense and rebounding and taking out their go-to players. Everybody who played contributed?I really thought Abby [Waner] and Carrem [Gay] set the tone being very aggressive offensively, certainly, but at the same time they were both rebounding and doing other things?steals, assists, things of that nature. So it was a great day for us and it's a great event?the whole ?Think Pink.' It's just a great thing, the awareness. We have many people on our team affected in various ways and it's just nice to be able to show how athletics can get together with the community and do something special for something that's very difficult. It was just a great day for Duke that way and we're looking forward to getting better from this and hitting the road on Tuesday.”

On the changes in the starting lineup:
“I always feel like this year we have seven starters if you include the five that were out there today and you include Joy Cheek and Jas[mine Thomas]. I think we have seven special people that are part of our rotation. At the same time I just really appreciate the leadership that Abby [Waner] and Nish [Wanisha Smith] can show and their experience and I really appreciate also K.J.'s [Keturah Jackson] ability to defend?her on-ball defense is fabulous, it's the best on the team, and so we can create a little bit more coming off of her. So just trying to rotate things a little bit but I'm pretty confident and a lot more interested in how we finish the game and who finishes the game rather than who starts the game.”

On the impact that Duke's trapping full court press had:
“I think with 17 steals that the team created and forcing the 24 turnovers and what not I think that we're trying to get better on when to trap and how hard to trap, where people need to be, the stealers with the trap and also just trying to let go of traps too when the opportunity doesn't exist really?if the trap is running away from you type of thing. So we're working on getting better defensively and doing multiple things but the team worked hard and created a lot of energy and intensity on ?D.'”

Junior Forward Carrem Gay

On Abby's impact in the game:
“Abby has been a great leader for the team, from preseason until now. The team looks up to her. She knows a lot about the game so we listen to her and take what we can from her.”

On the impact of Abby's assists and presence:
“Abby always has good court awareness. She knows how to get the ball to people and we know how to get the ball to her.”

On the play of the post players:
“It comes out of practice. We work on taking good shots and our guards do a good job of getting us the ball. It's an inside-outside attack.”

Junior Guard Abby Waner

On reaching 1000 points:
“I wasn't aware until after the game. It is really about the team. We played a good game and got the win. It is an honor to be added to the list of Duke players who have come through and achieved this. But then again, it is just a number and the only numbers we are concerned with are wins and losses.”

On the pressure defense:
“It was good because we have not really done a whole lot with it. I think we did a great job, especially Carrem and Krystal Thomas. They both did really well in the first half with the full-court pressure. Overall, it was good because in games like this, you don't want to play the scoreboard and Coach P did a great job of keeping us on our toes and putting in other things that we need to use down the road in close games.”

Wake Forest Coach Mike Stewart

On the toughness of playing this game:
“It's just unfortunate, the circumstances. We started the season with three point guards, and now we have none. Again, three days ago, against VaTech, who didn't play the press, we're up 65-45 at halftime. Today, [Duke] just pressured us out of our style, and that's what they do to everybody. And, with Alex [Tchangoue] having to play 40 minutes she's a very competitive kid, and did the very best that she could. She was pressured into a lot of turnovers, and that's not her fault. This team has been beset by a series of bizarre injuries, and it's really unfortunate. We've competed well, although tonight we let down some. Duke took out our competitive spirit; they just took it right out of us.”

On how this team is affected by the press defense:
“Well, we handle it better at our place, like against Carolina. We were down by 8 at the half, and down by 9 with 10 minutes to go in the game. We also played the first 16 minutes of that game with Camille Collier, before she was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her femur. So, we had a little bit of an advantage, since Alex (Tchangoue) only had to play 16 minutes at the point. I felt like we caved in tonight; we didn't rebound the ball well at all.”