Quotes: Duke 129, Charleston 46

Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie:

Opening Statement:
“A great start for us to build on in terms of our intensity. Deflections. We had a million deflections. We had 62 points off of turnovers. 80 points in the paint total. So, some of the things that we're trying to accomplish, and trends that we're trying to set. Obviously it's a lesser opponent. They're not as tall, or able. What I loved about them though, Charleston played really, really hard. And that's important, so that we could try to play really, really hard against them. The offensive balance is great. Rebounding, solid. Assists, great. Steals. Need to see Kyra (Lambert) have nine. Against anybody nine is a huge number for steals. Some of our assist totals are interesting. Rebecca (Greenwell) with seven. I think that's fantastic for her. Matter of fact, I don't know the last time she had seven assists, Lindy, in any game for that matter. And then you see there that Lexie (Brown) had five, and so forth. So there's some neat things. Rebounding. Being led by a freshman in rebounding is interesting. Along with Lyneé (Belton). I thought Erin's (Mathias) play was very consistent, and very confident, and so that was really important to us. Especially early on. I thought Lexie just kept playing, just kept doing her thing, and being aggressive throughout. Good start, we're excited. We're ready to hit the road, and see what we can do. ”

On Defense and Steals:
“Great chemistry and activity on defense regardless. Actually, we started a new defense today by some things that Lexie and Kyra did relative to trapping. I do think everybody was active and aggressive and focused. We were trying to hold them to 40. They scored 46. We obviously were keen on 21 (Jordyn Peck), she was their best player and she did a nice job. We're all still keen on their personnel. The activity, the energy, the immediacy, the intensity. That's very, very important. We had it for 40 minutes. We played a lot of different defenses, and a lot of people contributed.”

On Aggression and Efficiency:
“We've all had exhibition games. This is statistically the best one I've seen in about 25 years of coaching. Relative to production and efficiency, just as you say. Exhibition games our first game, and it is exhibition is, but the reality is trying to play at your highest level and trying to get everybody to contribute. This one certainly wreaks of that. Everyone contributing and everyone being active.”

On Rotation in the Paint:
“I think they are all very competitive, and very aggressive, and it's going to be exciting to see them all play together. Whether it's Erin, Oderah (Chidom), Kendall (Cooper), or Lyneé. They all just have some really good experiences. It's great to have Kendall back. And Lyneé is strong, too. She had made some very strong moves to the basket. I think they are just a great group. They all offer something maybe a little bit different. Erin's versatility is very helpful to us. In terms of what she can do. We're going to build off of that as much as possible. We're going to find our points in the paint regardless. You have to get them. Points in the paint usually determine outcome.”

Junior, Lexie Brown

On Duke's Defense:
“We just want to get up in people. Ball pressure has been a huge key in practice. We really want to run in transition and transition only starts with steals, so guards and post-guard workouts we've been doing a lot of stuff defensively in good denial. Sometimes allowing the back door, if that's what it takes and hoping for our strong help side. We just need to do a better job of chasing shooters.”

On the second quarter changes:
“I think it was the fact that number 21 [Jordyn Peck] was lighting us up from the three. The bench kind of got on us a lot, talking about because they got in and got a lot of stops in a row and they kind of challenged us. They're like, 'We got all these stops like why can't get all these stops, you guys are the starters.' So we kind of took that to heart and went out there and just played together and played a little bit harder on the defensive end.”

On playing with Kyra Lambert:
“Oh yeah, absolutely. We were here together for the entire summer. We learned each other. We've learned each other's strengths; we've learned each other's weakness. It's been nice to sometimes be able to let her take the ball, bring the ball up the court. If she's in trouble I've got her; if I'm in trouble she's got me. I've never been in a situation to have a solid point guard next to me on the court with me at the same time, so it's been a lot of fun to play with her.”

On the importance of Duke's bench:
“It's awesome. We go against each other all the time in practice. Like Erin said, we played pick up all summer. We know how to challenge one another and we know how to make each other better, so I'm not even surprised our bench performed the way they did.”

Sophomore, Erin Mathias

On her comfort:
“Yeah, definitely. I'm definitely more relaxed this year and I know my teammates, they just have a whole lot of confidence in me. So coming in this year knowing that, it kind of settles me down.”

On shaking off bad plays:
“That's something I've been working on for a long time now, but Coach P has really helped me with that. My teammates have really helped me with that. So I'm proud of how I've kind of gotten over that. Still working on it, but it's a lot better.”

On her summer workout routine:
“Just doing stuff on my own helps, but then coming back for, I came back for second summer session and just working out with my team. We played a lot of pick up, we worked out hard in the weight room, and all of that just contributes.”

Charleston head coach Adam Collins:

Opening Statement:
“Duke is really good. They are really long and athletic. I think that they play really hard and that they are not only a BCS level 10 team that can compete for a championship, but for us in general we are actually really small. It was kind of a difficult match up at times just because we are really small and they are really big anyways. They already have multiple talented players and they play really hard and they are very well coached. We are not necessarily the biggest team in the world. I think our girls fought hard and I appreciate the opportunity Duke has given us to have us come here and play.”

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