Dec. 29, 2004
USC Head Coach Susan Walvius
About playing Seton Hall in the championship game: “They take advantage of their size and their height as well. They are very athletic. We really haven’t put together a game plan for tomorrow but me and the rest of the coaching staff are going to talk about it tonight so we can implement it tomorrow at our shoot around.”
About the play of Melanie Johnson: “She reminds me of Shaun Gortman and Jocelyn Penn in their early years. She is the first player that I have that comes up to me after practice and thanks me for what she learned that day in practice. She has a Jordanesque quality and has good instincts. She keeps improving from game to game. She has natural instincts and she uses them. She is definitely growing every game. Tonight, she not only led us in scoring or rebounding but also in assists. She came close to a triple double which is very impressive for a sophomore.”
USC Sophomore Melanie Johnson
About her play in the last two games: “I give a lot of thanks to my teammates and my coaches. Our offense really takes advantage of our height and our post play. Coach MacDonald has really helped me with my defense and the rest of the coaches have helped me as well to improve through this season.”
About the 30-5 run over the final nine minutes: “Our defense created a lot of turnovers which gave the offense a chance to take advantage of our size.”
Coastal Carolina Head Coach Alan LeForce
Opening statement: “I thought we played well for about 35 minutes and we played a good basketball game. We had 10 days off for break and we practiced with nine players on Monday, 10 yesterday, and today we had 12. We gave it a good effort. About the nine minute mark we were up by five points and we got run down. They pounded us on the boards because we didn’t have the size to match up with them. They hit a couple of threes and they got their confidence back so then we went back to man-to-man and they went back to pounding it inside. We couldn’t match with them, they are tougher inside. We missed a couple of foul shots down the stretch and easy jumpers. We have to hit those shots. They are a better team than we are.”
About the play of Melanie Johnson: “We could never match up with her. She is one fine basketball player. Tonight, I thought she was their best player on their team.”
CCU Junior Guard Kim Turner
About the play of Melanie Johnson: “She is very tough and we had a lot of problems boxing out and keeping her off the boards. She crashes the boards very well.”
