Feb. 24, 2005
Kentucky Head Coach Mickie DeMoss:
Opening Comments: “Tonight `s game was a very hard fought game. It was a battle of wills tonight. We played with six and a half players and Carolina was missing their leading scorer Lauren Simms. I am sure this was another good win for South Carolina. They played very hard and good defense. Our team never quit and that is always a good thing.”
On playing with six-and-one-half players: “We played with seven players and one walk-on tonight. We had some players out there tonight who are still getting experience right now. I thought that hurt us in the second half tonight. We seemed a little tired, but that was all we had on the floor and that is what we went with.”
On being out-sized: “I was not as concerned about their size as much as what we were going to do about it. We tried to play a two-three zone and high-low, but we did not cover well. Carolina got the ball inside way too easy and that hurt us all night because of their size.
Kentucky Senior Sarah Potts:
On playing with eight players: “We had to be ready to play hard tonight. We knew that we had a difficult challenge and we gave it our best shot. Our goal was to play tough defense and not stop all night giving good effort. We never stopped.”
On first-half run: “I always have confidence that our team will make a run every game we play. I never thought we would get behind once we made that run. Once we did get behind we were hoping for another run, but we never did accomplish that. We kept on playing hard until the end.”
South Carolina Head Coach Susan Walvius:
Opening Comments: “We had some good individual performances tonight. I thought we played really impressive defense. That was our focus coming into this game tonight. We also were focused on rebounding and I thought we did a nice job in that area as well. We did a much better job securing the basketball tonight. This team is getting better and we will continue to move in that direction for the future of this basketball program.”
On team’s improvement: “It has been a long year for us. We are a very young basketball team. I said at the beginning of the year that I wasn’t sure how this team would perform this year. I have had to coach this team different from teams in the past. We have maintained patience. They have come to practice everyday and worked hard. This is a fun group to work with, and this is going to be a good team in the future.”
South Carolina Forward Iva Sliskovic:
On being perfect from the field: “I mostly played down low tonight. They kept getting me the ball in good position to take good shots. That was created by teamwork. I did not even realize I shot that well. I am just so happy we have won two in a row.”
South Carolina Guard Stacy Booker:
On two straight victories: “It feels great. Earlier in the year we were always pointing fingers in the locker room after the game, and now we are not. We just continue to play as a team and put all the bad stuff behind us. We can’t worry about anything else.”
