Dec. 13, 2005
Susan Walvius
Opening Statement:
“It was a total team effort. We did a great job on the defensive end, and our defense created offense for us. Our team had a real focus and I’m pleased with how they responded. This was our third game against a Top 20 team in four games, and honestly I think that Minnesota was the best one we’ve played. To see our team step out the way they did tonight really shows what they’re capable of and I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished.”
Regarding How She Challenged Her Players:
“When you have a loss like the one against Georgia Southern, you have to take a hard look at why. The strength of our team is our team. It is our depth. We have players on our basketball team that are really good at the press. We have players that are really good at man-to-man defense. In trying to find a system of how to use our depth, we took this game and realized how to utilize our talent. Every player that came into this game knew that they would have a role.”
Regarding How The Team Practiced:
“We put together a plan in four-minute segments of how we were going to use our talent tonight. We’ve been trying to find our personality. What we realized in practice was that it isn’t going to come from an individual; it was going to come from performing our roles.”
On Playing Minnesota:
“They are the best team we’ve played. We knew that we had to alter their shots. I watched them in pre-game warm-ups and no one missed. Uncontested shots they just don’t miss. We were able to spread the ball out and it worked for us. You want to continue to grow. How our team played tonight is what they’re capable of doing.”
Shannel Harris:
General Thoughts:
“We had a gut check after the Georgia Southern game. We saw what we had to work on. We took what we had been practicing and improved on it tonight. We’re capable of playing like this all the time. It’s just a matter of moving forward now. We felt like we should’ve beaten those teams in the Bahamas. We came in this game and knew what we were capable of, and we felt like we could’ve beaten this team as well.”
Demetress Adams: Regarding The Difference In The Team’s Play:
“It was our heart tonight. We played together unlike two weeks ago. We trust each other so we were able to play together. We knew playing together would get us here.”
Minnesota head coach Pam Borton Opening Statement
“I was extremely disappointed obviously in how the game turned out, but probably more with how we started. We scored first, but then they went on a 13-0 run and we never recovered. We understand the position we’re in being Minnesota and that everyone is going to have their best game against our team. South Carolina played extremely well, shooting over 50 percent from the field. Our responsibility is to be ready for any game in the season when a team has their best game against us.”
