South Carolina Head Coach Dawn Staley
On the offense changing when Brionna (Dickerson) went out…
“[In our offense], you run plays for Brionna, but at the same time, it’s important to keep things the way they are and not put people in positions where they have to be a Brionna or Demetress [Adams]. We put C.J. [Pace] in a position to score because she was giving us some offense. We gave her things that gave her more offensive looks.”
On C.J. Pace’s play
“C.J. has been struggling a little bit with confidence and shooting the basketball. Today, she played inspired. She saw her fellow seniors go down, and she wanted to fight for them. She did that tonight on both sides of the ball. She had nine rebounds, some offensive rebounds. She was very vocal in keeping our team together.”
Evaluate your teams effort since the Florida loss…
“I think we’re playing with a lot of heart. We’re playing for 40 minutes as hard as we can play. I don’t think we’re always making the right decisions, but we’re working on that part. If you work hard, and that’s a constant thing, then you work on making good decisions in certain situations.”
Freshman Guard Lakeisha Sutton
On how the offense changed after Brionna Dickerson went out…
“Brionna [Dickerson] is a major part of our offense. When she went out, we still tried to run the same plays but we weren’t as effective. We got some good looks, and we just need to readjust.”
On C.J. Pace’s play
“C.J. [Pace] played good tonight. I’m proud of her. We were emotional before the game because we lost [Demetress Adams], but when Brionna [Dickerson] went out, C.J. stepped it up and put us on her back. From here on out, we’ll really look up to her.
Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb
On being up 10 at half time…
“I felt good about it. We played tough, we played physical, and they played physical. What was nice was that we had the lead and held them off. They’re at home, playing very hard. We have not played well on the road. I felt good about this win just because we stayed together, we toughed it out, I don’t care what the score was in the second half. I’m proud of how we played against a team on the road that played very hard. They played on emotion, and that’s tough to beat. They stepped up and got very aggressive, and it was hard to guard. This team [South Carolina] is way better than their record; their record doesn’t matter
On Brionna Dickerson getting hurt in the game…
“We had worked so much on trying to stop her. She’s a great player. It really inspired them emotionally. They are a close team with good chemistry. They were already playing inspired for [Demetress] Adams. When there’s that connection, and when someone goes down, they all play better. We started guarding every player like they’re the best player on the team because that’s how they responded. They responded very well.”
On South Carolina and the SEC…
“I didn’t look at their preseason; I was looking at SEC. I just look at what teams have done in the SEC. We all play such different out of league schedules, and a lot of teams get a lot better or get a lot worse. I don’t think they stay the same. They [South Carolina] were in every game and fighting the entire time. That really surprised me. They can beat teams in the SEC. Every year it’s been tough, from top to bottom anyone can win. This year even more so than ever.”
