South Carolina Head Coach Dawn On being relieved to get a win
Really relieved. [Charleston Southern is] a formidable opponent. They’re athletic and have a lot of fight. Of course, we were making sure our team understood the type of competition that was coming in here.
On the defensive strategy for the game
We wanted to take away their 3s. We thought if we took away the 3, they couldn’t have two-ed us to the win. I thought our players did a tremendous job because [Charleston Southern has] some players that can really fill up the stat sheet with 3s.
On feeding the post early and often
That’s what we wanted to see for this game. We thought our advantage was inside, and we wanted to make sure that we established ourselves there. That’s not always the case, but it was tonight. We had the height advantage, so we wanted to make sure to get our posts some touches to open up the game a little bit.
Charenee On feeding the post
We’ve always worked on feeding the post. We’ve played against some teams with some giants in the post, and we’ve struggled with that a little bit. We’ve been pounding it inside, and we’ve been practicing that. Good game or not, we wanted to focus on getting the post the ball early and establishing a presence in the post.
On the team feeling like it needed a win today
We’re always going to need a win badly. Coming back from California where we came up a little short, we took it upon ourselves to work really hard yesterday, buy into the game plan and come out on top.
On starting her second game in a row
I’m going to embrace my role regardless of whether I’m a starter or sixth man. It’s always going to be time on the court. I like to bring something different to the team. I try to always keep everybody up. If I’m coming off the bench, it’s just the same as starting.
On being close to her career high in points
To be honest with you, when we went in the locker room, Coach [Staley] was asking us what the lead was and I had not even looked at the scoreboard. We were just trying to get this win under our belt and move on.
