Georgetown Postgame Quotes
No. 8 Georgetown vs. No. 9 Syracuse
Game 6 – First Round, March 5, 2011
XL Center – Hartford, Conn.
Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy
Opening Statement:
“Of course it was the Syracuse vs. Georgetown, the normal game that we play. I thought our kids played extremely well in spurts. We had to make a few offensive adjustments with them, playing a triangle and two because Quentin Hillsman did a good job of taking out Monica McNutt and Sugar Rodgers. We made the adjustment in the second half and I’m really proud of them because we did a good job on the defensive boards and that’s what they’re known for; they’re rebounding. Although we didn’t win the battle of the boards, just losing it by two is still an improvement for our team.”
What can you take from this game into the next?
“It sucks to lose. We have been playing well for the past 13 or 14 games, so it was not an accident this weekend that we were playing well. I think we won ten of our last 12. It is just a great group of kids. I am telling you, if you go player-to-player we do not have one high school all-American on our team. I will tell you one thing, we have a group of ladies that will fight and that is exactly what we did (today). I told them before the game it had to be a heavy weight boxing match; we had to go out and physically try to beat on them and I thought we did. At the same time, it is not like they are passive, they are going to play physically too and that makes them a great team. They go out and play hard and they intimidate a lot of their opponents. I think (today) we matched up with them and that’s why it came down to a game with four minutes left.”
Sophomore Guard Sugar Rodgers
I think there were three different Syracuse defenders who were face guarding you pretty much the entire game. Can you talk about each of them and the difficulties that you faced and how you managed to overcome them and get your points anyway?
“Coach just told me to get open…. But all she said was keep running, keep moving and that’s what I did.”
Junior Guard Rubylee Wright
Late in the second half your wing players on defense were starting steal a lot of Syracuse’s passes from the top of the key to the wings, allowing fast break opportunities for you guys. When did you start to figure out that they were going to keep passing to the wings and why were you able to jump out so well into the passing lanes?
“Our players just ran the floor extremely hard and that’s how were able to get out. And I’m pushing the ball, so if they’re running I’ll find them.”
Syracuse Postgame Quotes
No. 8 Georgetown vs. No. 9 Syracuse
Game 6– First Round, March 5, 2011
XL Center – Hartford, Conn.
Head Coach Quentin Hillsman
Opening Statement:
“The one thing that we talked about coming into this tournament was playing with passion, playing hard, playing basketball with no agenda. What that means is let’s play team ball, let’s not throw the ball away, let’s be unselfish and let’s just play hard. When we do that and we lose a basketball game, it really hurts because you feel like you put yourself in that position to be successful and you come out short. The one thing about our team that I am really glad (of) is that we have the coaches and the players that are going to play hard every possession. They are going to bring it every night and they never disappoint me with their effort. So no matter the outcome, no matter what is said, we put our self in a position to be a winning program by their hustle, by their effort and by their tremendous will to win. I am very proud of our kids. We obviously are not happy with the loss, but I thought we played a very good basketball game against a very good basketball team who has been sitting here resting. We came out last night being able to get to this round, but we came up short. I love my kids, I love my players, I love my coaching staff, I love my program, I love my University, I love everything about what we do at Syracuse and it is an honor to be sitting here with winners. It is an honor to be coaching at Syracuse. It’s the greatest university in my opinion for women’s basketball and I have the greatest kids in the sport. They play hard, they compete and they believe. And that is all I want them to do, play hard, compete and believe and I am very proud of my team.”
When did you sense the game slipping away and what caused Georgetown to chip away at your lead late?
“Honestly I never felt the game slipped away. When you look at what we did, our post players were 18 for 23 from the foul line; that is phenomenal! They were seven for seven from the field; that is phenomenal! So we did exactly what we wanted to do. We wanted to get the ball in the paint and we wanted to make shots. We knew they were a three-point team, so we knew we were probably a team that would be trading two for threes with them. It kind off got down to thatpoint. We had a couple of turnovers, but our post players were phenomenal, talk about perfect from the field and 18-of-23 from the foul line. I thought that was a phenomenal game by Iasia (Hemingway), Kayla (Alexander) and Shakeya (Leary). I thought they were the reason why we had a chance to win that basketball game. We had an opportunity to make plays. We just didn’t make the play.”
Senior Guard Erica Morrow
Talk about the difficulties of defending Sugar Rodgers one on one?
“Sugar is a great scorer, she has a great shot… we had to keep someone on her and play tough on her because she is a real physical player. La’Shay and I had to guard her in our defense and the key was to be physical and match her intensity.”
Junior Guard Iasia Hemingway
Were you demanding the ball from your teammates and do you feel you could have gotten the ball more in the second half?
“I do not want to say I was demanding the ball. My teammates had a lot of trust in me to know that I was going to do what I can to attack the rim and get to the free throw line. So I would say my teammates put the ball in my hands.”