Postgame Quotes: No. 19 Virginia 74, Furman 43

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Postgame Quotes
No. 19 Virginia 74, Furman 43
Dec. 8, 2009

Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan
Opening Statement:
“We just wanted to set the tone tonight from the very beginning on the defensive end. We pent a lot of time working on us yesterday as opposed to really focusing in on the scouting report. We really just spent most of our time spending time on things we needed to work on and I think it paid some dividends. Most of the segments were fairly well defended. There were just two that I was concerned with and that was the first two in the second half. That was the only time that I felt like we weren’t really focused and weren’t playing as well as we could.”

On Whitny Edwards:
“I thought Whitny had a great game tonight. I felt like Whitny was very focused coming into this game. She learned a lot from the film, she was very keyed in, and she just had a game that you want your players to have. She was solid tonight – very solid and very consistent in everything that she did – and obviously she was hitting her shots.”

On the offense of Monica Wright:
“She started the game off the way I wanted her to start it off and that was getting her points in the paint and then moving herself from the inside, out. She got off to a good start because she outran everybody and she was really focused on doing certain things the first couple possessions. Then she started to move outside and I think we limited out three-point shots a little more tonight until we get better at that. Its not that we are not good shooters– we are just not hitting them right now so we have cut them back a little bit to see if we can hit jumpers first and then move outside for three.”

On defensive play:
“We really focused on the defense tonight. It was paramount that we play well. My players knew that I was not happy with Sunday’s performance against James Madison, especially on the defensive end, and even though we missed a lot of shots, that doesn’t bother me nearly as much as what we should be on the defensive end and that’s where we are going to have to get better really quickly here. I know we can play offense – I’m not worried about that.”

Virginia Guard Whitny Edwards
On bouncing back from Sunday’s loss:
“This was a very important game for us. We had to prove to Coach Ryan that we could come back from a game like the one against JMU, and that we can focus defensively to execute our plays.”

On her career high in points
“Coach Ryan just told us to be aggressive and get our feet in the paint tonight, and I think I did that tonight. My teammates did a great job of finding me on the fast break, and fortunately my shots fell tonight.”

On team improvements on defense:
“I think we are starting to get better, but we are still not where we want to be. I think we lost the first two segments of the second half, and that is not what we want to do. So we will go back and work on that more.”

“We have to stop people and put stops together. We have not been good this year coming out in the second half. We have built up leads in the first half, but then let teams back in the game. So we will work on closing the door.”

On preparation after the loss to JMU:
“We worked on our defense for most of practice, and we watched a lot of film yesterday. We focused, and I think we put in a great effort tonight.”

On Monica Wright:
“She is an amazing player. She is a great leader for us and so unselfish on the court. We look up to her as a teammate, as a player, and as a person. She is really special.”