Postgame Quotes: Virginia at No. 11 Maryland

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Virginia at No. 11 Maryland
Feb. 13, 2011
Postgame Quotes

Virginia Head Coach Debbie Ryan
Opening Statement:
“I’d first like to congratulate Maryland, they are a team that is a very, very tough out. They are a strong team, a great rebounding team with great size and great athleticism. We really had to try to and neutralize the things that they have. Their post game is so strong with Lynetta [Kizer] in there, as well as with their other strong post players. They come at you with waves of players, and today we had to settle on who we were going to play today and try to stay with it. The way we played today was the answer to how we played in Charlottesville. Our defense was the answer today. We did a little better job closing the game today than when we played in Charlottesville. In regulation when we played in Charlottesville, it was the same situation but we didn’t play it well. We did a better job at doing so today and that was the difference in the game; our free-throw line and the low turnover level, which was exceptional.”

On maintaining leads no more than four points:
“The one thing this very young team learned on Thursday night [at NC State], was how to play possession basketball. They learned that when you play in four overtimes, every possession you have is critical. We were down in all four overtimes and we had to make the tying score to get to those overtimes. So, they’ve learned to play possession basketball and they’ve learned to be pretty good at it. I’m really proud of their courage today and their ability to pull it out.”

On halftime adjustments in defending Alyssa Thomas:
“We had basically the same game plan but we had different players on her. We switched players to defend her; we tried to keep fresh players on her. We tried to not have just Ataira [Franklin], our best defender, on her but also Whitny [Edwards], our second best defender on her as well. We tried to keep different and fresh players on [Alyssa] Thomas and tried to rest Whitny [Edwards] and Ataira [Franklin], so that when they did have to defend her they could take away some of her strengths. I think we just played a better defensive game the second half.”

Virginia Guard Whitny Edwards
On pressure to make free throws:
“To be honest, I was a little nervous stepping up to the line. But, my teammates and my coaches have such confidence in me that I just knew that I was going to make the two shots. It wasn’t too much pressure. I just tell myself that it’s going in. I try not to think about the crowd. I just try and think it’s going in, to focus on my routine and my follow through.”

Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese
Opening statement:
“This was a disappointing game from our end. Obviously Virginia came in here with a lot of confidence, and they also came in here acting like they had something to prove. They have a great bench, and they did a tremendous job swaying the outcome of this ballgame. We just didn’t play with the kind of poise, confidence and trust in one another on the offensive end. I thought at times Virginia really took it to us on the defensive end.”

About last sequence:
“We had our 3-point shooters in the game, and we had to be able to get Kim [Rodgers] a shot or Laurin [Mincy] on a flare, but obviously our timing was bad. On the screen, we didn’t come off strong, and we didn’t get the look that we wanted. I don’t really think this game should have come down to this one play, but again we have had three slow starts, and any time you are in ACC play you can’t come out and play flat. We have got to be able to learn and understand just how good these teams are in league play.”

About Virginia’s Defense:
“They were physical, and I said in the locker room that I thought they were the tougher team coming off screens and we stopped cutting hard and stopped being aggressive. “

About early struggles in the game:
“I am confused by our team coming out flat, especially at this time in the season. Obviously our starting five have to be able to bring that energy and then it has to be able to transfer to the rest of the team. We have to use this adversity to make us tighter as a unit as we move forward.”

Maryland Junior forward Lynetta Kizer
On the loss:
“This loss definitely hurts. We just have to come back on Thursday and get after it. We have to be both mentally and physically tougher. We also have to work a lot harder in practice and understand that we only have four ACC games left and we cant keep coming out flat like we did today.”

Maryland Freshman Forward Alyssa Thomas
On the slow start:
“We just aren’t bringing enough energy as the starting five, and we are the ones responsible for getting the rest of the team excited and today we didn’t succeed in doing that. We just didn’t take care of what we needed to get done today.”