Post Game Quotes vs Wake Forest
Story Links
Jan. 8, 2015
Head Coach Joanne Boyle
Opening Statement:
“I just could not be more proud of the fight and effort from these girls. We had some let downs, but there was not quit in this team. Mikayla Venson stepped up and hit some big shots down the stretch and with the help of her teammates we came out with a big win.”
On Mikayla Venson stepping up:
“She’s not a typical freshman because she wants the big shot at the end of the game. We put the ball in her hands and tried to run a couple quick hit her and scores, but on some of them she just broke people down and got her shot off on her own. She stepped up and had some big confidence. Those last two free throws were huge.”
On lineup of three freshman and two sophomores at the end:
“I didn’t notice it. They probably hadn’t worked together a lot. We mix up teams and starters down at the stretch, but I wouldn’t say that we had that team together a lot in practice.”
On Faith Randolph and Sarah Imovbioh each having four fouls:
“We were just trying to get stops, get down the court, and call a play. Just get to the rim or try to put the ball in Mikayla’s hands. The biggest challenge for us, which I thought we did a great job of stepping up on, was out of bounds defense. Getting that stop at the end. Sarah doesn’t always have the best game, but she gets the most touches and gets the ball to Mikayla at the end. There was no quite in anybody. It was a great team game. Mikayla (Venson) is going to give all of the credit to her teammates as well. I love how they fight for each other out there.
On Wake Forest Senior Forward Dearica Hamby:
“That hurt us a lot all night. They were getting past our first line of defense, then we would step up, stop that person, and then we wouldn’t have that extra line of rotation.”
On Wake Forest Senior Forward Dearica Hamy’s almost game winning buzzer beater:
“We were just trying to keep everyone in front of us. You always second-guess yourself. Do you tell her to make the first and miss the second? You are always asking yourself what you should you do. We were just trying to keep everyone in front of us. We put Aliyah (Huland El) on the ball to get some length. They drew up a great play and got a good shot off but thank goodness it didn’t go in.
On start to ACC play:
“They have fight in them. We had to fight at Virginia Tech and we had to fight tonight. I wouldn’t expect anything different from them. I’ll take these games because they’re wins. All experiences will help us moving forward because I’m sure we will be in more dogfights. To be in a dogfight and to win it will only help us down the road.
On Wake Forest scoring 52 points in the pain:
“That hurt us. It’s everyone. We’ve got to be on two lines of defense. We’ve got to beat off the dribble. We stepped off and didn’t hop over. We’ll watch some film but we’ve got to be able to do that.”
Sophomore guard Breyana Mason
On if she has ever seen a teammate take over like Venson:
“No, not like that. I see bits of in practice. We’ll be running offense and the shot clock will start running down and she gets the ball in her hands and just does her thing. It doesn’t matter where she is on the court when she shoots it – it has a good chance of going in.”
On the last-second Wake Forest shot:
“I honestly thought it was going to go in, because that’s happened to me so many times before in my career. I was just like, “please don’t go in…please don’t go in.” It was on line and it was on target, it was just a little too hard and dinged off the rim, and I felt so happy and relieved.”
On if she noticed that she played the majority of the second half without Randolph or Imovbioh:
“Not really, I mean at points you see all the faces on the court, but you’re just going through the game just in the moment, thinking about defense and trying to run plays on offense and execute.”
On the confidence the team gets from these last two games:
“It’s just a good experience to have difference scenarios: one where you win by a wide margin and one where it’s close. It’s good for us coming into ACC play just to get those different types of experiences in because there are going to be different types of games throughout the ACC and it’s going to be a grind.”
Freshman guard Mikayla Venson
On if she’s ever had such a successful streak in a game:
“No I could never compare this to anything. It was just a blur, a lot of adrenaline rush. I actually told Breyana I was cramping at the end, but those are big shots and I was like, “my team really needs me here.” Thank God I knocked them down, and I give God all the glory.”
On her shot right before the shot clock ran out:
“I just needed a big shot and I knew I had to get it off in time and it went in. I knew we had to go back down and get some defensive stops, and my teammates had confidence in me to get me the ball, so I think it was just a great win overall.”
On the last play and getting fouled with one second left:
“I was just like I have to go down, maybe try to get a layup, and she made a perfect pass. Then the girl fouled me and I was like, “uh-oh, here we go. One second left, and I have to knock these down.” I took a minute to step off the free throw line, and I gave myself a little pep talk and knocked them down.”
On if her earlier missed free throws came to mind during her last two:
“Not at all. That was a blur, I didn’t even think about that. I had the confidence to go up there and say I was going to hit those two. I knocked them down and they went in.”
On her confidence level after two games of ACC play:
“I think my confidence has really gone up after this. It’s a great experience and I’m glad we got this under our belt just so we know what it feels like to be under that kind of pressure. But I’ve had the confidence since the beginning and my coaches and my teammates have confidence in me, and that’s why I really just tried to knock them down at the end.”