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Dec. 21, 2017

Final Stats

Head Coach Joanne Boyle
Opening statement:
“It’s always great to pick up a win before the holiday break. We’ve had a nice little streak here with three wins to close out the non-conference schedule. We are just excited to go into break and give the girls a short rest and then come back and start the ACC schedule.”

On why Virginia has played more post offense:
“Demanding that the guards give the post the ball mostly. Lauren Moses and Felicia Aiyeotan are in the gym all the time getting extra work. So that makes a difference. I think our payers are starting to understand how much better we play when the ball goes inside and when we use an inside-out and inside-to-side attack. I am really happy that these two are sitting here. When you have two post players in the media room with you, that means that we are getting the ball down into the post.”

On recent play of freshman guard Brianna Tinsley:
“I think for any freshman, they just need minutes, they just need time. So Bri has been thrown into the fire a little bit but it’s going to pay dividends for us moving forward. You can tell she is a little more comfortable, I think she worked hard on her defense. You can see that she is more comfortable on both ends of the floor. The more minutes she gets, the more growth and the more opportunity we have to grow with her.”

On play of senior forward Lauren Moses:
“She did a great job, scored 16 points. Coming off the concussion, she was out for a couple of weeks. Coming back, she had one practice before we went to West Palm and she played well down there. She is finding her rhythm and conditioning, obviously. She’s had two great practices. One, her effort in the last two days of practices and two, her leadership. It’s good to see that those two days translated into a great game for her.”

On team improvement through the non-conference schedule:
“I don’t think any coach would ever say that they have arrived. I like the growth that we’ve had. I said in the locker room that, for me, with this particular team, we need to see if the effort is there every day and are the details getting better. We’ve been really tested in non-conference. We’ve played a lot of really good teams. And we have had some injuries that we’ve had to battle through. I’ve been proud of the girls because even the games where we’ve had five and six people, we’ve been battling. That says something. Now that we’re healthy and we’ve been battle-tested, going into conference play, we should be ready for this. I think the girls are really excited. To me, this non-conference went by so fast. I know that the ACC season is going to go by just as fast. So for us, it’s is every day, being in the moment, being in practice, working on the things we need to work on. We are in a good place in terms of confidence. Our record, we can make up for that moving forward.”

Senior Forward Lauren Moses
On coming off the bench in the last three weeks:
“It’s different but no matter what, I’m going to do what my team needs me to do in order to get the win. I think coming off this concussion it’s just been nice trying to get back into the groove, like Coach Joanne Boyle was saying, and also just getting my conditioning up. So, just making sure that I continue to get in the gym, make sure I get my shots up, continue to finish and continue to get some good conditioning in.”

On preparation and difference in play coming off the bench cold:
“There is not really a difference. I think for me, I’m just really excited to get in there so that’s what is going through my mind. I just can’t wait to get in there and make a difference.”

Sophomore Center Felicia Aiyeotan
On Coach Boyle’s emphasis on post play and feeding the ball inside:
“It’s been great. It’s exciting in the sense that I know the ball is going to come inside. I am focusing on finishing the ball because the more I finish, the more confident my teammates are in passing the ball inside. So, I’m really excited about that.”

On continuing a string of strong performances into ACC play:
“I just continue to do what I have been doing, finishing the basketball, playing good defense, rebounding the ball, blocking shots if I can and just continuing to improve upon that.”

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