Virginia Head Coach Tina Thompson

Opening Statement:
“I’m really, really excited for my team. I think they’ve kind of found a groove and a rhythm. We’re learning that if we can execute consistently and be solid in our schemes, good things will happen. It’s something that we’ve been talking about all year and it’s starting to come into fruition. Playing this game tonight, it was a tough one. It was one of those games that you had to grind out. Both teams were making runs, but we stayed solid when it counted, and we didn’t panic. We didn’t become frustrated when things weren’t going our way, we just continued to execute in a way that allowed good things to happen for us, which led to a win so I’m really happy about that.”

On feeling the joy of winning coming into today:
“One thing we said from the very beginning is that we want to enjoy the hard work. It’s sometimes really hard to enjoy the hard work when it’s not leading to wins, but it’s about staying solid and true to who we are and what we’ve been building. We knew that it would come eventually, so once it did happen, there was extreme joy and we used that energy to carry over into practice and shoot around and also in the game today. It’s a different feeling when all your hard work leads to wins.”

On Taylor Valladay’s Performance:
“Well, my thoughts have changed now that I know that she had 30 points. I know that she had a solid game and she’s correct in saying that we knew certain things were going to be available based on our style of play, but also how they defended. It was an emphasis in our scouting to get to the basket, especially when there was an opportunity to do so either in transition or in the half court. We had to tweak at times how we were getting into that, but our team executed well. A big part of Taylor’s game is her physicality with her size and being able to get to the basket and finish. I definitely thought that she would have some opportunities but it looks like she had a whole lot of them, and it impacted our team you know in a big way and allowed us to score points in some moments where we needed a basket”

On Fan interaction after the game:
“It was awesome. I noticed that there were a few more people in the stands today and that’s what winning brings. We have an awesome fan base. I don’t know everybody by name, but I know faces, and whether we were winning games or losing games, they continued to show up and we absolutely appreciate that. Those fans that support our program are here day in and day out, no matter the weather. They show up for us and we really, really appreciate that. It’s great to give them something to celebrate.”

On McKenna Dale’s improvement this season:
“She’s right that defense has been an area of improvement for her. What she won’t say, but I absolutely know, is that a lot of her improvement has come when nobody’s watching. I’ve been in the office and I’ve come out and seen her working one on one against one of our quickest managers or our scout guys, where she’s guarding them one on one, and they’re trying to take her off the dribble. At times, especially early on, there was a lot of frustration, but she stayed at it. That’s when you get better. Of course we practice, that’s more of a team setting, but if you want to be a better player, it’s the stuff that you do when nobody’s watching and she’s committed to do that on both sides of the basketball. She has improved in a great way and it’s helped our team, especially down the stretch, to have her on the floor because of the threat that she has offensively, and now, because of her ability to defend, it’s easy to leave her out there. It’s been a great improvement not just for her but also for our team.”

Guard Taylor Valladay

On her feelings after scoring a career-high 30 points:
“It feels good. I think it will feel good to anybody, scoring a career high. I think one of the biggest things that I just keep telling myself is just to be there for my teammates.  If I feel like I’m giving enough I just tell myself to give more. I know my teammates look to me for a lot of the answers, for a lot of encouragement, leadership. So really just being the [best] leader that I can be really.”

On her feelings coming into the game:
“Just with how they [Pitt] played ball screens, just with my game I knew I was capable of getting to the basket and my game working with what we did with our scouts. So yeah, I did think that it was going to be a good night for me and my teammates coming off of a good win. I kept reiterating to my teammates that, let’s just build off of the win that we just had. So I think that also kind of gave him some fire coming into this game as well.”

Guard McKenna Dale

On her defensive improvement this season:
“I’ve known since I got here that defense is one area that I really needed to improve on. My coaches and my teammates kind of pushed me every day to step outside my comfort zone and really work on that. So I think we’ve really seen my improvement over the season just so that I can get competent playing at this level and improve that aspect of my game.”