March 5, 2010
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery
#4 GEORGIA TECH
Head Coach MaChelle Joseph
Opening Statement
“Well first of all I want to give a lot of credit to Wake Forest. I thought they came out and jumped all over us and we played with a lot of poise and confidence. I definitely think they are a NCAA Tournament team. I think they have proven that all year long. I’m very proud of my team. I mean, we look back over the course of the last year and the games that we have won, the toughness that we have shown, I don’t think I have coached a team that showed more character than they showed today. Especially with Brigitte getting hit the way she did and to be able to come back and finish the game the way she finished it – it showed so much toughness. I just thought there were several big plays, and to have Chelsea Regins, a sophomore, to play, who hasn’t played the last couple of the weeks, come in and make key free throws and to be able to give us defensive stops, it was tremendous. I’m proud of this team, 23 wins the most ever in the history of our program. Nine ACC wins, ties the most ever ACC wins in the history of our program. We are very pleased that we have continued to improve each year. And we are looking forward to our match up tomorrow against Duke or Maryland.”
On feeling fortunate going to half time only down by eight points
“I told my staff, I said, the fact that we have only made three field goals we should be down 20. We said that we built this program on defensive rebounding. That is what kept us in the game was our defense. There is no doubt about it. We couldn’t buy a basket in the first half. It seemed like when Brigitte got out we lost our offensive flow. We are so used to everything flowing through her, and we get our rhythm through her. And when she was out of the game we were kind of disjointed, but I felt like we got our rhythm back there at the end and let her in and people were able to make plays, and we kind of got a little rhythm going and when it got to half time I told the team, listen we are only down, you know, we should be down 20 and we are not, and it’s our defense. All we have to do is lay up some free throws and this is a different ball game. I really thought, we were behind the entire game until the last couple of minutes. So the fact we were able to step up at the end and make plays, it’s a tribute to these players and their resiliency.”
#35 Brigitte Ardossi On getting hit in the nose
“Well, she got me and she took to the ball to the rim, and she got beat. And I stood up, and my intention was to take a charge but she was already on the fly to the left and I had it and then she connected with my nose. I went down, and I never have been hit in the nose that hard before and I have never had a bloody nose in my life. And I was kind of surprised and I looked at my hands and there was all of this blood. I knew straight away it was not going to keep me down. It hurt, but it wasn’t going to keep me out of the game. I knew I had to come back in strong.
On early foul trouble
“I actually made two early fouls. When I was put in there I was able to get in on defensive possessions and prove that I could stay in there with the fouls, and I got to the back. I’m not just an offensive player and I need to get in there and play a little physical on the defense and got a couple of stops and, you know, got back into the game and got into my rhythm and just went from there.”
