Jan. 24, 2010
Georgia Tech Head Coach MaChelle Joseph
On flow of the game
“I was really pleased with the start we had, especially since we had changed our lineup and we asked Sharena Taylor, a freshman, to not only play point guard but to guard Monica Wright, who’s one of the best players in the country. I thought she did a tremendous job. Obviously Monica got in foul trouble and had to sit for awhile, but I was pleased overall in the first half with how we played defensively. We went the last four minutes of the half without scoring and when you do that against an ACC team, especially a team like Virginia, you’re going to find yourself in trouble. We were lucky to be up one at halftime since we went four minutes without scoring.
“In the second half, I was really proud of my team because we fought back. We got down 10 and then came back and to have a chance to win at the end, for a young team, was tremendous, especially at a place like Virginia. I have tremendous respect for Debbie Ryan and her program but also Monica Wright. She came out in the second half and just took over the game. We’ve played some of the best players in the country this year, but I don’t think we’ve played a player like Monica Wright.”
On Georgia Tech’s chance at the end – were you expecting them to foul?
“We were trying to get a three off, but they made a great play. They didn’t foul until one second was left on the clock, and Sharena (Taylor), being a freshman, didn’t know to throw the ball up while she was trying to foul. It was just one of those things. We were running a play for Alex (Montgomery) to shoot a three on the baseline and what happened was they committed a foul on Sharena before she could make the pass, and it was a really good foul. But I thought Sherena did a great job – we told her to make the first and miss the second one. We got a piece of the ball and had a chance for a tip-in, so I was pleased with how we executed at the end.”
On contributions from different areas of the floor
“I thought our post players did fairly well. We got them the ball and they were able to finish. Off the bench we could have gotten more. With the change we made in the lineup, we’re not getting as much off the bench as we were, but having four players in double figures is what we try to do every game. Unfortunately we missed too many layups and turned the ball over too much. We turned the ball over 22 times and those are possessions where we could have been getting points.”
On the strength of the ACC
“It’s unbelievable. I think this is the toughest it’s been since I’ve been in the league, and it’s the most parity. We used to be top heavy, but now I don’t think we’re so top heavy. There’s more parity – I don’t think there is any team who couldn’t beat another team in this league on any given night.”
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Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan
On preparing for the game:
“We only had one day to prepare for this game and you can see that it’s a tough team to prepare for in one day. We had to take a day off on Friday. We hadn’t gotten home until two in the morning because we got diverted to Richmond after the Boston College game, so it was our day of the week to take a day off. Because of all we have crammed in here, one of these games had to suffer in terms of preparation.”
On Georgia Tech’s defense:
“I’d say my team did a great job. We started off not so well against the press but we made a few adjustments and got some in people who really paid attention yesterday in practice. The press was really not a factor after we figured it out. I have to give [associate head coach] Tim Taylor a lot of credit for that. He was completely in charge of handling their pressure.”
On Britny Edwards:
“I thought Britny performed admirably today. She came off the bench ready to go. She hadn’t gotten to play a lot this year and she did a terrific job. I was really proud of her.”
On the team:
“I really think that this team is coming together and getting more mature as we go. Lexie Gerson played well today. I thought Whitny Edwards played extremely well at both ends of the floor. She did a terrific job for us today.”
On Lexie Gerson:
“Lexie brings a lot of energy. Sometimes it goes in wacky directions, but the energy is great. She’s a first-year, so she has to learn about some of the rules of the game, but she played really well today. She really knocked out free throws. You can see she’s a great free throw shooter and she can be very intense out there on the defensive end. She just gets her hands on the ball a lot. That’s why she’s in the lineup, to get us all off to a more energetic start and she does that for us every time.”
On the late foul:
“[Whitny’s] job was to foul as Georgia Tech got just past half court if she could. Since they weren’t shooting, she did a great job of letting that clock run.”
