Ole Miss-Maryland Postgame Quotes

No. 7 Ole Miss

Head Coach Carol Ross

Opening Statement:

"I just can't express how excited I am to be able to coach another day with these seniors. This is a team win definitely, but any credit should be directed where it deserves to go and that's to the three seniors, (Ashley) Awkward, (Armentie) Price, and (Jada) Mincy who had just put this team on their back since last spring and just rode them and encouraged them and pressured them mostly through example. I am so excited that these young ladies will have the opportunity to play together again but also to make a little history and also to see how far we can go. We've already gone farther than anyone thought we could so there's no reason to stop dreaming now. This team has great vision, they dream big and they believe in themselves. Tonight was a great example of a team who won this game long before e played it because they believed in themselves and what we're trying to do here."

Do you see any comparison to teams like Marist and other underdog teams and do you use it to inspire your team?

"No, we've already won big games. This team has already won big games; we beat LSU when they were number five in the country, we beat Vanderbilt when they were tenth in the country. This team has exceeded the expectations of others since the day they put uniforms on. We were picked to finish 12th when there are only twelve teams in our league. We ended up in the NCAA Tournament. They made a career out of making people who predict games look really bad. They just have a great passion for playing and they have great belief in themselves. There's never a cap on what we can do; at least it won't come from within, it might come from someone else but not from us."

Did you ever think that free throws would win the game?

"You know, it's funny, I picked up the New York Times this morning and I as reading an article about Memphis and that team being really crummy foul shooters and all of a sudden they're shooting really well during the NCAA Tournament. He said he gave up on practicing and just told them to visualize making the free throws and everything turned for them. I told my post players during practice today to go home and visualize making your free throws. I told the guards the same thing in the locker room. I'm a believer in visualization. I do believe focus and confidence comes into play but I did steal that this morning out of the paper."

What made the team confident?

"We probably scout less than any other team in the country. We just go out there and do what we do. We have about four or five defenses that we feel confident in but we're not going to change much because we're an energy based, enthusiastic defenders and we have to play with great enthusiasm on the defensive end to really help our offense. So if I have to bog them down with scouting details and analyzing everything then I'm going to make them hesitant, questioning and being uncertain about everything. We have to just come out and surge with all the energy we can play with."

Senior Guard, Armintie Price:

On free-throws:

"I have been very focused; Coach Ross has been helping our team out on free throws and that is what will win the game. We knew that it was going to come down to free-throws and I knew that I had to step up. I knew that I did not want to end the year with my free-throws so I got up there and thought about our teammates. I thought about how they keep pushing me while we practice so I did not want to let them down."

What is the difference between this game and the game where Maryland beat you in the beginning of the season?

"We really don't remember that game, we just know that they hit 100 on us. We were excited and knew that we were playing the defending champs. This time we were trying to win a championship, we were playing for bigger and better things so we were more focused. We knew the goals that we set and we wanted to reach for them and go get them."

On points off turnovers:

"I couldn't believe it, we were so focused. We did not want to take our foot off; that was the main thing because we knew that they were going to come back fighting which is what they did in the second half. We wanted to just keep pounding on them."

Senior Guard, Ashley Awkward

On defense:

"It was all about our defense, all about trapping, all about stealing and all about making plays which is what got us the 16 point lead. That lead gave us a cushion is the final stretch so I am glad that we came out on fire and I am glad that we do what Ole Miss knows how to do."

No. 2 Maryland

Head Coach Brenda Frese

Opening Statement:

"I am proud of the fact that our team never gave up to night, but all the credit goes to Ole Miss. They punished us in the first half with the 20 turnovers and giving up 47 points. They really feed off of us once they got their defense going and cause a lot of turnovers from our end. We couldn't get our offense going just like it has been often times this season it affected our defense. A gift that Ole Miss gives to us tonight is the ability for us to get back into the weight room and into our conditioning and learn a tough lesson to take into next season and that's the biggest thing we can take out of it."

You've been through deficits before, did you think your team would snap out of the 18-0 Ole Miss run and get on track by themselves even though you were calling timeouts?

"I really did, I was trying every different combination, you saw us with the four guards and two point guards. You have to give credit to Ole Miss, first of all, their defense was phenomenal tonight, as they caused more turnovers in that run we became really tentative which is uncharacteristic of our team."

Would you address the play of Kristi Toliver in the second half when she brought you back within six points and that second half run?

"Obviously, that was key, Kristi (Toliver) is a tremendous shooter for us and when she can knock down shots for us, her game is really flowing. In terms of all of our guards we need to take better care of the basketball, 20 turnovers, 14 between our two point guards isn't going to help you win a lot of basketball games."

Does this speak volumes of the difficulty of being the target, where last year you were doing most of the chasing?

"It's a different animal, the expectations, the pressure you place on yourself, or that the media places on you each and every time they mention your name. When you're a winner and a champion those are the expectations you want when you are a dominant program."

Do you think frustration seemed to keep building and forcing more mistakes that you eventually could not get out of?

"Absolutely, a season ago when we loved the fact that we had youth, I think it really hurt us tonight and spiraled in terms of our frustration and Ole Miss fed off of it. When you see teams start to have a meltdown that is when you are going to be the hungriest and we allowed that to happen tonight which is extremely disappointing given the fact that we have been able to handle runs like that in the past."

Speaking of frustration, were you as stunned as anybody that this was happening to your team at this point in the season?

"Given how we have been playing as of late we've played with a lot of confidence, especially coming in against Harvard and taking great care of the basketball and then to be able to see in terms of our perimeter play the 20 turnovers was extremely disappointing. Like I said, the biggest lesson you can learn is to get back into the gym and become a better ball handler, you want to accept responsibility as a player and a time, and as a coaching staff. We all can get better and I think it's a great lesson to learn after winning a championship, you can't get satisfied as young people, there is so much more out there to improve and get better on."

Senior Guard Shay Doron

What was different about Ole Miss this time around?

"I think the difference was with our team, honestly. It was complete disregard for keeping the ball in our hands and getting shots. We knew that we had to get shots and we didn't. We shot the ball better than anyone in the country and we just couldn't get looks, couldn't get good shots and kept turning the ball over. They got easy lay-ups off of that."

You had two fouls early on, how do you think that affected the game?

"I don't know how much it affected it or not, but I was bugging our coaches that I could play with two. It got to the point where there was no use saving me anymore and that was when I went in. The problem with me is that I play aggressively and with two fouls you have to be smart. I had to play a little bit passive and it definitely affected my game."

Senior Center/Forward Crystal Langhorne

Ole Miss had you double and triple teamed so you couldn't find an open person, did it feel like they had seven or eight players out there?

"I think they were so scrappy and they played so hard. I don't think we did a good job of handling their pressure"

Did Ole Miss do anything differently tonight as compared to the game in November?

"I think they put in a lot more energy, like Shay (Doron) said, a lot of it was that we didn't take care of the ball."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

Related News

Related Videos