March 27, 2005
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Post Game Press Conference Quotes
North Carolina Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell:
(Opening Statement)
"First, I would like to complement . They were confident and tough. It was a hard fought game. ASU has an excellent program and we were really impressed with how they played us. I'm really proud of the three girls sitting next to me [Ivory Latta, Erlana Larkins and Nikita Bell]. They all played hard and tough. We were the only team from the East Coast that had to play someone on their home floor. That made us tougher. It's almost in and these girls played well with a timetable they aren't used to. I'm just really proud of the way they battled tonight."
Q: What were your thoughts on La'Tangela Atkinson coming in and giving your team a boost?
"I thought she missed some easy shots inside and I kept telling her to be strong around the basket. She can surprise you with her great defense and rebounding. La'Tangela will come through for you if you just give her an assignment."
Q: Why did Leah Metcalf handle the ball so much?
"Some of it had to do with the fact that Ivory got fingers stuck in her eyes twice and her contacts weren't staying in place. That is why we took her out to get that corrected because she couldn't see. Plus, Leah is very good at penetration. A lot of the things we were trying to do involved penetration. Especially after the second half when we were penetrating, drawing fouls and getting to the line. Leah is also a leader as a senior captain."
Q: Can you talk about Erlana Larkins and Nakita Bell's dominance inside?
"They are both big and strong. We were trying to get the ball into Nakita everytime Regean Pariseau came into the game because it was a tough matchup. Even though we play her on the wing, Nakita is a very good post player because she has a great vertical and is so physically strong. I though we could score with Erlana especially when Kristen Kovesdy had four fouls on her. When we get the ball inside to Erlana she usually produces well."
Q: What surprised you about ASU?
"I knew they were going to get in our faces, put a lot of hands on us and be physical. They frustrate a lot of opponents with their defense. So I told my players this game was going to be a game of runs. They were going to put their hands on us and I told our players not to get frustrated. We worked on stepping into them and getting open. Until you get out there you don't know how tough they play. But we play like that so I think that helped us. We get in each others' faces every day at practice and I think that helped us. We had two or three spurts where we scored two or three buckets in a row and I thought that was the difference in the game."
Players Erlana Larkins, Ivory Latta, Nikita Bell:
Q: Ivory, how much did your injury affect you throughout the game?
Latta: "I tried not to let it phase me that much, or think about it that much. My teammates kept saying that they needed me. All I need to hear is my teammates behind me and it gives me the strength to fight hard for them."
Q: Later on in the game Kovesdy had four fouls and they brought her back in, were you trying to work toward her knowing she had four fouls?
Larkins: "We tried to get the ball inside and force her to make defensive decisions. We knew she had four fouls and if we could get the ball inside she could make two choices, to play straight up or physically. She did play great defense and had a great game though."
Q: What are your impressions of Baylor?
: "It really goes back to that you really don't know just how tough a team is until you're out there on the court with them. We can watch all day, but we don't know until we're playing them. They might have had an off game today, or it could have been their best game of the season. We won't know until we get on the court with them. We're just going to try and execute and play our game like we know how."
Latta: "Baylor is a great team and they have some great post players. We're just going to go out and play and when we get on the court is when we'll see how good they are. That's what some coaches have said about us that you don't know how fast we are until you play us. We're going to focus on our game plan and go out and play hard."
Larkins: "I think it's going to be a great game. They're great with the fast breaks and they have two really great post players in Blackmon and Young, so I think it should be a great match-up."
Q: The North Carolina men's team is also in the Elite Eight, is there any competition between your teams to see who can make it further?
: "No, we're just wishing them the best of luck and they're doing the same for us. Right now we're focused on ourselves, we're just trying to make it to the Final Four. But we congratulate them, and we're happy for them."
Q: What changed the momentum of the game?
: "We had hard games during the season. In the ACC tournament we had to fight back for the first two games. I think those games helped in a large part. This win shows character, it shows our team knows how to battle. We play together. We stick together. We listen to our coaches."
Q: Was it as tough playing at as you thought it would be?
Larkins: "I think it was tougher than we thought it would be. is a great place and a great environment. They were the home team. They played really well."
Q: How did the crowd affect the game?
Latta: "Our crowd is great. It is always great to see people behind us. We also had some fans from , and I was a little surprised about that. I can sit here and say was one of the top teams we have played all year. Coach was telling us how aggressive they are on defense, and you never know until you play them. Tonight they were very aggressive on defense. I commend our crowd for coming this far and everyone's parents that made it down. [Our fans] helped us our a lot."
Q: Erlana [Larkins], how were you feeling during the game (cramps)?
Larkins: "The cramps were coming on. I felt it coming. I went out there and gave it my all, because right now, you lose and you are out. So you have to go out and leave it all out on the court."
Q: I vory [Latta], how did your injury affect your play?
Latta: "I tried not to let it affect me that much. I just tried not to think about it that much. My teammates were telling me, `Ivory, we need you. Suck it up. You will be alright.' That is all I needed to hear, just my teammates behind me. It gave me the strength to go out and fight hard for them. I do it for me, but I give it one hundred percent for my teammates, a hard fought battle for my teammates. [I] lay my body on the line."
Post Game Press Conference Quotes
Head Coach Charli Turner Thorne:
(Opening Statement)
"I would like to start out by thanking my administration for hosting this event. It gave our program a great opportunity and I would like to thank the fans for coming out and supporting us. Our hats off to . They played an outstanding game and they are an aggressive team. They did the things they needed to do and got some extra rebounds. You just have to credit .
Q: What was the difference in the second half that put the game away for ?
"The difference was that we didn't have any size down low, because Kristen [Kovesdy] was on the bench. We shot well in the first half because we had a balanced attack. I don't think we did a good job of transition in the second half. We had a few limitations that we don't normally have to keep everybody fresh. We got hurt on both ends of the floor."
Q: What have the seniors meant to the program this year?
"This is the first time in which I have had four players go through the entire four years of the program. They are real special to me. All the seniors have taken this team to new heights. They've grown with the program and they are special people and talented players. They represent what the team basketball."
Q: Does this season put the women's program on the map?
"I hope so. I hope it is great for and great for the Pac-10. and the Pac-10 conference made huge statements in the postseason this year. I am going to keep scheduling east coast teams to try and elevate this program."
Q: Were you pleased with the turnout of the crowd tonight?
"Yes, I couldn't have been more pleased with the crowd tonight. A great crowd always gives you an edge. They were a fun crowd and they were into the game. The crowd can only do so much. We needed to execute our game plan and I think that is what's hard. We want these fans to come back; they are your X-factor."
Forward Amy Denson
Q: On what happened in the second half
"I can't really pin point it. We wanted to work as hard as we could and see what happened. Our offense has been doing really well and we scored 72 points. We couldn't ask for more, we just didn't do it on the defensive end."
Q: On turnovers turning into easy buckets
"We've had turnovers all year. We've played with them, but when you turn it over we have to get back, and we didn't do that tonight."
Q: On how the team feels about their accomplishments
"We are a team, there is no one person that you can pin point. We have gotten this far with our seniors, our leaders when a lot of people really didn't believe in us. Lisa Leslie was saying all these things about the PAC-10, but we stuck through it and were a better team for it. We are proud of ourselves and I'm so proud of our team and we love each other so much."
Guard Betsy Boardman
"We have such a great group of girls here and of course we want to get further. We weren't satisfied with just getting to the Sweet 16 and we had so much heart and passion for that game tonight and we came up short. Some of our shots didn't fall, we turned the ball over way to much and your'e not going to be able to win a basketball game like that."
Q: On dry spell in the second half
"You have to play for 40 minutes and we kind of took breaks and you can't do that, especially at this level."
Q: On what Charlie said after the game
"If she were to be positive and everything that would almost be like she didn't believe in us. We all believe that we can get to the next step, get to the Elite 8 and move forward, but she is very complimentary of us, the seniors and that is just tremendous and we are very fortunate to have the team and coaches that we have. I have had a tremendous career and enjoyed every minute of it with our coaching staff. We have to tribute a lot of our success to them also."
Q: How has the program changed since you came in?
"Leaps and bounds. We did get a couple of PAC-10 championships right off the bat. I think that obviously started Charlie's positive thinking. Really I think with our defensive mentality and we are going to continue with that and try to be the best program in the country. This year we were such a connected team and Charlie
focused big time on that and that is why we got as far as we did. We got along so well off and on the floor and we all wanted it really bad."
"I would love to keep playing and it is amazing that is already over. I've been here for five years so I can only imagine what people say after four years, but it has been a really good time.
Arizona State Senior Guard Kylan Loney:
Q: What was it like, this being your last game?
"Every team ends on a loss except for one, so chances are a lot of girls are going to be feeling the same way I feel. Like Charlie [Turner Thorne] said, I am just glad we got to where we came. I am proud of the girls and I am excited to see them in the future. They are going to be a great team. I am excited for all the fans that came out, that was unbelievable. The fans really made my last experience memorable."
Q: What happened when you came out flat and then had the 20-10 lead?
"When we first came out and they were running, I thought, 'wow these girls are some athletes,' those girls were jumping out of the gym. We settled down and started getting into a bit of a flow. I knew we could play with any team in the country, but when we were up it confirmed that. They didn't have anything on us that we couldn't handle. I think we were pumped up and excited to see that we could play with anyone."
Q: Were you surprised how many people were here and how much of a factor they were? "I really wasn't surprised because I had heard the last couple days that a lot of people were going to come out. I was expecting a big crowd, but in my opinion a crowd can only take you so far. We needed to give ourselves a lot of energy, be loud when the crowd was quiet, on [North Carolina's] runs. The crowd was amazing and it really got us going in the first half but it really was our job to get ourselves going.
Arizona State Sophomore Forward Emily Westerberg:
Q: What happened when you came out flat and then had the 20-10 lead?
"Because of all the hype and excitement, I almost expected us to come out like that, but then we realized that they are just girls in jerseys like ours. It is going to be huge for us next year to tell the freshman that we can play with anybody in the country. After we went up 10, I think it shows that we really can."
Q: Did you make changes to shoot along the baseline at halftime?
"My shot has been struggling for the last couple of weeks. So I was just trying to get into the paint where I am comfortable and get some easy baskets. I was also trying to get to the free throw line. We talked about it all week, we can cut on the backdoor or we can cut down the baseline and I can get the shots there. When Kristen [Kovesdy] was out with four fouls that hurt us on defense because she couldn't get her fifth. We didn't help her as much as we should have. Yes, we needed her inside in the post, but on the defensive end we could have helped her a little bit more."