SU vs. Boston College Post-Game Quotes
Women’s Basketball Post-Game Quotes
Boston College vs. Syracuse
February 12, 2005
Head Coach Keith Cieplicki”
“I was happy that we got ourselves back in the game in the second half. It took us some energy to do it. I thought we still continued to get pretty decent shots, but again it’s just things evening themselves out and BC continued to score. It was 47-44 and then it was 57-44 and that was pretty much it. But you know, as I said to everyone coming in, this BC team is very well balanced, and when you try to defend a team like this as they showed, they have a lot of different weapons. I thought they did a good job against us and I thought we made some decent adjustments, but obviously not enough to get it done.”
On the motion offense the team used in the second half:
“We thought we could beat them off the dribble a little bit more, so we just spread the floor. I thought we did a pretty good job creating some mismatches. That was the intent in terms of the adjustment.”
On the team’s offensive lulls:
“We’re just talking about valuing each possession. When we come down and just throw it to them, I think it just deflates our energy and it usually gives them a pretty good opportunity when they’re running back at us. We can do a better job, we control that kind of play. I just think it’s the next step for us. It’s a little bit of everybody. Whether it’s throwing inside and instead of shooting it we try to put it on the floor or we just come down and we don’t make a great decision. I think that’s a big key right now. We don’t shoot a great percentage anyway, so when we shoot fewer shots and we don’t shoot a great percentage, that’s not a good combination.”
On sitting Chineze Nwagbo in the 2nd half:
“She didn’t feel great in the second half. She did not feel 100 percent.”
On Boston College’s veteran players versus SU’s younger players:
“They just bear down a little bit when they know they have to get one. Whether we end up stopping them more or scoring more, the next step for us is doing one or the other in terms of being able to hang in there. I was real proud of the team to fight back in it because there were points in the first half where I thought we were going to take the knockout punch. I was real proud that defensively, I thought we dug in for a long time.”
On Tracy Harbut’s minutes:
“She’s been practicing hard and I thought match-up-wise, she created some problems for them out there. She defends the post pretty well and because we opened up the floor a little bit more and went to the motion, I thought it was a good day for her. I thought she played pretty well.”
On play in the 2nd half:
“I thought we could take them off the dribble more, and we did a good job at that for a long time. Then they went to a smaller line-up, and we decided to go back into Vaida a little bit more. But with Chinny not really playing the second half, it’s tough when it’s Vaida every play. It’s tough for Vaida and it’s tough for the team, so we were doing the best that we can with just the one post.”
On coaching against Cathy Inglese:
“We try not to think about it and just coach the game. I think obviously I wouldn’t be sitting her today if it wasn’t for her. She gave me my first opportunity to coach women’s basketball. I probably learned more in the four years working with her than I’ve learned in any other period of my life as a basketball coach. I appreciate everything that she’s done for me. In terms of coaching the game, I don’t think about coaching against her, but it’s always nice to see her and I know her team’s going to be ready. That’s one thing you know about her.”
On the shooting BC’s Clare Droesch:
“She hasn’t shot great lately, so we felt we’d take our chances early. Obviously, it didn’t work. We didn’t really find her in the zone. We went to the box a little bit, and it stopped her. It didn’t stop many other people, so at that point we said let’s just guard them. I thought we did a good job on her for the last 25 minutes. But again, if we’re going to take her away then it’s hard for us to help and scramble. She’s a great player, she was a great high school player, and she’s had a nice career.”
Senior guard Rochelle Coleman:
On the SU second-half run followed by BC’s run:
“It felt like the momentum swung our way, but then on defense, we let it go. And then we didn’t score for what seemed like forever. The hole just got too big.”
Freshman guard Jessica Richter
On guarding BC’s weapons:
“It’s tough to guard a team like that. Give them credit, they took advantage of our breakdowns, and we had a lot of them. It’s tough guarding when it’s not just one person you have to shut down, but it’s the whole team.”
