March 21, 2004

Sophomore Guard Megan Duffy
On 12 vs. 5 matchup…
“That is just what makes the tournament so exciting, whether it is the men’s tournament or the women’s tournament. The seeds don’t really matter at this point, and SMS did a fantastic job with their energy and coming out ready to play.”

Junior Forward Jacqueline Batteast
On defense towards the end of the game…
“We had played good defense all game except for a couple of lapses, but we knew that if we came out strong we would have a good chance to win in overtime.”

On her block towards the end of regulation…
“I just did not want her to score and the way to do that is to just block the ball. She came in and put it right there but it appears they didn’t give me credit for it on the stat sheet.”

On the last play of regulation…
“I was just praying to God the whistle wouldn’t blow after she shot it because it could go either way. I am glad that we were able to get the win in overtime.”

Senior Guard Le’Tania Severe
On overtime and getting the ball to Courtney LaVere…
“I was just trying to stay focused. I had some drives during regulation that were terrible. In overtime, I was looking to attack a bit more and Courtney [LaVere] was there a few times and I was able to finish a few. After the first time I got it to her, I was beginning to look for her more and we were just trying to be aggressive.”

On the SMS defense…
“On offense, we were not attacking enough and we got a little complacent after our run. They were able to get back into it and we knew that we had to start playing as a team. We were able to bring it back and get an overtime win.”

On her defense against Kari Koch…
“I just wanted to press her as hard as I could, but she is a great player. She is a good shooter and drives to the basket well. Initially, I just didn’t want to give her a good shot and when she got a shot, I wanted to make it hard for her. She was able to get a couple of easy ones and we had to clamp down towards the end.”