Nov. 20, 2004

Recap | Final Stats

Sportsview.tv Preseason WNIT – Championship

Notre Dame Coach Muffet McGraw On the 12-0 Irish run at the end of the game…
“I was most proud of when we got down eight late in the game and we made our run. We didn’t give up. We didn’t panic. We tightened up on defense and we were able to get the ball to Jackie (Batteast). Megan (Duffy) hit a three. We did a lot of smart things. We didn’t turn the ball over a lot during that stretch.”

On senior All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast’s play…
“I think the biggest play of the game was Jackie’s block. She had to run about 20 feet to get that. She had a spectacular night, a career night. I think in every huddle we said ‘Go to Jackie,’ no matter what play we’re running.

On the starting the season 4-0…
“I think it’s something that we’ve really worked hard for. Last year we kind of struggled early to find a rhythm. It’s great to see that we are really starting to gel so quickly.”

On Notre Dame’s bench play…
“I think Charel Allen gave us great minutes off the bench. I think Melissa D’Amico tonight also gave us great minutes off the bench. We have the depth and we can do a lot of different combinations.”

On the Joyce Center crowd…
“I thought the fans really helped us tonight. The crowd was a big factor tonight in us making our run. They kept us in the game.”

Notre Dame senior All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast
On the determination of the team…
“We definitely didn’t want to leave here with any moral victories. We were at home, we had the crowd behind us. We were very determined. There was a lot of time left to just be down by eight. Everyone on this team is so confident. We knew as long as we had no more mental lapses, we could start to swing things our way.”

On her block of Caity Matter’s three-point attempt with two seconds left in the game…
“I was thinking I didn’t want this game to go into overtime. (Caity) Matter was wide open and I just did my best to get in her way; I just happened to hit the ball.”

Notre Dame junior guard Megan Duffy
On Ohio State’s defense…

“They did a fantastic job. They got out in the passing lanes. They put a lot of pressure on us. They had us on our heels with the ball over our heads. They are a very good defensive team. We’re proud to score (66) points on them.”

Ohio State Coach Jim Foster On the difference in the game…
“I think we did not execute, and I think they did. They were patient and got the ball to [Jacqueline] Batteast.”

On his team’s performance…
“We did a pretty good job of guarding. On the offensive end, the players we need to go to have to learn how to get open in certain situations and how to read certain situations. For us, we’re at this sticking point again. For us to be a better basketball team, we need to be able to execute. On the offensive end, we need to get the shots we like to get. On the defensive end, we can’t let them have second shots. A good team closes out a possession. We were not ready to play in an every-possession basketball game.”

On Notre Dame senior All-America forward Jacqueline Batteast…
“She’s a good player. She’s got a nice little game. She is a good offensive player. I think that, at some point, she’s going to see some double-teaming. That’s when you evaluate her. One-on-one, she’s really good.”

On his team…
“Personally. I don’t think we executed at all. We lacked intensity.”

Ohio State sophomore center Jessica Davenport On the game…
“We needed to execute well the whole game, and we can’t expect to turn it around at the end.”

Ohio State senior guard Caity Matter On her play…
“Visually, I lost my shot. I didn’t get my shots off. I was a little bit rushed.”

On the play of Ohio State…
“We played a close game on the road, and we obviously didn’t come out with the win like we wanted. We didn’t execute down the stretch, and we didn’t box out. Now we know what we need to work on.”