March 2, 2009

Recap | Box Score

2008-09 Notre Dame Women’s Basketball Post-Game Quotes
Notre Dame vs. West Virginia
Monday, March 2, 2009*Joyce Center*Notre Dame Indiana
Notre Dame Quotes

Head Coach Muffet McGraw
On the play of West Virginia senior guard Takisha Granberry…
“She’s a great player. She’s been shooting the ball really well, and we expected her to shoot it pretty well. We have a lot of respect for her and (Liz) Repella, and they were without their point guard (Ashley Powell) today, which obviously made a big difference.”

On West Virginia’s comeback in the second half…
“I think we got complacent. We built a double-digit lead and then let them have a couple of threes back-to-back. We didn’t follow our game plan defensively.”

On the play of West Virginia, who only had seven players dress…
“They had nothing to gain. They were going to be the 11 seed (in the BIG EAST Tournament) whether they won or lost today, and they still came out and played harder than we did. I thought they played pretty well.”

On Lindsay Schrader’s sixth double-double of the season, tying a school record for guards…
“That is really a difficult accomplishment. She’s been doing a great job on the boards and has been our leading rebounder all year long. She’s somebody we really count on to get a big rebound at the end of the game, and she’s been able to do that. She’s been working the offensive boards pretty well, and I thought she did another good job of that today. It’s really a remarkable accomplishment.”

On the play of Notre Dame’s bench…
“Today we had the most bench points we have had in a long time. Our bench has not scored much lately. I was excited that Kellie (Watson) made a three. That has to make her feel good. And Erica (Solomon) was going to have a good game before she got in foul trouble. I thought the bench played better today than they have all year.”

Lindsay Schrader, Sr., G

On West Virginia playing shorthanded…
“I didn’t see a difference. At the start of the game, when we lined up on the free throw line for the national anthem and I only saw eight players out there, I thought that we could wear them out. But they are definitely a tough team and a running team.”

Erica Williamson, Jr., C
On getting good looks inside… “I thought there were a lot more options today for a high-low game. With the size advantage that we had inside, I thought we could have done a lot more damage than we did.”

On preparing for the BIG EAST Tournament…
“We are all excited for the BIG EAST Tournament. We want to go out there and prove to everyone who we are. We really want to go in there on a high note, so we will work hard in practice the next few days to make sure that we are at our peak and can go in there and take care of business.”

Ashley Barlow, Jr., G

On the team’s defensive struggles in the game…
“We did some good things on the offensive end, but the defensive end is where we win games. We have to step that up a little bit; we know we can play better on that end, and we’ll work on it a lot this week.”

On guarding the three-point line…
“I think it’s just knowing who the shooters are and where they are on the floor. We need to know the scouting report as well. It’s just knowing personnel and knowing how to guard each specific player.”

West Virginia Quotes

Head Coach Mike Carey

On today’s performance… “I thought our girls did a good job battling during the second half. We had to cut to 6 a couple of times coming down and a couple of turnovers and had a couple of shots that didn’t hit it. Only playing with seven people, only six scholarship people, I thought we did a pretty good job.”

On Takisha Granberry’s effort… “She’s hit a lot of big shots all year for us. She has done a great job for us all year, great leader.”

On only having seven players able to play… “It’s very frustrating. We lose our point guard because she’s sick today, so she doesn’t play and all of the sudden we have to move everybody out of position and it’s very frustrating.”

Matchup problems against Lindsay Schrader “She did a good job and their whole inside was a matchup problem for us. I don’t understand, even though we’re small we’re used to people being physical with us and it seemed like in the first half we would not get physical with them. I know Schrader a couple of times threw our guard to the side to make a layup…they’re very physical. We got a little bit better the second half.”

On the team being persevering… “I told them after the game, ‘You girls didn’t quit.’ We very easily, when they took a big lead, could’ve quit the second half but we didn’t quit and battled back to six. I was proud of them.”

Takisha Granberry, Sr., G.

On stepping up, especially in the second half making threes… “We needed it and that’s really what I do (making threes) and that’s what I’m here to do. I was just trying to step up and be the leader I am. We fought back, we fought back hard, and we played with a lot of heart today.”