March 27, 2004
NCAA East Regional Championship
NOTRE DAME
Head Coach Muffet McGraw overview…
I’m proud of our effort. We competed and battled for forty minutes. We held Penn State to 50 points before we put them on the line. We’ve come a long way since we were 7-6.
Head Coach Muffet McGraw on the Notre Dame zone…
That was our best defensive effort of the year. We certainly did what we wanted to do. We were concerned about our defense against the three-point shooting of Kelly Mazzante and Jess Strom. It was a great effort, and pretty much what we have been doing.
Head Coach Muffet McGraw on the emotions of playing her old coach, Rene Portland…
This wasn’t any different. I didn’t feel any different at all.
Head Coach Muffet McGraw on Notre Dame’s 10 turnovers in the game…
We had 10 turnovers in the first half, and 10 total, but we had some bad ones that hurt us. We average 18 turnovers-a-game. You have to value every possession. We didn’t do a good job in critical situations.
Head Coach Muffet McGraw on wearing green jerseys…
The team decided last night to switch colors and see if it worked.
Head Coach Muffet McGraw on Jackie Batteast…
She has had a great tournament and a great year. Jackie has come up big for us in every big game. Coming in, we knew she could rebound and defend. Today she scored (22 points) as well.
Le’Tania Severe on why their zone was effective…..
We tried to talk in the zone and find the cutters and find the shooters. I thought we did a pretty good job. We gave up some 3’s but overall I thought the zone was effective..
Jacqueline Batteast on ND being loose coming into the game…
We had nothing to lose. We came in a five seed playing a one. Nothing was really expected of us. We played a very good game.
Le’Tania Severe on her turnover near the end of the game…
I don’t know what else to say. I didn’t want to throw it to her. She’s tall and they knew we wanted to get the ball to Jackie.
Jacqueline Batteast on the lack of an inside presence for PSU…
Reicina (Russell) doesn’t have to jump. She’s so tall. Even though they say they don’t have an inside presence, maybe not offensively, but defensively it was pretty packed in there. When I was shooting it was mostly into her arms. She did a good job down there.
PENN STATE
Head Coach Rene Portland on Notre Dame’s effort…
They came in here with a great game plan to stop us. They really gave us a hard time defensively. Their second chance opportunities became a real challenge for us. We’re just very fortunate that going down the stretch; rebounding was something that helped us as well as some great defensive stops. It was a terrific game and I think that our players need some rest after a great one.
Kelly Mazzante on leading the team along with fellow senior Jess Brungo… In the second round game (vs. Virginia Tech), Jess and I weren’t really there. I think today it was real important for the goals that we set at the beginning of the season. It is just another step. I’m just so excited to be on this team with the talent that we have.
Jess Brungo on Penn State’s offensive success off of inbounds plays…
I think that since we have such great outside shooters, they really had to pay attention to Kelly (Mazzante) on the outside corner. That just left me open a few times under the basket.
Head Coach Rene Portland on how Penn State won the close game…
We just kept preaching rebounding. They had so many offensive rebounds, it was scary. We knew at the end that they were going to go to (Jacqueline) Batteast, so we allowed the kids in the last few plays to switch on everything. We reminded them of the games that we had lost. I just think that they played good defense by switching and switching. We made them take some tough shots. Though we didn’t do that for 38 minutes, we did it for two minutes.
Head Coach Rene Portland on advancing to the Regional Final…
This (advancing past the Sweet 16) was not the goal. This was just some of the steps that we took along the way. I think that it was more written by the media that we had to get over this hump. Our goals are well beyond this and this is just one of the steps that we have to take.