Nov. 1, 2012

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Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw

Opening Comments
“I thought there were some good things, and some things we can work on. I think we can improve on both ends of the floor with our execution. I think our rotation defensively could be a lot better, and the rebounding can really be a lot better. But there were some good things. I thought, offensively, Jewell had a great game. We got good contributions from different people. Whitney Holloway, I thought, really played well today. We had good contributions off the bench. I thought Whitney and Kaila Turner and Ariel Braker all played well. I’m really pleased about a lot of what went on out there.”

On Jewell’s performance…
“Well one of her jobs is to get to the free throw line, and she was 8-for-8 tonight. She drove the ball, she offensive rebounded and she tried to score around the basket, which is a great way to get to the free throw line. She ran the floor in transition, executed the offense well and mixed it up with three-pointers and drives. I thought it was a really smart game.”

On having another scoring option besides Diggins and McBride…
“I think it’s great. It’s great for the opener especially to set the tone for the season. We expect Jewell to be able to contribute on the offensive end, and I think defensively, people are going to have to figure out whom they are going to guard. When you have so many scorers on the perimeter, you cannot really leave any of them so I think we are going to be a team that is hard to guard.”

On what she learned about her team tonight…
“Well, I hoped we would be better defensively and rebounding, so we’re not there yet. Offensively, I thought we would be able to score, and I think we were right about that. We settled a little bit for some jumpers, and I thought we could have gone to the post a little bit more. I think we need to work on our high-low game. We didn’t execute that at all today. I don’t think we saw the mismatches as well as we should have. I think Madison Cable has been the surprise player. I think she is somebody that has just continued to come along and did some really good things today. I think she is somebody we are going to be able to count on at both ends of the floor.”

On seeing development she wants from interior players…
“Not yet. I think it’s coming though. I thought we tried to look in a little bit more at times, but I think we can do a better job. I think Markisha (Wright) can really be a force inside so we’re just going to continue to work that and get her the ball as much as we can.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Skylar Diggins – Senior – Guard

On team’s intensity from the beginning…
“That’s our goal. We obviously wanted to come out [like that]. There was a lot of excitement, a lot of nerves and things like that. We wanted to come out and have a good start for the first game, try to get up and get some steals early in transition to get some of those jitters out.”

On what this team will be known for…
“I think it’s coming along. I think that’s something we need to continue to work on everyday. I think our biggest thing is communicating. People have to come out of their comfort zones that aren’t usually the loud mouths. We had Dev (Peters) and we had Brittany (Mallory) who were very good talkers and communicators. I think it’s there, we just have to have the confidence in ourselves that we know what we’re doing and we know what we’re supposed to be doing and we need to communicate that.”

Jewell Loyd – Freshmano Guard

On her performance …
“The defense played me in different ways, and I just used my strengths. I knew I had to get to the basket. It really helps to have good communicators like Skylar (Diggins) and the upperclassmen to kind of walk us through the offense. Everyday in practice, we just go over it (the offense) so that when we’re in the games you just react to the defense.”

On her feelings going into the game…
“It helps when you have teammates and coaches that believe in you and give you confidence and always tell you that ‘we need you’ and ‘we want you to score.’ Going into the game I knew that they believed in me. It helps a lot when people believe in you and want you to do your best.”

Edinboro Head Coach Stan Swank

On Notre Dame’s defense…
“From my point of view, I thought they were extremely quick. What they do that I think is so good is they just really jam the lane and don’t allow you to get the ball inside. One of our best players is No. 44, Samantha Blazetic, who is an honorable mention All-American in Division II and she couldn’t even operate. We tried a lot of different things to get her to flash, to get her open, and try to get her the ball, but that was very difficult. We turned the ball over a lot early, and I think that hurt us. They’re a great team. They’re very, very good. Our kids were a little shell-shocked. It’s a big environment for them, but it’s a great experience for us. It allows us to find what we did wrong and to find some of the things that we need to work on and improve on. And that’s one of the reasons we really wanted to play this game. It makes things for us stick out like a sore thumb. I was a little disappointed because I thought we could play better. That was my only disappointment. I thought that we could do better.”

On playing Purdue last year…
“We did pretty well in that game, and that’s why I’m saying that I was a little bit disappointed. I thought we’d play much better. And they (Notre Dame) create a lot of that. They get you out of sync, and our players found out about their speed and how important speed is.”

On Jewell Loyd…
“I thought she did well. She’s a freshman, and I thought she carried herself very well. I think it was a good game for her as far as a first starting game and an exhibition game. And she handled herself well, and I thought she played well. She fits in.”

On Kiara Brown…
“Kiki was kind of erratic tonight. She’s very athletic – she does a lot of good things. She got 10 points, which I think was our only double figure person. I think she got taken out a little bit of her game because we didn’t have the “Blaze option” – the [Samantha] Blazetic option. So I think that took her out a little bit. I think she got frustrated. I think for Division II that her and Darche’ Jackson are two pretty good guards for our level, and I think that they can do a very good job at our level. You didn’t get to see the full Kiki. But once again, Notre Dame did that.”