Nov. 22, 2009

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Notre Dame Women’s Basketball
Notre Dame vs. Iona
November 22, 2009 – Purcell Pavilion, Notre Dame, Ind.

Notre Dame Quotes

Head Coach Muffet McGraw

“I really like the energy and the intensity that we brought in the second half to our defense. I thought that Fraderica Miller got up and pressured the ball. That’s what we wanted to see the whole game. Becca (Bruszewski) got us off to a great start. In the beginning of the game she came out ready and her first couple of baskets calmed everybody down. Brittany Mallory came off of the bench and played extremely well too.”

“I was pretty pleased with a lot of what we did defensively. We did a great job on Mclean; she’s a great player. Becca was the key defender in that game.”

In response to the offensive performance being less than sharp…
“I thought that were a little complacent offensively. We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be. I think we got up 11-2 and thought ‘let’s pack our bags, we’re going to the Virgin Islands…who’s got the sunscreen?’ That’s where I thought Fred (Fraderica Miller) and Skylar (Diggins) came in to give us a big lift. “

On the carry-over from Thursday’s one-point win at #21 Michigan State…
“I don’t think we’ve recovered yet. We practiced okay on Friday and Saturday, but I didn’t think it was too the level that we’ve been working. I didn’t feel like there was great intensity and I think that showed a little bit tonight so my goal tomorrow will be to bring that intensity back … and I think I can do it. (laughter)”

Freshman guard Skylar Diggins

On the mismatch at the guard position and the team’s defensive mindset…
“We really wanted to put some pressure on their guards, because we knew that they had a great post player and we wanted to make sure that it was hard for them to get the ball into her. We wanted to get some time off of the shot clock, and make them waste time and worry about handling the ball. I think that led to some steals and us getting out in transition and trying to push the ball.”

Junior forward Becca Bruszewski

On doing anything special in getting early momentum…
“I was sticking inside getting easy buckets. I hit the one three, but I was wide open.”

On coming off of a tough road game…
“Our legs were a little tired, but a lot of people have been in the ice bath; it has been on us to get in and do that, because there are no excuses. There was a little difference tonight, and I’m pretty sure it was our lack of intensity at practice over the past couple of days.”

Iona Quotes

Iona Head Coach Anthony Bozzella

On the game…
“We played the fifth ranked team in the country today and I thought they played very well. Muffet McGraw is such a great coach, obviously, because she changes her style to suit the type of players that she has. We struggled with the press, and that is a credit to her and how they are coached in the press and how hard their kids play. They made us look poor. Clearly, they took it at us today and we worked on this for a day and a half and I give them a lot of credit for that.”

On the number of turnovers his team committed…
“You know, obviously we don’t have the type of athletes that Notre Dame does. I think we made some poor decisions. They outscored us 34 to 10 based on turnovers. We would have loved to have pressed them, but clearly we are not at that level yet. While I am extremely disappointed with some of our decisions, I also give Notre Dame credit for making us make those decisions.”