Jan. 14, 2007
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Post-Game Quotes
Vanderbilt vs. Florida
Jan. 14, 2007
VU Head Coach Melanie Balcomb
On the lift that Jennifer Risper gave the team by starting the 2nd half:
“She has been playing really well and she has earned the start. She has been playing with the starters in practice the past couple of weeks. And we need her to start. We need to have a sophomore out on the floor with her experience because we need to start games batter than we have been to this point.”
“[Risper] is a player that can get steals, and she can create offense off of her defense. That is what she as a player is able to bring to our team and that is exactly what we need.”
On Vanderbilt’s slow start offensively:
“We didn’t do a good job defensively tonight so we were tight offensively, at least at the outset. But once we were able to make some defensive stops we were able to get out in transition and pick up our offense as well. I think our defense in many ways was the key for us tonight.”
On Florida’s defensive plan to limit Vanderbilt’s interior scoring:
“They were sagging on the perimeter. The only person on the perimeter that they were focusing on the whole game was Caroline [Williams]. Players like Merideth [Marsh] will make you pay for that and I think you saw that tonight.”
“All I hear about is how afraid people are of our our post game, and tonight they really worked hard to try and limit our interior players like Liz [Sherwood] and Carla [Thomas]. But that exposes the defense to players like Tina [Wirth] being able to shoot the ball from the perimeter. She got a little bit greedy tonight and we needed that. We needed her to get greedy tonight.”
On the big and boisterous crowd:
“The crowd tonight was outstanding. When we made some plays in the second half we were really able to get the crowd into the game and I think that helped to give us a big lift. When we jam the gym like we did tonight, it is a lot of fun to play.”
Vanderbilt Sophomore Guard Jennifer Risper:
“I was just trying to come in and pump up my team tonight and play as hard as I could. I just try to do anything that I can do to help my team.”
“The problem tonight wasn’t our offense, it was our defense and our defensive rotation. When we are struggling on offense, we need to stop them from scoring. Once we were able to make some stops on defense, we were able to pick it up on offense and get the crowd into it. Our defense really helped us out tonight.”
Vanderbilt Senior Forward Carla Thomas:
On the crowd:
“It is great to have this kind of fan base and to know that so many people are into women’s basketball and into Vanderbilt women’s basketball. The crowd can really be something that can give us a lift and that was certainly the case tonight.”
On taking control of the game in the second half:
“We really needed to be more aggressive on defense and pick up our intensity and ball pressure. Being able to do that — in the second half, especially — was the key to the game for us tonight.”
“We weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be and as we should have been. If you go in lax in the SEC, people are going to make you pay.”