Jan. 2, 2008
Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb:
On the defensive effort in the game:
“There’s been a huge emphasis on defense because that’s an effort skill. Our emphasis has been effort. Defense and rebounding has been a key. The rebounding margin of 58 to 23 is exactly what we were looking for. That’s one of the defensive skills we’ve been focusing on.”
On having two freshmen start:
“We had two freshmen starters and we brought a freshman off the bench first in the post. All three of the freshmen that finished the game (against Old Dominion), we really liked the effort in the Old Dominion game. Those three have been working very, very hard, especially in practice. We just wanted to give them a shot and give them a chance. They had earned that opportunity. Now they’re starting to get a better understanding so they’re going to keep playing more and more. The effort’s there and the effort is inspiring. They’re fearless as well as being confident.”
On limiting South Florida’s Shantia Grace and Jessica Lawson:
“I think it was really important. We played these guys last year, so we knew how good Grace was, same with Lawson. We really keyed on them. We talked about them a lot on film and in pregame. We said if we can really shut them down and not let them hurt us, that would be the biggest start as well as giving them one shot and out. I thought we did a great job. I think they only had three offensive boards at halftime. That was really important to only give the entire team one shot and out.”
