Nov. 15, 2015
Recap | Box Score | Green’s Photos 
Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb
On missing Rachel Bell and Rebekah Dahlman:
“Rachel [Bell] is injured. She hurt her knee and her Achilles, and that is day-to-day, hopefully it won’t be long term but she is doing ok. Rebekah [Dahlman] had a one game suspension for not upholding team standards.”
On Jasmine Jenkins 24-point game and improvement:
“She’s worked very hard in the offseason on herself and her game and has grown a lot as a young woman. She’s flourished in every aspect of her life, and you’re just seeing what we’ve been watching all summer. Actually, I think it started last spring. With the new system this year, I changed a lot of things to fit [specific players], and one of those players was Jasmine, trying to figure out how we could make her more successful. I think one of those things is she’s not handling the ball as much, but she’s being put in a position to finish more and make that extra pass more. She’s going to need to be a great defender, and we don’t need her worn out trying to beat traps and all those things. I think she can be our best defender. I think she’s very dynamic, there are so many positions we can play. What we’ve been trying to do is play more position-less basketball. The offenses are different so we can adapt to our personnel and you saw that today, and hopefully you’ll see a lot of people do that. One of the things that has allowed that to happen is having Minta Spears, her coming in and doing what she’s been able to do, as well as Morgan Batey being willing to play every position on the floor. We’re in a good place, it’s early and it’s just the start, but that willingness that Jasmine brings as a leader to this team is huge.”
On Christa Reed’s 22-point game after an injury last season:
“Christa Reed’s a pretty darn good shooter, and she’s an even better shooter than that in practice. You’ve got somebody that sat out with an injury since early January as our best shooter, and that put us in a tough position last year, as well. She’s changed a lot as far as her effort, her physicality, her multiple positions, and she’s worked so hard, too, in the offseason. I think her and Rachel [Bell] are just flourishing, and you saw that with Rachel before she got injured. Those sophomores are maturing, they’re doing the normal maturation from freshman to sophomore year. That all starts with their foundation and where they come from, the families and the homes they come from, as well as the programs and the coaches that they come from, and that’s why they’re still here doing a great job, and it’s exciting.”
On Kendall Shaw’s performance:
“She had a season-ending injury last year, and I didn’t talk about those things because I feel like they end up being excuses, but we needed Kendall Shaw. We need her size, we need her touch, she brings a lot things. She’s getting in shape, she’s building confidence, and you’re seeing a lot of that carry out now into games. We’ve had a lot of changes and it’s been a lot of positive changes.”
On grading today’s performance:
“We kind of rated things in the locker room and how we felt about things. We got a lot of B’s and C’s. What was good and was so neat, because it’s all about team chemistry, we need to assemble a better team than we did, team chemistry is caused by communication, and they only A that [the players] gave themselves was communication. They were all on the same page, they were all on the same defenses and offenses, and that’s a huge change. That meant that, every time they were on the floor, all five people built trust today through their communication. It’s a process, but it was a big step today. It wasn’t a baby step, it was a big step.”
RS-JR Center Kendall Shaw
On being back on the court:
“Being back on the court is the best experience ever. I was out last year and the year before with injuries and I couldn’t have done this without my teammates. They pushed me to get back on the court and be the best me that I can be.”
On this being the seniors last year:
“I think that we all bought in and have tried to be committed. We want to send the seniors out with that bang so as a team we’re really committed and you can see that on the court.”
On what to focus on before the next game:
“Transition defense. Getting back on defense and being patient and having good spacing on offense. Those are two big things that we should focus on going into the next game.”
SR Guard Jasmine Jenkins
On her development over the last year:
“It’s a part of being a senior. I’ve been in the gym a ton. My position and role have changed a little. I just bought in. I’m in with two feet and I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do. I could not care less about scoring. If the team needs me to score, then that’s what I’ll do. I’ll ride the bench and be the biggest cheerleader. I just want to win.”
On the best part of the team’s performance:
“Recovering from our lulls. There were some moments in the game when we weren’t playing as well as we wanted to. We weren’t communicating and we weren’t hustling to get back on defense. So to be aware of that and then to pick it back up is huge for us because last year we had a tendency to just ride it out and not make a change right when we needed to.”
