Nov. 28, 2010
Head Coach Melanie Balcomb
On having an advantage inside…
“With our height advantage and size advantage up top, we knew that’s where our strength could be, and the fact that we have a lot of depth in the post and they don’t. They’ve only been playing three post players, and really, one is a guard. The way you get her out of the game is to try to go at her. That was in the game plan, to get her in foul trouble and make her defend us in the post.”
On Princeton playing Vanderbilt tough…
“They turned it up. I like to give the other team credit when credit is due. I think they’re a very good team. I think they’re extremely well coached. They beat USC for a reason. We didn’t’ take them lightly and they were ready to play with a lot of confidence. We came out real strong with a lot of energy on our home court and then they made a run and they stepped it up. They played that way for the rest of the game and maintained it. “
On the difference between two pretty evenly matched teams…
“I think we took advantage of our height and of our ability to score inside. I think Hannah was a force. I think when you have Hannah [Tuomi] and Tiff [Tiffany Clarke] doing what they do, they both played well tonight, that was tough to defend and got the in foul trouble. Also I think that we made big plays on offense. I think that [Christina] Foggie hit a big three, Jasmine [Lister] hit a big three, Gabby [Smith] defended extremely well on the ball when we needed her to. When we had Jence [Rhoads] and Hannah on the bench, when we were in foul trouble as well, I think the players came in and did what they did and it really helped. I felt really good about the plays we made on offense. Defense, that’s another thing, we got a little cushion and then we gave up too many threes. Their threes came off offensive rebounds. We’ve got to do a better job of checking out down the stretch.”
On everyone contributing…
“I felt like everyone did their role, did things, and obviously we want to increase their roles and get tem better at their roles, but tonight was a game that I felt really good about beating a good team that plays really hard and people being willing to come in and do their role.”
Hannah Tuomi – Tournament MVP
On being surprised about Princeton…
“Princeton is a good team. Give a lot of credit to them. Obviously, in a championship game of a tournament, they’re going to put up a fight. It just depends on who can stick in there longer for the fight.”
On having a height advantage over Princeton…
“We saw that we had a little bit of a height advantage on Princeton inside, so we thought it would be a good idea to get the ball inside and then if they doubled, we could shoot it back outside and get a wide open three.”
On Jasmine’s performance in the tournament…
“She works hard. When you work hard in practice it definitely shows in the games. We have a good group of freshmen. When they work hard in practice and they come out, they take over in the game.”
Jasmine Lister – All-Tournament team
On what helped Princeton stay in the game…
“Definitely their offensive rebounds. They kept getting the rebound and kicking it out to the shooter. That was kind of tough for us.”
On being named to the all-tournament team…
“I didn’t really expect it; I just came out and played basketball.”
