Dec. 10, 2015
Vanderbilt Coach Melanie Balcomb
On holding Troy, the nation’s number one scoring team, to 43 points:
“I think the biggest thing was the challenge for us. I think our players were excited to see where they were defensively. Obviously any team that’s scored more points, no matter who they played, they’re scoring more points than UConn right now, they’re doing something right. They played very, very hard and they’re very well coached. We really took it as a challenge to see if we could hold them under 50 points, and we were able to do that. We’re excited to play so good offensively.”
On what Christa Reed brings to the court:
“Well tonight she brought rebounding, defense, she’s never charged before in her life, and she’s never rebounded so much. She just started off really aggressive, and that’s been the big things with Christa. She’s extremely talented. She suffered a season ending injury in January last year, so she doesn’t really have any experience; she’s kind of like a freshman, and she’s just getting tougher everyday. She’s worked really hard during the off-season. She’s a great three-point shooter. But she’s worked on her rebounding and her defense and her physicality. You saw she kind of broke out, and we were waiting for her to get a breakout game. I loved her aggressiveness.”
On this season being a sign to the world after their season last year:
“I wouldn’t say it’s a sign to the world. Our players are determined. They’re very determined to win, and to have great team chemistry, and to be unselfish, and to be all the things that they stand for at Vanderbilt. They know there’s heavy weight here; there’s tradition, there’s success, they came here because of the people before them. And I have to tell you, there’s alumni coming back constantly, and that’s such a great feeling. They came to play in such a great program, and especially our senior class, they want the success that they haven’t really been able to have. They’ve been driven extremely hard to have that success in the program before they leave.”
On her 300th win at Vanderbilt:
“It honestly just means that I get another ball, and I just put all of my balls away because I wanted to change my office and make it more of a home and put up more family pictures. I really just put away all of the trophies and balls and really tried to get back into relationships and spending the time with my players, and we did that. So, you know, I’m probably going to take that ball and take it home or something. What’s neat is that I got to experience so many great players, coaches, I mean nobody does this by themselves. I’m just lucky enough to have been here 14 years and be associated with so many wonderful people.”
SO G Christa Reed
On scoring11-point run in the 3rd quarter:
“I really want to attribute that to my teammates. One of our emphasis was sharing the ball and screening better, and those are things that we did in that three minute period that got me the shots”.
On getting eight rebounds:
“That was one of our main emphasis in practice as well, just clearing out the lane and going to get the ball. Since we’ve been doing that more consistently in practice, it just carried over into the game”.
On playing with Minta Spears:
“It’s a great experience. She’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever played with and anything that she knows, she helps us to understand better too. She’s very good whenever she’s being pressured. She can handle the ball”.
On the ten day break that will follow this game:
“One thing that we talked about in the locker room was how important practice was for this game. Over this ten day break we want to be consistent in practice so that it carries over to the next game because us playing well tonight doesn’t mean anything unless it carries over”.
SR G Jasmine Jenkins
Thoughts on the game:
“I think that tonight we played as well as we did, with the exception of the fourth quarter, because we had consistent practices. The last two days of practice, we got in there and did what we were supposed to do. We were focused the whole time and I think that carried over to the game.”
On holding Troy’s top scorer to 2 points:
“That’s been one of our emphases during practice. We know we’re a good team defensively, but we haven’t done a good job holding the opposing team’s best player to under fifteen points. It was our focus to hold number thirty-four to under fifteen points. I think we knew where they were. We had a sense of urgency getting to their spots and holding them.”
On how they were able to succeed defensively:
“We watched a lot of film. They gave us a scouting report. Thirty-four is really versatile and number four was all over the floor, we had a little bit of trouble containing her at the end.”
On teammate Minta Spears:
“I think she’s best at knowing what shot she wants for who is on the floor and what plays to run for that particular person. So Christa is obviously one of our most prolific shooters, so we have certain offenses that get certain looks. Minta (Spears) knows timing and situation, and she’s just a genius at getting the shot we need when we need it. She was a perfect fit for us, I’m so glad she decided to come her after she left Texas Tech. She’s very calm, she never gets too high or too low. Minta’s a great teammate. I’m so glad we have her and I think that we have done really well with her.”
On her improvement since last year:
“I’ve just been put in a position to score and my teammates believe in me. My heart is so full as a senior, I just want to give everything I have back to my teammates and the coaching staff.”