University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Carolina 71, Albany 56
December 30, 2014 | Women's Basketball
North Carolina 71, Albany 56
Dec. 30, 2014 • Postgame Quotes
North Carolina Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening Statement
“Well it's nice to be 12-1. Albany is a good team. We played them two years ago in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. I know Katie [Abrahamson-Henderson]. I knew her when she played at Iowa. [She was] outstanding – All-American player. You know her post players are always going to be good and that they are going to focus on the post. Katie does a great job. Every year they go to the NCAA Tournament and they are well coached. We knew that they would be a really good team. This was a big win for us.
“Our kids are a little banged up now. We have several kids in the locker room that have aches and pains. We will rest tomorrow and get ready to play Friday, and our first conference game is on Sunday. We need to heal up a little bit before we go into conference play. These guys continue to play well. Stephanie [Mavunga] had 14 points and her shooting was good at 5-9. Jessica [Washington] went in there and played well – 16 points and did a good job for us. Latifah [Coleman]'s foot was bothering her and that's why we didn't play her very much. Jessica played some point guard out there tonight and did a good job. Jessica's a very versatile player. She can play the 1 or 2, shoot the ball, nice passer and everything. That was good for Jess to have a game like that tonight. That's what I like about our team, our depth and balance. It was a great win and Albany's a great team. We look forward to ACC starting.”
On North Carolina outscoring Albany 27-0 in three pointers
“Well I like shooting threes. I told them in the locker room that we're probably top-five in the country with attempts of three-point shots. I haven't looked, but we're probably one of the top-five teams in the country in terms of taking them. Now I'm not sure about our percentage, but we've been shooting pretty decent lately. I like taking threes as long as we're taking good threes, open threes. That should open it up more for the big guys inside.”
On filling the void that Xylina McDaniel leaves with her being sidelined
“[Danielle Butts] is so athletic. She can go rebound, she's hard to guard, she's increased her range in her shooting – and N'Dea [Bryant], too. N'Dea's a lot the same way. N'Dea's athletic, she can jump, she's got a nice shot, she can go rebound. And also we can play four guards, which we did at the end of tonight, and let Allisha play that position. She's a big guard and she's smart and can shoot. There're a lot of different combinations that we can do.”
Jessica Washington, So., Guard
On being able to score well tonight
“I was just trying to focus on getting the little things down and playing my role within the team. Getting rebounds and doing things like that. My shot just came with it.”
On if she feels she needs to step up more with McDaniel being injured
“Other players have to step up more now that Z's out, but just playing as a team and moving the ball around will get us open shots. That's what I'm focusing on.”
Stephanie Mavunga, So., Guard
On how her role changes with McDaniel being injured
“It changes it in a big way. We call each other our POCs. It stands for Partner On Court. I'm so used to having her out there, so it was really weird at first. In the game – I love playing with Danielle, she's a great player, she's athletic – but it was an adjustment. I'm used to playing with Xylina, and I'm used to playing with Danielle, too, but not for as long of a time during the game as I am with Xylina. I'm getting into the hang of things. We've only had two practices playing with Danielle. It's weird not playing with Z, but I can't complain because we have Danielle, and I love Danielle and I love N'Dea, too. They're really good players.
Albany Head Coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson
Opening Statement
“We're trying to get better as a team and we're trying to play at a really high level. You have to play some of the greatest teams out there. That's why we play these games, to see where we are. Our next game is one of our conference games and I told [Shereesha Richards] in the locker room and I told the team in the locker room, [Shereesha Richards] doesn't care how many points she has, she just wants to win. But I want her on this stage otherwise no one is going to know about her. We played Duke last year and she did the same thing. We are very fortunate to have her. She is a great person first; she's a workhorse second. She's pretty relentless, and obviously you see she is pretty talented so you put all of those together and it's a blessing to have her on our team. We just have to get the rest of them to keep fighting with her. We are very young. One freshman and five sophomores, two juniors, and two seniors. Now they all have to kind of catch her intensity. It was a good game. I just wanted them fight and I wanted to see what was inside of them and if they would be scared to play on this stage, the young ones I'm talking about, I know [Shereesha Richards] wouldn't be. My biggest thing is just to keep fighting until the end and I think overall we did that.”
On what the team learns from playing in big-stage games
“Just the size difference. I always say, 'it doesn't matter the size of the dog, it's the size of the fight in the dog.' So I want my team to have that fight. Every year we come up against the size difference. They joke because they think I never played and I did. I played at Georgia and I was a three guard. But my size, I joke about you are going to be looking at me playing defense on you and [Shereesha Richards] was looking at someone way bigger than her, number one (Stephanie Mavunga), but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter the size of the dog, it's the size of the fight in the dog, and that's what I'm trying to teach our team all of the time. I think since Shereesha [Richards] has been here, and before Shereesha [Richards] got her, that's the mentality we always have, and we always play as an under dog, and I like that underdog mentality.”
Junior Forward Shereesha Richards
On what her scoring brings to the team
“I would like to win every game, but at the end of the day it's not about how many points I score because if I score this many points and we still don't win then what's the point? It's more about trying to get my teammates on the same page as me and doing the same thing so that we get to the level where we actually win these games.”
On what she likes about her game
“I'm quick. I'm not like a regular post. I'm not just a big post who just stays on the block. I'm not just one person who stays out. I'm very versatile. I can do whatever. That's what I like.”
