Postgame Quotes: UNC 80, Navy 40

North Carolina Coach Courtney Banghart

Opening Statement
"It would be silly to talk about anything to start besides that it's Veterans Day. How great to have Navy in our gym. We know they're going to give a lot to our country and they already are, so hats off. I thought we honored their service with a great effort. We talked about having grit and energy, and you guys saw tonight when this team has grit and energy, it's fun to watch and they're really dangerous. Also, look at Janelle's [Bailey] line, look at Taylor's [Koenen] line. These are two kids that all they care about is winning and they're a huge piece of what we're doing. They just keep caring about winning and as a result their team is following their lead, so really proud of these two."

On game plan against Navy
"We have one of the better post players in the country and another developing one, so we definitely want to play a little bit through their hands. I said this and I'll keep saying it, I think Janelle's [Bailey] been underrated with her basketball IQ. We've really put her in the middle of their pressure. We felt like if the ball started in Tay's [Taylor Koenen] hands and it ended in Janelle's [Bailey] hands, we'd be in good shape. And we busted them open, their buzz defense, by doing that. These guys were totally locked in to the scout on both ends. We're going to utilize getting the ball in the hands of our best players, so it'll be in their hands a lot. We're seeing the benefit of that."

On defensively holding Navy to a low score
"I thought we did great. We asked them to play with grit and energy. They're continuing to grow defensively and they were really accountable to their actions. They've had a good week of practice and we just locked into those actions, and they didn't miss an assignment. It'll be fun to watch back, not that they aren't all fun to watch back. This one will be really fun. If you look at the time when our top group was in, they really didn't give up much. It'll be fun to break that down for them."

On keeping up the momentum of winning games
"We just have to control what we can control and the team you saw tonight was better than the team you saw the last time out. It was a lot better than they were last month. And better than they were the last month. And so I just give a lot of credit. These guys are looking us in the eye and trying to do what we are asking them to do and they are starting to see that they can be really good if they continue to be gritty. I focus on one game at a time, so starting later tonight I will be watching Friday's opponent. (The players) are off tomorrow. They've got three days to prepare for that and they will be prepared."

Taylor Koenen, Senior Guard
On tying her career high in scoring with 21 points
"I actually didn't know how many points I had. It's never about that but my teammates did a really good job finding me. We knew the game plan and it was just all about getting the W."

Janelle Bailey, Junior Center
On how playing well on defense drove action in the offense
"Defense is always going to help you with your offense, that creates offense for you. Points off turnovers, it just erases whatever they had. When we play better on defense, offense just flows. We have good players so everybody got their job done."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Janelle Bailey

Taylor Koenen

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