Pittsburgh vs. Wyoming Quotes
3/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 22, 2008
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2008 NCAA Division I • First and Second Rounds
Bob King Court/The Pit, Albuquerque, N.M.
Pitt vs. Wyoming - March 22, 2008
Quotes
Pitt Head Coach: Agnus Berenato
Opening Statement:
Obviously we're delighted to be sitting here, especially to be sitting here first. You know Wyoming did bring their fans and they did bring their crowd. I think yesterday we said we wanted a big crowd and we played to that. I feel like we won over a lot of fans today. I thought they were all cheering for their conference, which is what we would do in the Big East. Now we have a game on Monday night and I hope that the community will go ahead and support the University of Pittsburgh. I hope all the Wyoming fans stay here for the weekend, it's such a beautiful place, and maybe they will cheer for us.
I thought we had exceptional performances by the entire team. The first half had ended in a tie. We felt like we really were ok because Marcedes (Walker) and Xenia Stewart, who is my x factor, sat out a great majority of the minutes. Sophronia Sallard was just awesome today. She really stepped up her game. That's where anyone can make a difference and Phro (Sallard) really did that for us.
What did you do defensively to clamp down in the last four minutes?
"We kept breaking the game down into possessions and at that point there were eight possessions left. When you talk about your whole season and everything they did in pre-season, from last year, the summer, and eight possessions it puts everything into prospective. They know they just have to gut it out for eight possessions, and with my team sometimes it's just easier to play the part that we started at seven and a half minutes with fifteen possessions left. That's how we did it. We counted it down. I think what the girls and Mallorie (Winn) said in the media timeout, I talked to my staff about something in particular and we made another defensive adjustment. I heard Mallorie's (Winn) voice over there and it's very rare to hear Mallorie (Winn). She's pretty calm. This game was really important to her, so I think she just inspired them. We didn't care if they took a two, we just didn't want them to take a three. We didn't think we could match their three's. We have to match their three's two plus one. The good old fashion way I guess. We were very confident at that point. The game was exactly what we expected."
Please talk about Mallorie (Winn) and the big shot she hit down the stretch of the game.
Mallorie (Winn) really has a lot of confidence, and the team really has a lot of confidence in Mallorie (Winn). Mallorie (Winn) is a gamer and especially a post-season player. I knew that when I coached Mallorie (Winn) at Georgia Tech in the NCAA. Three years ago Mallorie (Winn) was our leader, she was the only player on our team that had ever been to post-season when we were in the WNIT. She was amazing. Last year she couldn't play due to an ACL injury, so she didn't play in the NCAA. This is so important to her. Her family is here, and drove eleven hours to see her. Obviously they haven't seen her play very much. Also tonight she needed four points to break one thousand. She was going to get that thousand, but she knew her team needed that three more than she needed the thousand. She has a lot of confidence. She could miss ten and I guarantee if she's open she is shooting the next one."
Please talk about Shavonte's (Zellous) defense and overall game today.
"I thought Shavonte (Zellous) really played great. I thought the best thing about Shavonte (Zellous), and this is an intangible that you all think I am crazy for, but she had her smile. When Shavonte (Zellous) has her smile, she is so charismatic on the court offensively and defensively.
Marcedes (Walker), can you talk about the first half, you know this could have potentially been your last game how frustrating was it to sit there in foul trouble and what you had to do in the second half to make yourself a factor?
"I was pretty frustrated picking up my second foul and only playing eight minutes in the first half, but I knew the way that my team was playing and I can't let my frustration show on the bench because it's not about me it's a team thing and they just stayed in there. Phro (Sophronia Sallard) was hitting some big shots and Tae (Shavonte Zellous) was playing like Shavonte (Zellous), so I know when Shavonte (Zellous) plays like Shavonte (Zellous) I don't have no worries. I think that Phro (Sophronia Sallard) hit some big shots and by me sitting on the bench in the first half I knew I could count on Phro (Sophronia Sallard) and Shavonte (Zellous) and we played defense in the first half and that is what it came down to. We changed our defense to five s and we stopped the open three point shots."
You guys really seem to step up the defense in the last four minutes could any of the three of you talk about the defensive intensity down the stretch that obviously had a huge factor in the outcome?
"I know that throughout the game Mallorie (Winn), our leader on the floor court, was just saying that this may be the seniors last game and I know that the juniors and the sophomores and the freshman are loyal to our seniors. Mallorie (Winn) just kept saying `This is not going to be our last game we've got to hit the ground and play some good defense and I think that is what she did and by having a leader out there on the court like Mallorie (Winn) and her being really vocal. I think that we listened to her and it came out cause we got the win."
Marcedes (Walker), can you talk about how difficult it was to defend a three point shot and how it seemed like when you were switching off that they kept getting lost and someone was always open. How tough was that to deal with in the first half and the early second half?
"It was tough to deal with shooters and I saw that like after a while they would try to switch it up and put me on a low guard and put Mallorie (Winn) on a post and I think that we just played our game. We didn't drop our head even though they had some open threes and stuff like that. We bowed down and just played the open three point shot after that."
Sophronia (Sallard), all year your coach has been telling us that you are kind of a defensive player, but in practice you are a great offensive player. You picked a good time for that to come out. Can you talk about the first half and the shots you were taking because you get more confidence every time they kept dropping?
"Oh absolutely. When I first came out I believe it was number 25, she's actually a shooter. She had two threes in my face and we knew coming out there that they were great shooters especially. We emphasis a lot on number 25 and once that happened I just had to dig deep and I got a lot of communication from my team telling me `It's time to step up, play some defense, get out on the shooters.' I think offense just comes from playing defense. When you play defense really hard you just start building up on your offense. Not to mention a lot of confidence I get from Marcedes (Walker) when they started doubling down. We've been practicing it all since we got into it and once they start doubling down I was available for open shots when Mallorie (Winn) was penetrating. They were open really deep and they kick out and I was wide open and getting myself ready to shoot. It just generated from that."