No. 24/20 Pitt vs. Saint Francis
11/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2009
POST-GAME QUOTES
No. 24/20 Pitt 75, Saint Francis 70
November 24, 2009, Petersen Events Center
Pitt Head Coach Agnus Berenato Opening Statement:
“I want to say that we’re very happy with this win. It was a hard fought, tough win and I think you’re going to have times that you have tough games and often times you can end up on the wrong end of the score, and we weathered the storm tonight. I thought that Jania Sims and Taneisha Harrison played fabulous tonight, they were there and they were solid, they gave us offensive production as well as defensive production.
Playing Saint Francis, it’s always hard playing an in-state team, and we make it hard. It’s always one of our goals as fas as in-state is concerned. Any time that you play any team in-state, the whole level of intensity and the whole level of emotions fill up for both teams. I think we see that often times in many competitions, and we saw that tonight, compliments to Saint Francis and their Head Coach Susan Robinson Fruchtel. From what I understand Britney Hodges reached 1,000 points tonight, congratulations to her for reaching such a magnificent feat in her career.
As far as Pitt is concerned we’re very happy that we’re 3-0 and 3-0 on our home court. Again, the key is at the beginning of the game, we never lost the lead, we made key shots when we needed to made them, Taneisha made two free throws, Shayla stepped up and hit a really huge bucket and Jania was our quarterback. I’m really happy that the game is over and we won.”
On reaching 400 career wins...
“I’m very into statistics, but I’m not into those stastics. Someone once told me that if you’re in it long enough those statistics happen and you get wins, but I guess that I’ve been in it so long that you’re either going to get 400 wins or 400 losses, and what are you going to do. I’m ecstatic that I’m at Pitt and with this team. Every single day that I get off the elevator and come into work and see the Petersen Events Center court I can’t believe that I’m here, I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world. I have so much to be grateful for.
This team that I have, the last several teams that I’ve had at Pitt, we have really great student-athletes, I have a fabulous staff. Again, the wins aren’t about me, it has nothing to do about me, it’s about the players. I’m happy for Pitt because when I came, I promised change and when I came they had three wins, had never been to the NCAA tournament and I think when you can go four straight years to the postseason and two back-to-back Sweet Sixteen’s and now we’re ranked by AP, ESPN/USA Today, I think that’s a tremendous compliment for Pitt, but for Agnus Berenato, I’m still just going to go home and do dishes, it really doesn’t mean much.”
On St. Francis staying with Pitt’s play...
I thought they had great fortitude, I think it comes down to fortitude when you’re playing in a game like that. We’ve been in a big game like that too, and you just go for it, it’s a big game. They think about that coming into Pitt and I know I thought about it a lot because I wanted to play St. Francis. This is a big game for them to come into Pitt.
Jania Sims
On her performance and being back on the court...
“I’m very happy just being able to play now. After sitting out, I realized that any day can be your last game so I’m excited to be on the court, to be able to score and things like that.”
Taneisha Harrison
On reaching a career-high 25 points for the second straight game...
“It just gives me more confidence. The coaches believe that I can shoot and play offense. I think that I just have the confidence to go out there and play my game.”