Pitt vs. Apalachian State Quotes
11/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2009
POST-GAME QUOTES
No. 24/20 Pitt 63, Appalachian State 56
November 27, 2009, Petersen Events Center
Pitt Head Coach Agnus Berenato Opening Statement:
“I’m really excited that we won, we weathered the storm. I feel as if we have a huge target on our backs because we have never been in this position as a program. We’ve been ranked in the ESPN/USA Today and AP polls the last two years. We ended up ranked, but not until January or February. We have never started off the second week of the polls ranked and this is very exciting because it is another step in our program that we are learning to take.
It would not have taken much for us to lose that game. I want to compliment Darcie Vincent and how well she prepared for this game. This was a big game for her because she won a national championship at California, Pa., so she came home today. Now she’s at the Division I level and she got to bring her team here today and we were very happy to have her.
The game was a little too close. I thought that my team really stepped up when we went on that 9-0 run, which was something we really needed to do. It’s better late than never, because if it didn’t happen we would not have gotten this win.
Shayla Scott had her first double-double of the year. I thought she really did well and it was a great move to put her in at the four. We made a couple of major adjustments defensively that really helped us stay on the line and allow Jania Sims to penetrate for us and shoot that key three-pointer. One of the major plays of the game was when they were in that one-three-one and Shayla shot the lay-up with ease. When we went up by one, 54-53, I told my team to take a deep breath and relieve the pressure. Overall, we played with too much pressure today. When we went ahead and we began to clap our hands, you saw a different team for the remaining four minutes.”
On moving Shayla...
We felt that Chelsea Cole could be the five rather than the four. Appalachian State was a little quicker than us in the five spot so we made the switch. Chelsea can contain like a guard and has been in this position for us in the last week of practice during drills.”
Jania Sims
On playing with pressure while trailing...
“Coach Berenato always tells us that basketball is a game of runs. We knew each team would do it, but we had to come out the last four minutes and play strong. Coach said someone had to step up and lead the team. We needed to stop on defense and score. We all stayed together even though we were down. It was a team effort and in the last four minutes people stepped up and made big shots.”
Shayla Scott
On first double-double of the season...
“I’ve been struggling the past couple of practices and not feeling as confident in myself. I took a deep breath before the game and realized that what is in the past is in the past. I need to have confidence and knock down shots and to get rebounds and assists. I think that I need to build up my confidence and three’s will fall into place.
On close games with non-conference teams...
“These games will help up because eventually we are going to be those teams. We are going to be playing teams with a target on their back and we are going to be the team that wants to take the big team down. Seeing how other teams come to play ready against us helps us realize that we need to have that same intensity. When we play Connecticut or another big team with a target on their back, we are going to be ready.”