March 18, 2007

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Tennessee Head Coach Pat Summitt

Opening Statement
"Obviously we brought our defensive intensity tonight. It's a good thing because we weren't executing as well offensively in the first half. I thought we got a little over anxious in our transition; didn't really score out of our primary offense. But once we settled down, got the ball inside, we have to understand we have to establish our inside game. We closed out the half and went on a 25-0 run. This team, defensively, we spent a lot of time between our SEC loss and taking the court here on being able to rely heavily on our defense and just disrupt our opponent. I think we're also making better decisions offensively, we saw that in the second half. Really, really proud to see how we shot the ball in the second half. You're gonna have to make some shots in the post season and certainly we are capable of doing that. Candace established an inside game for us and I thought Shannon settled down and really ran the offense well in the second half."

On time in Pittsburgh, thoughts on Petersen Events Center:
"It's been great. I have never been to the facility. I've been really impressed. Agnus [Pitt head coach] gave us a tour. It was good to see their offices. I think it's so accessible to the court; obviously being able to walk right out your door and down the steps and on the floor. Just the size of the arena, I really like it and the hospitality has been great."

On thoughts on Drake and the first 10 minutes of the game:
"I was not surprised at all. Just watching them on tape, they are really well coached. Amy's [Drake head coach] done a great job, runs a lot of great sets offensively. I think you have to be very disciplined from a defensive stand point to guard their down screens, back screens, the ball screens. They do a really nice job out of the flex offense. Just watching them on tape there is a couple of things we may even put in as we move forward that we think they do a really good job of. They spend a lot of time executing in the half court. Unlike us, we're an up and down team. We're gonna try to score early in the offense and I think their patterns are very efficient in getting open looks. They came out and matched our intensity and we were definitely over anxious. Just like I was asked at half time going off the floor, what's the deal, what's wrong? It's post season play; we just have to settle down. The team definitely worked hard and was just a little anxious but that happens s! ometimes but at least we executed well in the second half."

Sophomore guard/forward Candace Parker

On lay-ups to start the second half:
"I think having been off for a while we came in the first half a little anxious and I feel we settled down in the second half and ran our sets and ran them right. We picked up our defensive intensity and just maintained it and did a great job of getting in offense. Shannon did a great job of getting us in offensive sets. So that's what we fixed in the second half."

On anxiousness in first half:
"I feel like we were just anxious. It was our first game and I think we just came in and for a minute we were quick shooting a little bit and if we're gonna do that we need to get on the boards and we weren't doing that either. It was a combination of a lack of rebounding on our part and not running our sets correctly but we fixed that and everything was cool after that."

Junior guard Shannon Bobbitt

On roll of playing on ball and changing pace of game:
"I didn't get settled in early in the game. I felt I was too anxious and didn't run the team well. We definitely had turnovers and didn't settle down. My roll is to get the game up tempo from the beginning and get the ball inside so we can set up a good inside game and work inside-outside."

On what halftime was like:
"At halftime, coach stressed to us that we had to get on the boards. We weren't winning the boards offensively, that was what our main mentality was going into the second half and playing intense and up tempo on defense and that's what got us started in the second half."

On what first NCAA game was like:
"I just went with the flow. The game was no different from the other games. I just came out here with a winning mentality, to do whatever it takes to win and we came out on top."

Drake Head Coach Amy Stephens

Opening Statement
"First of all, I'd like to thank the NCAA for a terrific tournament experience for our team. I'd like to congratulate the University of Tennessee on their win today and wish them the very best of luck throughout the course of the tournament. I'm sure they'll be many people in Des Moines cheering for the Lady Vols. I'd also like to thank Coach Summit for the time that she gave our program, and the class act that she is. With regards to the game today I couldn't be more proud of our team. What we had to overcome to get here, the emotional week that we've had I think showed a little bit in our play along with the first time experience of playing in the NCAA tournament. I thought we were really tight offensively in terms of scoring the ball. Our defense was outstanding. To start the game, to have the opportunity to play Tennessee and hold them to 30 points in the first half, I couldn't be more proud of my basketball team. Unfortunately a couple lay-ups and a couple free throws, it would've been an even scarier game in the first half. Then the sleeping giant awoke at halftime."

On breaking scoring drought:
"It was a long 12 minutes. I thought we did a pretty good job with the full court pressure. Our goal was to have under 18 turnovers, and we did. We watched film on Tennessee and we watched a lot of teams in the SEC that couldn't get the ball past half court. That was the first major accomplishment. Secondly, we just had a really hard time in the half court handling their pressure, getting the ball in, and once we did get the ball in we were out further than we really wanted to be. The tempo was perfect for us. Their size was their definite factor, especially when we got around the basket. Their length, size and athleticism is clearly a match above ours. I thought we controlled the tempo, and I thought we did a great job handling their press."

On Candace Parker:
"I had the opportunity of seeing Candace coming out of high school, and I think Coach Summit and her staff have done a phenomenal job. Watching her mature has been a lot of fun. She's a phenomenal player. I think clearly she's arguably the best player in the country. I'm really excited for our team that they had the opportunity to see that. She has a bright future ahead of her and I think it's great for the women's game. She understands just going out and playing, and I think she's a great representative for the women's game."

On potential for next year:
"We're very excited about the future. We told the kids after the game that this was not the end; this is the beginning of our expectations of just not getting into the tournament, but coming in and competing and winning games. We have a tradition of winning games, with our 10th NCAA appearance. Our responsibility as coaches and players is to build on that tradition. Our vision and dream is to see another blue banner of Sweet Sixteen go back up in our Knapp Center. We will be healthy, and we will have everyone back with no seniors. I think we've gotten the attention of a lot of people."

Junior guard Lindsay Whorton

On having odds stacked against Drake:
"When you think about adversity and overcoming that, if you think of the ideal outcome as being winning the game, then sure, we fell short of that. But in a lot of ways, we succeeded at accomplishing some of our goals in terms of what we did defensively. We take a lot of pride in our defense in the first half, and obviously Tennessee's a great team. They came out in the second half and made adjustments, and went at us, and were able to score. We made a goal in the last six minutes to win the last six minutes of the game, and there were some small victories that we had, so in those terms I think we did overcome adversity. It didn't show up on the scoreboard as a win or a loss, but we had a goal of how we wanted to compete and play the game, and I think in those terms we did overcome the adversity. We had the experience of playing an excellent basketball team, and that'll prepare us for what we want to do in the future."

On keeping it close during the first half:
"Offensively, we didn't get into a good flow in the first half. Every shot that we made was keeping us close. Our goal was just to hang around. What allowed us to do that more than anything was our defense. I think what was more exciting was what we were doing defensively, on the rebounding, and playing players the way we needed to. Our defense maintained through that stretch, and that's what helped us to stay respectable with them."

Sophomore guard Lauren Dybing

On jitters during the game:
"I think at the beginning of the game, we were running on emotions. We're here in the NCAA tournament playing against the best of the best, Tennessee, and we were just super excited to be here. I think at first we were a little bit jittered up, kind of nervous, but as we got into it we loosened up a bit. Our defense is what kept us in. That's what we are the best at and that's what our strength is."