|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTFebruary 28, 2018Audra SmithAlexis CarterGreensboro, North Carolina Georgia Tech 61, Clemson 52 AUDRA SMITH: First of all, congratulate Georgia Tech on a well-played game and the fact that, you know, they play a very aggressive style and their zone really gave us some issues. But what I'm most proud of is the fight that my team had. We got down by as many as 16. We could have folded and could have been a totally different game, but they came back and they fought, and they started attacking the basket. We started getting to the foul line. We started also when we were attacking the basket, making shots. Had a couple kids coming off the bench, knocked down some threes for us, get us back into the game. So I'm really, really proud of the way they fought and how hard they played. It's been a long season for us. It's been a tough season for us, but they never gave up. They never gave up. They continue to fight, game-in and game-out and I'm very proud of them for that. Q. You guys fell behind 18-4, which is pretty deep hole to dig and you climbed almost all the way back. I think you got it to four. I guess a two-part question. One is, how do you fall that far behind early and two, how do you make that comeback? AUDRA SMITH: Well, for one, they were making shots. We had a couple of miscommunications defensively and they were making shots. Then for us, the zone had us a little bit rattled and we couldn't make shots. But once we settled down, and then we started moving the ball a lot more, once we realized that, okay, if we just take care of the basketball, move the ball, attack the basket, we'll be fine. And that's what they did. And then the other part of it is we started getting consecutive stops defensively. So once we started getting stops, they relaxed, they saw that and then we were able to attack the basket and we could play offensively a lot more freely, and because when we're getting stops, we get out in transition a little bit, they were not able to set up that zone. Q. You had it to four with about six minutes to go. What sort of happened there over the last six minutes that didn't allow you guys to fully make the comeback and have a chance to win the game? AUDRA SMITH: Well, it's hard, when you dig yourself a hole and you fight all the way back, you use so much adrenaline, so much emotion, and it's really, really hard. And so you want to continue to play freely, as well as that's what they did. They played free to get back to within four. And then I think someone made a shot and got it back to six, so then it kind of deflates you. So then you feel a little bit more tighter and a little bit more pressure. And so, I think that was a little bit of it because they wanted it so bad, and they did such a great job and fought so hard to come back and then that one shot kind of deflated us some and then we couldn't get back into it. But I've got to tell you, you saw it, they just continued to battle. They continued to battle and they continued to fight. Q. There was a period in the second half when you guys were consistency beating Georgia Tech's press and getting the ball in space and attacking. That's when you really started making your comeback. Can you talk about that aspect of the game and how you can develop it going forward? ALEXIS CARTER: Yeah, I'm pretty confident in our backcourt, me and Danielle Edwards do a great job of playing off each other, and our high post did a great job of getting to the open area and looking for the open areas. Q. Coach Joseph said that at halftime, Tech prioritized keeping the ball out of Thornton's hands in the second half and they were pretty he successful with that. Why was that so successful? Why were you guys unable to counter that? AUDRA SMITH: Well, the thing is, whenever Kobi did catch it, they were running two at her. It was almost like at one point when I looked, it looked like the entire team was around her. So with Kobi, it was difficult because they kept somebody on her the entire time making sure that she couldn't get shots off and then when she was -- did have an opportunity to get a shot off, they were contesting really, really hard. Some of it, too, is it's just one of those things where we played her a lot. We played her quite a few minutes and when she is out there, she's going really hard, so I think some of it was she wasn't able to get open as easily as she was early on in the game. But they did. I mean, they kind of took her out of it a little bit -- the fact that when she would catch the basketball, they would run two at her. But then, Collier kind of picked up the slack for her on the offensive glass and also by running the floor. But you know, again, I just can't say enough about this team and how hard they played. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|