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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 2, 2006Nell FortnerNORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS THE MODERATOR: Auburn University, we have Dewanna Bonner and Whitney Boddie, and Coach Fortner. Coach, if you would, open up with a statement. COACH NELL FORTNER: I thought it was an outstanding effort on our team today, being ready to play and coming out real focused and knowing exactly what they needed to do. You know, it's a win in advance. At this point, everybody is in the same boat. I think this team was very hungry today. But I did think the difference in the game was having Whitney Boddie on the floor as opposed to last time we played South Carolina, we did not. And she is a difference maker. She made a big difference for Dewanna Bonner today. She made a big difference for Keke Carrier today. That's what your point guards do, and that's what they did today. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions. Q. Can you talk about your play opening in the first half and second half? COACH NELL FORTNER: Well, I think, again, I think this team is probably very hungry and played with tremendous effort. When you play that way, good things can happen to you. But really proud of their focus, just staying very focused to do the things they needed to do to win the ballgame. But I go back. Not to harp on it too much, but when you've got your point guard playing and leading on the floor, it makes a big difference. Also not just her, but she made a huge difference for Bonner. I think they feed off of each other, the confidence they give each other. I think we saw what they can do today. Q. Talk about your opponent tomorrow. COACH NELL FORTNER: Well, I mean, we just played them recently, so that's a positive actually (laughter). We played them a pretty good 12 minutes in the first half, then we got into a little bit of foul trouble, so it disrupted -- Bonner got in foul trouble, Keke Carrier got in foul trouble, Hobbs, who is our sixth man off the bench got in foul trouble, and that disrupted us. We've got to be very careful not to let that happen to us again. But we know Tennessee well. It's not like we're going to have to start from scratch and know how to defend them and the plays they run. That's a good thing actually. There's no question, Tennessee is a great team. They're going to be hungry coming off their last game and a loss. They're going to be hungry to play well tomorrow. Q. Your interior defense was pretty strong today. Talk about that. COACH NELL FORTNER: Well, you know, when I can keep Keke and Marita in the game at the same time for extended periods of time, that's quite a formidable force. 6'5", 6'7", if they're not blocking the shot, they're altering the shot. I think they did a good job of that today. You know, this frontline is pretty big, 6'4", 6'5", 6'7". That's pretty hard to shoot over, get around, everything else you need to do to score. But I thought they were able to stay in the game together for extended periods of time, and that was good today. Q. For either of the players, what do you remember about the meeting just a few days ago with Tennessee? This is a Tennessee team right now that you think is a bit vulnerable? Basically? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: They got a lot of big post players. But we also got a lot of big post players. I remember we got to get Keke Carrier the ball more, at least stay in the game a lot because she's posting up real hard coming into ACC play. Q. Any thoughts? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I know we got to get Keke the ball and also stop their inside player. I think Fluker had a career night against us. We can't let their post players go off like they did. You know, stop them early in transition, push them out, contain their other players and I think we'll be all right. Q. (No microphone.) UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Most definitely. I mean, I feel like we can score on any team really because we're big inside. We have guards who can do a lot of things, too. So inside and out, we can score on them. COACH NELL FORTNER: Don't you love freshmen? They have no fear (laughter).
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