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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2014Natalie AchonwaKayla McBrideMuffet McGrawGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Notre Dame – 83 COACH MUFFET McGRAW: Well, I thought we looked a little rusty at the beginning of the game. But I thought we pulled ourselves together pretty quickly, had a nice run at the end of the half. I thought Jewell Loyd in particular in the first half was really outstanding, and then I thought Kayla took over in the second half. Good performances from Michaela Mabrey off the bench in the first half. And I thought some great minutes from Taya Reimer today, as well. But Natasha Howard is an incredibly tough match‑up. She's just a phenomenal player, an All‑American type player. She really looked like it today. Q. How important is it in a tournament where you've got to play back to back to back to get a pretty comfortable win the first day so you can rest some of your people? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: It was good for us to get our people off their feet, the starters, especially, off their feet. And you need those good contributions from the bench to do that. Because the three days, coming off of ‑‑ we had a two‑day break, and we just really thought needed to play a little bit more together. So now we'll hopefully be fresher for tomorrow. Q. This is for coach. This team has been such an impressive team all year long, and in the way you've moved very smoothly through the ACC. Is it hard with the success that you've had and the dominance that you've had to keep this team really hungry on a day‑by‑day basis? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: No, we have really high goals. I think our seniors, these two and Ariel Braker, are really focused on those goals and what we want to accomplish. We know every game is important, and we come into each game with a really great attitude. Q. Delgado scored 20 points for them yesterday, zero today. What did you learn from yesterday's game? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: She actually had her career high against us when we played them during the season. We were coming in geared up to play her. Then yesterday topped her career high with 20. We knew she was somebody that was capable of scoring. I thought we got up and guarded her well. Lindsay Allen did a good job on her. Q. For both players, how much pressure is there, or is there, to be undefeated at this point in the season, to go out and be good every time? NATALIE ACHONWA: We don't look at it as pressure. I think we took that accomplishment of being undefeated at the end of the regular season and put that on the back burner, celebrated for a little bit, but we have further goals to accomplish. We're looking forward. It's a great accomplishment in being in the ACC and being undefeated. That's all it is to us. We're looking forward to what we can do next. KAYLA McBRIDE: I think we were in the same situation last year. As seniors, just coming in and just taking it game by game, and not looking too far ahead. I think this team has shown a lot of mental toughness throughout. And we put it behind us and we're just taking it day by day. Q. Coach, you guys will be playing the Wolfpack tomorrow, and I'm not sure if you're aware or not, one of their key players, Markeisha may be out. Can you talk about the significance of her being in or out of the game and how that will help or not help you guys tomorrow? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: Well, she definitely is a very good player. I think an All‑American caliber player. She was on the Neysmith and Wooden watch list. When we played them down there we got a really good look at her, she has great hands. She moves so well. She's so tough inside, leads the nation in field goal percentage. She's amazing. But I think the thing that makes her so much better is Kody Burke. I think the two of them are a great combination. Both of them can go inside. Both of them together are really a formidable tandem in the post. They certainly rely on those two a lot. So we're going to go into the game prepared for her to play. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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