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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2014Brenda FreseAlyssa ThomasGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA North Carolina – 73 COACH BRENDA FRESE: I'm proud of the fact that we fought all the way to the buzzer. And I thought our momentum in the second half, you know, if you told me to be able to have a shot with Alyssa with the ball with a 3, it was a great look. That's what you want. I definitely thought it was going in. This game, obviously, I felt was impacted in the first half in terms of how Carolina came at us really aggressive. We were back on our heels and you spot a great team like Carolina 11 points, you're fighting the entire second half to come back. We rebounded hard, but obviously a lot of uncharacteristic turnovers that they were able to get points off of. Q. What do you attribute that kind of sluggish first half, 14 turnovers and you miss 9 free throws and that's something in a game like that that's so important? COACH BRENDA FRESE: I thought Carolina having a game under their belt, I thought they just came in really aggressive. We needed to get comfortable, obviously new players, we have two freshmen in the lineup. I saw a lot of nerves for them. So we had to settle them down. So obviously it took some time and they were really aggressive and I thought kind of intimidated us to a degree to start the game. Q. You were talking to the guards during the game, during time outs, during the sluggish start to the game. What was kind of the message to them to get over it? COACH BRENDA FRESE: Just to relax. I thought Carolina was really amped up. They were very aggressive. And for us, just to try to get our poise under control, stay confident with what we were doing and really just to settle down. Q. Everybody talks about Diamond DeShields, rightfully so. But Allisha Gray can do everything as well, go inside and get the 3. What kind of problems did she present to you? COACH BRENDA FRESE: I knew when she got that extra rest time yesterday she was going to be really fresh. I think Allisha is just a tremendous player. She does so many things. She has a really high IQ. Obviously she got a double‑double. She's just a really difficult match‑up for us. Q. Alyssa, you got a jumper to cut it to 71 to 70, and the last sequence, what was going through your mind and the thought process? ALYSSA THOMAS: Just take it down, transition ‑‑ we were getting back in the game. We definitely had the opportunities but we just didn't come through. Q. Coach, as the team was coming back in the second half, both Brionna and Alyssa got into some foul trouble, and you had them on the bench for an extended period of time, obviously because of the foul trouble. And during that time North Carolina was sort of able to hold you guys off by getting the ball inside. Did you at any point consider putting them back in a little sooner to negate that advantage? COACH BRENDA FRESE: You know, there was just different flows of the game. I actually thought at one point in the stretch in the second half our guard play was stopping the clock to get us to the free throw line. We didn't take advantage of shooting the ball well from the free throw line. The way they were calling the fouls, obviously that impacted us being able to play our bigs. We had to put AT inside in a spot that she's never played in before, because of all the fouls that were called. Q. Alyssa, you did become Maryland's all‑time scoring leader today, being first on the list with a program with so many great players. What does that mean to you? ALYSSA THOMAS: Just a huge honor. We didn't come up with the win tonight, so (Inaudible) ‑‑ Q. Sort of to follow up on that, for you, coach, to coach someone that does something like that in a career. She's not in a position maybe to appreciate it right now, are you? COACH BRENDA FRESE: Absolutely. And I know Alyssa will after her career is over. And I know she's not going to appreciate it right now because of the competitor and the winner that she is. She would turn all of that away to get that win. But, yeah, absolutely. I mean everything that she's meant to our program, to our University and it's only fitting for her to be the all‑time leading scorer in Maryland. Q. Outside of the last ACC tournament for you guys, any emotions at all about being in Greensboro one more time? COACH BRENDA FRESE: Obviously sad for it to be over. Definitely wanted to be able to go further. But just great memories. Obviously great battles. When you talk about come tournament time and coming down here to Greensboro, they do a first class tournament. So just a lot of special memories will be taken away. Q. Coming out of the locker room in the second half it seemed like you were making a concerted effort to get the ball inside. Was that something that you thought you could attack in the second half, to chop into the deficit? COACH BRENDA FRESE: Yeah, you know, we struggled in every area. I mean we needed to have something, inside or outside, when you look at our percentage from shooting the ball from the three, again, with some really wide open looks. Yeah, being able to establish Bri and Alyssa inside and a higher percentage shot obviously was critical. Q. Coach, how do you plan to use this loss to prepare for the NCAA tournament? COACH BRENDA FRESE: Well, you know, as a team if this doesn't motivate you, for us it would be a very quick ending. But I know what kind of competitors we have in the locker room. We'll use the week to get better. We'll use this week to, again ‑‑ I felt like we battled. If we don't spot them the way we do in the first half, we give ourselves a legitimate shot. So we've got to be able to come out and get better in this week ‑‑ week, two weeks that we're going to have before the tournament. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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