Post Game Quotes
March 08, 2010 | Women's Basketball
March 8, 2010
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East Carolina Head Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener
Opening Statement...
"I was pretty pleased with our effort. Our team has a lot of players that can step up and make shots. We were balanced today with five players in double figures, including freshman guard Shala Hodges who came off the bench and scored 17 points. Our bench played well, as they scored 50 points. That is very important to our success - balance."
On Southern Miss forward Pauline Love...
"[Pauline] Love is a great player. She was scoring inside and we put two-or-three people on her, so then she went outside and hit five three point shots."
On facing Memphis tomorrow...
"Memphis is a tough opponent. We beat them both times in the regular season, but they will be ready for us. We will need to have another good game from everyone."
East Carolina Forward Kim Gay
Opening Statement...
"We know we can shoot, and our shots were falling today. We also know if we don't hit some, we know they will if we keep working hard. We were confident today."
Southern Miss Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis
Opening Statement...
"First of all I'd like to say congratulations to East Carolina which played a heck of a ball game. ECU shot the cover off the basketball so the next opponent should check to make sure it is still on it. They shot lights out, and they played very, very well. They played like a team that belonged. I felt like coming into this contest today and this tournament period that it could be anyone's game. There is so much parity in the league that anything can happen at any time. There are a lot of great coaches and a lot of great players. Congratulations in advance to the team that wins the championship because it will be one that has the heart of a lion. East Carolina played very well. We did not play very well at all. Even though we did not have Candace Rucker (missed game with flu/fever), I felt like this team would come together, rally and play well as a unit. Unfortunately we got off to a slow start. We struggled executing offensively, and we surely couldn't guard them the way they were shooting the basketball. When we execute defensively we are able to get some easy baskets on the run, and we were not able to do that. For a lot of that, credit goes to East Carolina. Our team played very hard. We kept wanting to go back at them. In the second half when we closed the gap, we were trying to win four-minute segments. Our team continued to believe and continued to fight. In the end it was a tough loss."
On Pauline Love...
"She is a very special young lady. Today you saw that with her performance (32 points, 11 rebounds). In three years at Southern Miss she scored more than 1,500 points and had more than 1,000 rebounds. It is going to be real hard next year to know that when you take the floor or start practice that she is not going to be on the team. Last season we started a work-out program, and she was in the weight room at 6 a.m., while the rest of her teammates were sleeping. She was always ready to watch film and to get in the gym to take extra shots. No matter what game she went into you knew she was going to get a double-double. She showed up and played her butt off every single day. She is one of the few players I've coached that practiced with her heart and soul every day. I wish her the best as she continues to play in her career, and I appreciate what she has done not only for Southern Miss but for Conference USA as well. She has etched her name into the record books, and I'm going to miss her."
On the impact of Candace Rucker not playing...
"She scored 27 points when we played East Carolina at our place, and she could have helped us defensively. She has guarded our opponents' best player all year. Allison Spivey and Kelly Smith are great shooters but it is all generated through Ashley Clarke. In the past we had Rucker as the defensive stopper for us. With us not having her it made things a lot tougher."
Southern Miss Senior Forward Pauline Love
On the game and her career...
"It was tough. It got to a point where I couldn't even cry. The end result was absolutely embarrassing. I wanted it so bad not just for my team. Since I've been here I just wanted to be one of the best players that actually won a championship. I want to thank Coach McNelis for giving me an opportunity. She took a chance because she saw something special in me. I knew that she was going to take care of me. It was sad today to see her walk into the dressing room crying because she took blame for everything, for the whole year and for me not getting a championship during my career. Honestly, it is not her fault. She got us ready for every single game. It was just us putting forth an effort for being more prepared. Today we didn't carry out the game plan. Even though the deficit got higher and higher, I wasn't going to give up."
Southern Miss Junior Forward Tanesha Washington
On the game...
"Coach just kept telling us to keep our head up. We kept fighting back and wanted to make it a game. We let Pauline (Love) lead us. We believed in her. She was a workhouse. I could have been more consistent but it was nice to know we could count on her."
