Opening statement … 

“This was a good win for our team. Really happy, really proud of how hard they played together. Big blow for us not having Taylor Murray. She had been playing probably the best basketball of anyone on our team. She broke her finger in the Arizona State game, so she was out today and probably out on Wednesday and then we will have to re-asses it when we get back from the holidays. I was very concerned about this game. Radford had played some really good basketball and just beat Wake Forest before they came over and they have some really great athletes on the interior. Our team really worked hard this week handling academics well. They had a great semester academically and we did really well on our finals and also getting better defensively this week. We really tried to get better defensively this week after that disappointing loss last Sunday. So, happy for our players and this was a good win today.”

On the defensive effort … 

“You look at our numbers and we didn’t shoot the ball well today. I thought we got in good positions offensively to make things happen, but we just couldn’t finish today. I saw some real progress with our offense as far as some decisions that our players made and we just have to finish a little better. I was a little concerned. Listen, Taylor has been the heart and soul of our defense so to see our two freshman Jaida Roper and Paige Poffenberger come in really gave us some energy was good. I thought we had some good movement in our zone today, and listen, we have a ways to go before we play our best basketball, but this was a difficult week for us. We had a really disappointing loss on Sunday, they had to get super focused on their exams, we’ve been high achievers in the classroom and there is a lot that goes with that. They are trying to make As in everything that they do, so they had that balanced, and then trying to get better as a basketball team. This was a very busy week, I was really concerned about this game, so thrilled to hold them to 36 points and thrilled to find a way to win under difficult circumstances without Taylor.”

On Jaida Roper stepping up in place of Taylor Murray … 

“Well, what I love about Jaida is that Jaida has intangibles that you can’t teach. Jaida is a very confident young player, Jaida believes in herself, Jaida believes in her ability to get things done, and she’s got a ways to go before sharpening and rounding into the player that she wants to be, but that’s part of the process and part of being a freshman. She will not shy away from responsibility. She will take the bull by the horns and go play. I was concerned about if they would do things that would be difficult for her to handle in the game, but I was not concerned about whether she would be able to go in there and compete. We had the confidence she would go in there and do a good job and so that’s a credit to her. She’s just got a great feel for the game, she gets her hands on the basketball a lot, she makes some plays, she just has to learn like all freshman do of how to work and she has to maximize her ability. She has to be in the very best shape she can be in, she is not the biggest in stature, so she’s got to be in great shape, concentrate, practice great, be real coachable and she’ll be a fine player for us.” 

On the game Paige Poffenberger had … 

“What Paige did today was come in and gave us a jolt and really got after it defensively and really harassed their point guard and really got after their point guard. She was really comfortable and didn’t turn the ball over offensively, made an open 15-footer, just kept it real simple and played terrific today. And so what you look for in Paige, is she really hustles. She’s a willing defender and though she’s going to be in some matchups that don’t’ benefit her physically, she’s going to give you everything she has. Right now – however long we don’t have Taylor – for those two kids to get in there and hustle and give us something defensively that makes the other team work and then not turn the ball over offensively, it’s a huge thing. I thought Paige really got in the right place at the right time and had some really, really smart, intelligent plays. Proud of those two kids for coming in and helping us out today. Those minutes were big.” 

On rebounding against Radford and dealing with their size… 

“Yes, in our first three losses those teams rebounded a lot better than us. So this week we worked on rebounding. I knew last week that I could have done better with my rebounding, so we worked on that.”

On the team’s energy and how it’s inspiring…

“One thing is that we really love each other, so we have to be there for our team. When somebody is down we just have to pick them back up. That really helps us to come together as a team. We see someone falling on the floor we gather together to pick that person up. When we see someone diving on the floor we all get hype and want to do better.”

On pushing the ball inside and playing through bigs…

“We just know that the guards did a great job with that this game with getting the ball inside because we know that was something that we have been working on. Just using it to our advantage because it’s a high percentage shot inside and it opens up our guards outside. The guards did a great job at that today.”

On her confidence with the development of her game…

“Just having the support of my teammates and coaches of pushing me and telling me just to keep at it. I have been building that confidence each and every game, because last year I didn’t have the non-conference season to build that confidence. Having this season and being able to work through each game has helped me with coming along as well as the support from my coaches and teammates.”

On what she thought of the players off the bench today…

“I think Paige (Poffenberger) did a great job. We rely on our bench a lot even when it comes to their energy. We feed off that. When things can be down, like our shots not falling, that energy just coming from the bench really helps our team and it keeps us going. We definitely need that to continue on through the season.”

On her first start…

“It was a good time for me to set up, get some more minutes and play hard. Just trying to do what Taylor (Murray) does. She really helped me with motivational talks. She is a really big help.”

On her mentality getting ready to start this game after only averaging nine minutes per game…

“I had multiple talks with the coaches. You know, they told me to go out there and work hard and if I got tired just to let them know. They said they would get me out then get me back in. In my head, it was just to do my job: go out there and play hard, play hard defense and try not to turn the ball over. I had a lot of help from talk and the other guards.”

Opening statement…

“First of all, I wanted to congratulate Kentucky on a good game today. This was a good environment for our fans to be in. Wanted to say thank you to Kentucky’s fans. They have a great passion for basketball. It’s a great thing to see, especially at a women’s game. I think, for us, we were never in sync offensively. We didn’t have very many shots go in and I think that impacted our defense. Defense is who we are and that is what we hang our hats on, but today that wasn’t the case. I think Kentucky had a lot to do with today and congrats to them.”

On not shooting the ball very well in today’s game…

“Well, in the first half we were limited because of their 2-3 zone. I thought we had some good looks. We definitely looked apprehensive today – more unsure today than we have in the last month of the season. I think some of that was Kentucky’s activity and I think some of that was our lack of confidence as well. We had some good looks, they just weren’t falling for us in the first half.”

On the turnovers effecting today’s outcome…

“I think so. I think that if you have 13 turnovers in the first half and you have four offensive fouls in the first half, I think that was a reason as well. I do think some of it was the speed of the game that really got us rattled. You can’t have 13 empty possessions in the first half and think you’re going to win.”

On their difficulty getting the ball inside…

“Well we haven’t faced anyone like No. 13 (Evelyn Akhator) yet. I feel like when she puts her mind to it she can do anything that she wants. She is very athletic and physical. I thought our defense on the post possession was poor. That just goes back to No. 13. She was very difficult for us tonight.”

On learning about Taylor Murray sitting out of today’s game…

“I learned about seven minutes before the game that she wasn’t going to play. I was casually watching shoot around and I looked over and saw that she was in street clothes. I knew that was going to be hard for their team and that they were going to be depleted. However, their young kids stepped up and played a good game for them.”