Quotes Following Tulane's 72-70 Win At UCF
Jan 31, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2010
TULANE HEAD COACH Lisa Stockton
Overall thoughts on the game
"Normally, our defense has been able to hold in last-minute situations throughout the season and we struggled today in the last five minutes. Roshaunda had to make some big plays at the end to get us back in the game and give us a chance to win with two players on the bench after fouling out and another out with an injury. We still had plenty of time on clock and we had to take it one possession at a time rather than look at the whole 10 points.
On the performance of Roshaunda Barnes
"Her 25 points were just incredible. It just goes to show you that sometimes it's Tiffany Aidoo, sometimes it's Chassity and sometimes it's Danielle. Today, she wasn't going to be denied. She was guarding (Chelsie) Wiley at the end of the game, and we knew that was who they really wanted to go to. She wasn't going to let (Wiley) have a look and I really trusted that (Barnes) was going to stay on that. If there is a play of the game, that steal was the play of the game."
On UCF out-rebounding Tulane, 38-28
"In the first half, we did a good job of rebounding. In the second half, we just didn't. I told Brett (Benzio), `I'm tired of you being on those crutches. Let's go now.' It's going to be a little different for us to have a bigger player in there who can secure those at the end of the game. If you look at the games from last year, Brett really came up with a lot of those rebounds at the end. If there was a way I could have put her in tonight, I would have."
On the late flurry that proved to be the difference in the game
"It was a great finish. Our kids fought hard. I don't think we were as focused as we have been. We came out in the second half a little flat, we didn't set our defense and we let them back in it. UCF is a team that really wants to win badly and they were going to fight and fight and fight until we really take over the game. To start the second half, I thought we could take over the game and then keep it in control. We just didn't do that."
On losing Chassity Brown for the final 7:47 with a hand injury
"That is a big blow for us. They took her to get ex rays and we'll rind out what happened later. I didn't even see it. I saw that she was driving on this end, I turned around and I looked back to the other end of the court. The next thing I knew, she was on the floor. She's tough, though. If there is any way to come back, she will."
On what she told her team when it got down by 10
"We just talked about trying to cut into the lead. I thought we were panicking a little bit and when I got them to the bench, we had got it down to four at that last media timeout. We felt like we were right in it and we hit some free throws. Free throws were key in those last three minutes."
JUNIOR POINT GUARD Roshaunda Barnes
Overall thoughts on her performance against UCF
"I just didn't want to lose. I owed it to my teammates who got into foul trouble earlier to go in and do what I can to get a win. (Stockton) just told us we had a lot of time left, to take it one basket at a time and that we had to get some stops on the defensive end."
On what it means for the team to win a game like this
"It just means that we have a lot of heart. We keep playing until the clock says zero. We just want to win, we play hard and we play together. That's what motivates us a lot."
